A figure of thought but would it’d be for much easier for US citizens who travel abroad often (and naturally already have US Passports) to open a small bank account in Canada which has already moved to EMV cards?

Supposedly many Canadian banks offer non-residential accounts which can be setup by non-Canadian residents, though the primary drawback is that you need to come in person to a bank in Canada to open one. However those for those who live near Canada (Seattle::Vancouver, Detroit::Windsor, Upstate NY::Montreal) or for those who often go to Canada (AS often offers LAX-YVR fares as low as $79 one-way; LCC WestJet also has very good fares between US-Canada) this could be one method to think about.

There’s no huge account balance to maintain like offshore accounts, a simple cheque or savings account can be opened with as little as $300 with few or no maintenance fees similar to US banks. And on the bright side you get an ATM/debit card with an EMV chip on them. Plus if you open a bank account with Scotiabank, you can withdraw money at any Bank of America ATM with no fees as they are both under the same global ATM alliance.

The idea would be to create a Canadian bank account and use it as a form of secured international traveler’s debit card for use abroad:

1. Visit Canada for the weekend. If you live in Seattle, a weekend trip to Whistler to snowboard or some sort. Heck go buy some maple syrup or maple cookies while your at it, make it a vacation.

2. While there, and if you have a BofA ATM card, use that to withdraw 300 CAD from a Scotiabank ATM. No fee for doing so as BofA and Scotiabank are the same global ATM alliance.

3. Open a non-residential Scotiabank account with that 300 CAD you just withdrew from your BofA account.

4. Keep maintaining the minimum balance of CAD 300.

5. When you need go abroad, top off your Scotiabank account with whatever amount you need via wire-transfer from your US bank.

6. Use the EMV chipped Scotiabank ATM card abroad with Chip & PIN for those smaller items like unstaffed train tickets or gas stations.

7. As an added benefit, since Scotiabank is a member of the global ATM alliance, you can also use that ATM card to withdraw cash at Barclays ATMs in the UK, BNP Paribas in France, and Deutsche Bank in Germany without being dinged with international ATM access fees.

7. When you get back to the States, use your Scotiabank card at any BofA ATM to withdraw whatever you didn’t use (less the CAD 300 minimum) and put it back into your US bank account. You won't get dinged because again, Scotiabank and BofA are within the same global ATM alliance.