How can I send money to China? This is a question that comes up frequently for travelers, business people and expats who deal with China and it’s not always an easy answer. In this guide, I’d like to walk you through what you need to know and how you can move money into and out of China.
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When it comes to getting money into China, especially as an expat, I’ve found that Wise (formerly Transferwise) is the best cheap and convenient option.
You can create a free account easily, send money to your China bank or just hold one of 50+ currencies in your free Wise account.
Perhaps you need to pay your China tuition fees or you need to pay a business partner in China. Maybe you need to send money to a loved one or in some cases even get money out of China.
Whatever the case, you’re looking for the best way to send money to China without paying too much in fees.
Many of us are simply uncomfortable strapping thousands of dollars to our bodies to walk across the border (which is one way to do it). Every country limits how much you can carry and China’s regulations limit you to 10,000 RMB or the equivalent of US$5,000).
Luckily there are alternative ways for sending money overseas and this guide introduces you to a number options to send money to China or even out of the country.
Use the links below to jump to each section:
**The following is a guide that is meant teach you how to send money to China, or anywhere in the world for that matter. Although I have done my best to provide the most accurate information possible, I recommend that you read the fine print first before using any option.**
STOP! Read This First: Chinese Regulations
Before I share options for transferring money to China or getting it out, it’s important to first understand the regulations that China has on the movement of its Chinese currency known as renminbi.
China, like every country around the world, has measures to curb money laundering and tax evasion.
If you’re sending money to China, the government doesn’t care how much or where it came from. However, they will require that this money be tied to your identification.
In other words, in order to bring this money into China, whether wired, transferred or in cash…
…anything over 10,000 RMB will be monitored.
I always have to show up in person at the Chinese bank with my passport in order to get access to large sums of money that has been transferred into China.
For those who want to transfer money out of China, there are quite a few more regulatory hoops you’ll need to jump through. While there is technically no limit, you will have to prove to China that you’ve paid all applicable taxes before the money can be transferred.
Even if you’ve paid all the necessary taxes, it’s still common for people to run into roadblocks at the bank.
These strict Chinese regulations are the #1 reason why you’ll find most exchange platforms don’t transfer Chinese yuan to foreign currency.
Keep this in mind as you do your research.
How to Send Money to China Online
If you want to send money to China fast without leaving the comfort of your home or office, you can easily send money using your laptop computer or mobile phone.
Important to Know
Many of these options require the recipient to have opened a Chinese bank account. As with any Chinese bank account, be sure they are set up for online banking, which requires a specific setup (it’s not default). Otherwise, you will be unable to use these services.
Let’s start with my recommended service, Wise.
1: Send Money to China via Wise (Recommended)
Although I’m providing a lot of different options here, I’d like to start with one that is highly recommended if you want to transfer funds online without paying exorbitant fees – Wise.com (formerly known as Transferwise).
In most cases, particularly when you’re dealing with a bank wire transfer, you’re going to get hit with wire fees, intermediary bank fees and even poor exchange rates.
Over the past year I’ve used Wise multiple times and as always, it’s been amazingly simple.
In less than 10 minutes I setup the transfer from USD to CNY, input the recipient’s bank info and then fund the transfer directly from my US bank account.
It’s not just for US banks, either…it works for a whole host of countries around the world.
The thing I love about using a service like Wise is the transparency. The one aspect of bank wires I hate most is that there’s no way to track my money, so I always feel like my money has disappeared into thin air.
With Wise, I can see exactly what’s going on with my money as well as a projected date of receipt. The exchange rate is the going rate (unlike other options such as Paypal) and the fees, such as what you can see below for my US$200 transfer, were laid out plainly.
Wise guarantees your exchange rate for 24 hours and they allow you to send money via bank debit (ACH), debit card, credit card and wire transfer (although each option comes with varying fees and time).
- Wise Fees: Wise makes a small fee on the transaction, but as you can see in the screenshot above, they are very up-front about those fees. I was able to dictate exactly how much the recipient would receive while monitoring my fees.
- Time: Transfer takes 3-5 business days, depending on how long it takes to exchange the currency as well as the banks involved. Every time I send money to China, the money arrives within 2 business days, so I’ve been very happy.
- Extras: One thing Wise has going for it is their easy-to-use mobile apps. These make it easy to initiate currency transfers or check on pending transfers while on the go without having to open up your computer.
- Bottom Line: This is an excellent option for moving most major currencies and is a very transparent process (as opposed to other options below where fee structures are quite complicated).
2. Move Money to China with ECARD (US Residents ONLY)
If you’re in China and you want to have money available to you either to pull out as cash (and then deposit into an account) or to pay for things, the ECARD is worth looking into (U.S. residents only).
I’ve already written up a closer look at how ECARD works, but what you need to know is this: having a UnionPay card allows you to pull money from any ATM in China (and throughout Asia) and gives you a better exchange rate than Visa/MasterCard.
Personally, I’ve saved hundreds of dollars in wire fees and ATM fees by loading this pre-paid ECARD from my U.S. bank account and then pulling the cash out of a Chinese ATM. I use that cash to deposit into my Chinese bank account.
It’s free to apply for the ECARD and is especially useful to those who are expats in China or perhaps you have family in China who they want to send money to regularly.
- ECARD Fees: There are no initial fees to set up the card. There is an inactivity fee ($4.99 if the card isn’t used for 180 days) and a foreign transaction fee of 1.49%. This is lower than most Visa/MC cards who charge up to 3% (1% for Visa/MC and up to 2% for the card issuer).
- Time: It usually takes 2-3 business days for a bank transfer to load onto the card. Immediate loading can be done through Greendot.
