Investing back home from the diaspora
Cross-border accounts, currency, tax and the paperwork nobody warns you about.
Most home-market offers are not on your local broker
An offer listed only on a Lagos, Accra, Nairobi or Kingston exchange usually cannot be bought through a mainstream Canadian, American or British brokerage. That is a market-access fact, not a technical glitch.
The normal routes are a licensed broker in the home market, or a cross-border platform that is authorised to act there. Confirm the licence with that country's regulator before you send anything.
You will need local market identity
Most markets require a local central-depository account in your name — CSCS in Nigeria, CDSC in Kenya, JCSD in Jamaica. Your broker opens it for you.
Expect full identity checks: passport, proof of address, tax identification, sometimes a local bank account or a diaspora account designed for exactly this.
Currency is part of the return
You convert your salary currency into the local one on the way in, and back again on the way out. If the local currency weakens, a share that rose in local terms can still lose you money.
This cuts both ways and nobody can predict it. Just know that you are taking two bets: the company and the currency.
Tax lives in two places
There may be withholding tax on dividends in the home market, and reporting obligations where you live. Some countries have treaties that reduce double taxation and some do not.
This is the point to pay a professional in your own country. It is cheaper than getting it wrong for five years.
The one thing to remember
Licensed local broker, local depository account, eyes open on currency, and tax advice where you live.
