- This topic has 13 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
I asked this question on a different thread, so just to not hijack the thread, ill make another one (wish there was an edit function).
Not sure if anyone is successful in transferring money out of China to their respective home bank accounts. I’m still doing research on this and nothing pans out.
If you can list some ways to make this plausable, it would be great! Some of the ways i found were:
1) Bring allot of cash (rmb) to a bank, tell them to make a cashier’s check, send that check home and get it deposited. This method is very cheap and can be very long and arduous wait.
2) Moneygram/ western union. Very expensive.
3) Bank wire transfer: allot of red tape, allot of needed documents and fees could be costly if not know. Better to bring a native friend who can translate/talk.
4) Online wire forex exchange? This is new to me, very cheap and well… Not sure what/how to do it.
http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/money-transfer-issues-t106314.html
That thread is an example on how its done. It seems one must have an account with ICBC. From there put the money in the Forex account. After that i’m lost. Not sure once its converted via forex then wire transferred to any bank.
Take a look guys and tell me what you think!
A bank wire transfer isn’t actually all that difficult. I did about three of them last year, and its not too bad if you have what you need.
First and foremost, you need a Chinese friend with a bank account at the bank you’re using, since foreigners can not trade RMB into foreign currency. Then you just need the name, address and SWIFT ID of your foreign bank. I used Bank of China last year who also required 200 RMB, 100 for the processing and 100 for the transfer.
If you managed to find someone who knows what they’re doing the whole process should be fairly simple. Last year the bank was nice enough to set up an account for my Chinese friend which was only used when one of our friends needed to transfer money. After that the bank was super helpful and didn’t even require our Chinese friend to accompany us to the bank.
I wish there was an easy answer to this one, but in my (10yrs) of experience the banks have not changed one iota when it comes to anything non-routine:
staff get arbitrary and the whole bank converges on the issue, with one view prevailing, not necessarily the right one, but often the most annoying.
What this means is, you have to get your docs together (from your home bank): Swift code, address of bank, name on account (caps and low case are IMPORTANT), acct number and a personal address in your home country.
Then you need your Chinese side docs. Bring your passport, residence registration form (just in case), address in China, work unit in China, you might have to visit HR at your job and talk to them for an hour or so (over three days) to get docs like: the business license of the company (you might think WTF?! but it is needed for all sorts of things), your Z visa and expert booklet, pay stubs, and perhaps other things which i cannot think of.
if you do not have a Z visa, work unit, HR dept then the process becomes infinitely more difficult, because then you will have to provide documentation as to where the money came from and what you are doing here and why you want to send funds anyway.
If this is your case, then you might want to hire a proxy.
Once you have these, go to the ICBC and try and get it done, just on your own, and see what happens. it will be a colossal waste of your time and will probably fail. Make sure you get all of your docs back (be patient and calm while all this goes down) and then try again at a different branch (usually the head branch in the city can handle the procedure if smaller branches cannot). You might have to open alternate accounts. You might have to go to Merchants bank and try it there.
It can be done, but you are dealing with an unprofessional, unconnected(ie each bank is an island), often incompetent, foreigner unfriendly banking system.
here is a comforting tale:
http://imagethief.com/2011/08/i-can-haz-international-funds/
justinf has a proxy/Chinese friend do the job for him.
That might be the best way, but again, I believe that justinf’s situation prob had a lot to do with the competence of his friend in dealing with bank staff. that is key. also, in my exp, official places like the bank, the post office etc seem to act more favorably to a bumbling foreigner with a Chinese friend helping them.
so to recap: mad docs and persistence OR a Chinese friend with great people skills and some status
So, to sum up, it sounds as if you shouldn’t bring in any more money than you plan to spend because it’s a pain getting it back out. Is that about right?
ok i actually looked at that thread and called my wife, she has an online ICBC account she uses for Taobao and other purchases. Yes that option does exist, it is a bit thorny setting it up (there is a USB key and you need Windows to run it) but it is not as thorny as a bank wire transfer.
Take a friend to ICBC (bring a bunch of docs just in case) and get an online account. after looking at that and talking with my wife,. that seems to be plausible.
Hey i will try that online version out this week and see how it goes, you should too, then we can post our experiences and see if that is indeed a viable option.
@Sascha, having a competent Chinese friend was the only thing keeping my experience manageable.
I just did a Western Union transfer last week from the ABC Bank in Wuhou. It took about 30 minutes and was pretty painless, they even spoke enough English to match my minimal Chinese. The fee was 100 RMB for a 1100 RMB transfer. However they did mention they have a $500 USD per year cap on outgoing transfers.
I did bank wire transfer for my husband. Only needed his passport. I used Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Good service.
I also tried Paypal. Fee is lower. But you can only transfer USD or HKD. No RMB yet. I’ll try online banking next time, see how it goes.
@justinf RE: “However they did mention they have a $500 USD per year cap on outgoing transfers. “
I use Bank of Agriculture in Chengdu – no limits. The most I’ve sent at once is 7500usd, but it may be <10k allowed per transfer – and back when the limit was 5k USD I’ve done two in a week..maybe different banks have different restrictions though.
@Rick in China, I read in one of your post over a year ago, that you sent money using the Bank of Agriculture in Chengdu. Which branch did you go to? Since then have things changed?
Just found another service where you can pay someone online like a contractor or something and it seems to be a hassle free transfer service, well the video states that too, and it’s using a mobile phone and sms for transfer by the looks. Damn things are moving quick.
>>First and foremost, you need a Chinese friend with a bank account >>at the bank you’re using
I hope the local friend doesn’t get into trouble for “money laundering”! I am told there is a $50,000 limit on both incoming and outgoing a year, beyond which things invite a strict scrutiny.
The $50k USD annual limit is for exchange without any proof/reason as to what it’s for – if you’re transferring larger sums out you will need to provide lots of documentation around how it was earned (employment or whatever) and taxes paid (proof you’ve already paid the revenue related tax on that money) and you can still transfer cash out.. for cash in – need to get some paperwork regarding what type of use it’s for, business investment, purchasing property, etc – and can bring in / exchange more than 50k that way also.
@Rick, thanks for the clarification.
For smaller sums, using the ATM card outside the country may be easier!
- The forum ‘General Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.