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How expatriates in the UK can earn 100,000 Avios points by joining Citigold Expat

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Citibank runs an Avios-earning deal for expats in the UK who move their banking to Citi.

Citibank has a standard Avios-earning offer for UK residents who sign up with Citigold Wealth Management, which has been running for two year now.  Full details are on the Citigold Wealth Management website.  We covered the Citigold / Avios offer here in this article from July 2020 which we will update soon – you could earn up to 100,000 Avios.

If you an expat, Citibank has a separate offer for you which I want to look at today.

Citigold Expat Avios offer

Earning Avios with Citigold Expat

Citigold Expat is aimed at people moving to the UK to live or work.

It offers:

multi-currency bank accounts, including multi-currency debit cards

offshore wealth management

access to selected professional advisers who can help with finding a property, selecting a school for your children and finding a tax adviser

You get 50,000 Avios for opening an International Personal Bank account and moving $200,000 (or equivalent) into it.  This must remain in place for two months and the money must be ‘fresh’ to Citi.

You get 100,000 Avios for opening an International Personal Bank account via Citigold Private Client and moving $1,000,000 (or equivalent) into it.  This must remain in place for two months and the money must be ‘fresh’ to Citi.

But note the cash alternative ….

Citi is happy to offer you cash instead of Avios.

You can swap the 50,000 Avios for $500 and the 100,000 Avios for $1,000.

I would lean towards the miles, given this choice.  You are basically ‘buying’ Avios for 0.75p each which is an excellent deal.

There is also the option of taking a £500 or £1,000 Harrods gift card.  This is slightly trickier, because you are ‘paying’ 1p per Avios if you take the points instead of the Harrods credit.  Whether you value a £1,000 Harrods gift card at £1,000 is down to you and will depend on your shopping habits.

I purposely haven’t gone into the full details of the Citigold Expat service.  What I like about the offer is that it provides an Avios opportunity to newcomers to the UK who may find themselves locked out of credit card sign-up offers.

The offer is scheduled to run until 28th December 2021 but it has been rolled over multiple times and I would be surprised if it went away.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (February 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (19)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Scott says:
    14 Dec14 December 10:35

    At what income level does one stop being an immigrant, and become an “ex-pat”?
    Appreciate the article is simply repeating the term from Citi’s site.

    • Rui N. says:
      14 Dec14 December 11:34

      When you are white.

      • blenz101 says:
        14 Dec14 December 11:42

        In common English expat workers are employed for a skillset the local market can’t provide (so will be paid accordingly) and will often benefit from housing and relocation allowances giving them a large amount of disposable income and thus attractive to the bank to help them with their financial planning.

        Typically immigrants are unskilled migrants with very different financial needs often their banking needs will be around remittance to their home country. Their move is generally more permanent.

        Both are foreign workers.

        Would you prefer Citi advertise it as an account for “the wealthy and educated living abroad”?

        • Mike says:
          14 Dec14 December 11:45

          TWAELA doesn’t really roll of the tongue so stick with expat

        • Rui N. says:
          14 Dec14 December 14:28

          Completely absurd saying that all immigrants are unskilled. The term expats exists simply because some immigrants think they are better than other immigrants and don’t want to be called that.
          Also completely absurd saying that skilled workers get housing allowances usually. My company has hundreds of very skilled immigrants (the average level of education is likely to be a PhD) and we don’t for sure offer housing allowances.

          • blenz101 says:
            14 Dec14 December 16:42

            I didn’t say all are unskilled but the language make a distinction which you well know.

            The US banker dropping $200k into a current account on hi transfer to London is the expat being targeted here. If he hires a driver from Pakistan whilst he is in town they are going to be called an immigrant.

            And no matter what your company offers the fact is I live the life of an expat. The market dose off schooling, healthcare and housing to skilled expats. I’m not talking about people who just want to live the dream in the sun but those with a skill companies want entice to live away from their home country.

            Migrant workers on the other hand may be living in room shares or offered dormitory style accommodation and paid appallingly.

            This is just how the world is. Neither chose their privilege and neither gets to pick what others will call them.

        • dougzz99 says:
          14 Dec14 December 14:33

          The woke are coming for you 🙂

        • Sam says:
          15 Dec15 December 00:06

          @blenz101 very accurate definition.

          • Sam says:
            15 Dec15 December 00:07

            Although, I have met young adults in their 20s considering themselves as ‘expats’ when they only teach English in East Asia, out of the fact that they look white and speak the language.

      • Bazza says:
        15 Dec15 December 11:19

        Is that true?

  • Richie says:
    14 Dec14 December 10:36

    Not sure if leaving $200,000 or more of your liquid assets for two months lying around in a bank account is a good idea. I guess it depends how much of a proportion of your total assets that cash is, your monthly cash income and how avios rich you are already.

  • Sapiens says:
    14 Dec14 December 11:08

    Awaiting the ultra PC wokies apoplectic at the Exp*t word

  • Vinz says:
    14 Dec14 December 23:14

    In all fairness when my parents start talking against “those immigrants on rafts” I remind them I’m an immigrant too. The fact that I earn well doesn’t make me different. We fight all the time…

    • Bazza says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:27

      “those immigrants on rafts” – wouldn’t they just be shortening “those illegal immigrants on rafts” ?

      Because that is what they are, despite what the BBC will tell you.

      Unless France has become EVEN worse since I was last there and these people are fleeing France because of how terrible it is there….

    • Bazza says:
      15 Dec15 December 11:30

      If you are no different, did you arrive on a raft, where did you flee from?

  • Boi says:
    15 Dec15 December 06:06

    Pretty sure I am still called an immigrant even though I earn over $400K- I am black.

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