- Bottom Line: This isn’t a solution for everybody, but if you want the comfort of having a UnionPay card that is accepted everywhere in China, if you live in China or if you have a loved one in China, this is a great way to transfer money easily and cheaply.
3. Transfer Funds via Bitcoin (not recommended)
As recently as a couple years ago, China accounted for the most Bitcoin trades worldwide.
Unfortunately, in January of 2017 China banned virtual currency exchanges, which now makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to buy and sell Bitcoin using Chinese yuan. Because of this, most people in China are not able to buy Bitcoin.
If you’re not aware, Bitcoin is a digital currency that can usually be purchased on online exchanges. These online exchanges act like any normal foreign currency exchange where you pay for bitcoin with government issued currency at a fluctuating market rate.
Since these exchanges are banned in China, enterprising individuals have developed a number of workarounds, including a peer-to-peer exchange (usually over a platform like WeChat).
These are risky for Chinese investors and even more so for foreigners, so I wouldn’t recommend you use this method.
Until China finds a way to regulate the sale of digital currencies, this is no longer a simple and easy way to transfer money to China or try to get it out.
- Fees: No service fees, but since the exchange rate is consistently fluctuating, in some cases you can either benefit from the rate or lose a little bit of money from it.
- Time: Once you’ve signed up for all accounts and bought the BitCoin, transfer to/from specific currencies takes 2-5 business days.
- Bottom Line: It used to be a good way to move money, but now that China has banned virtual currency exchanges, it’s very difficult to buy/sell Bitcoin in China.
4. Transfer Funds to China via PayPal
The final option for sending money online is through the PayPal service. Although not recommended due to the absurdly high fees, it’s still a viable option.
The best way to do this is if the sender and recipient both have PayPal accounts. If you’re sending to a Chinese bank account, you’ll end up using PayPal’s Xoom service.
Special Note: You will need to set up a separate China PayPal account in order to make this work. It is not possible to open a Chinese yuan currency in your current PayPal account. This will require you to log out of your current account and then visit Paypal.com/cn (scroll to the bottom to change the site language to English). It also requires a Chinese bank account to link to your Chinese Paypal account.
You can add money to your PayPal virtual wallet and then send it to the receiver using his/her email address, or phone number.
The downside here is that very few Chinese individuals and businesses have ever heard of Paypal. Although the transfer is instant, it takes a couple days to withdraw the money from your virtual wallet into your bank account.
Transfers from PayPal directly to a Chinese bank account are done through PayPal-owned Xoom. As with all of PayPal’s fees, it’s not easy to determine exactly how much it will be until you actually go through with the transfer.
- PayPal Fees: PayPal’s fees are confusing. PayPal charges a cross border fee due to extra costs involved in processing multi-currency payments. Cross border fees on international money transfers using a PayPal balance or bank account ranges from 0.5% to 2% of the payment amount. For payments made with a credit or debit card, the fee runs from 2.9% to 7.4% plus an additional fixed fee based on the country of the payment recipient. For more specific numbers you can visit this Paypal page.
- Time: Instant virtual transfer; 3-5 days to withdraw to your bank account.
- Bottom Line: The process can be done from your computer, but the cross border fees can be expensive for sending large amounts.
Note: Before doing any online banking in China, particularly if you’re on a public wifi, we suggest that you consider securing your activities from hackers using one of these VPNs.
How to Send Money to China in Person
Don’t be ashamed if you’re one of those people who prefers to avoid the insecurities of online banking!
Sending money in person can be very easy and in many cases is one of the only ways to transfer money out of China from Chinese yuan into foreign currencies.
Here are a few options for sending money to China in person.
1: Wire Money to China from Your Bank
If you are more old fashioned or simply want an opportunity to improve your Chinese, you can of course wire money abroad directly from your bank.
Overall, wiring money from your bank is a pretty straightforward process. But this process does have its downsides.
First, if you’re in China, know that many Chinese bank employees are not entirely familiar with wire transfers process or assisting foreign customers. I recommend visiting your bank’s main branch in town to oversee the wire transfer.
Secondly, to control large capital outflows, foreigners are restricted to only sending a measly 500USD per day without tons of paperwork proving that taxes have been paid on all the money. Chinese nationals can send up to 50,000USD per year.
It works best when you can find a trustworthy Chinese friend to assist you in transferring the amount in his/her own name.
Finally, you must be an account holder with whatever bank you want to facilitate the wire transfer. So if your Chinese friend only has an account with Bank of China, you must do the transfer there.
Wire transfers at banks require the following information: your passport, the receiver’s name, address, and account number, the name and address of the bank along with the bank’s international bank account number (IBAN), and its society for worldwide interbank financial telecommunication (SWIFT) code or bank identifier code (BIC).
I personally recommend Bank of Communications for wire transfers. Total fees for wires amount to no more than 170RMB making it much cheaper than their competitors.
I haven’t been charged any wire fees using BoC.
- Fees: Both the foreign and Chinese bank may charge a wire fee. Check with each bank individually to learn more.
- Time: Once the transaction has been completed, it takes anywhere from one to five days for the money to transfer to the overseas account.
- Bottom Line: This may be your only option to transfer larger amounts of money out of China. The key is to find the right bank and/or the right Chinese friend to help.
2: Sending Money via MoneyGram
MoneyGram is another interesting option in China for sending money overseas. MoneyGram has operations in over 200 countries around the world and here in China, they usually have a representative in almost every Bank of China.
Their large presence speaks convenience and their process for sending money is pretty straightforward.
Unlike other options that take 3 to 5 days to complete the transfer, money sent through MoneyGram (click here for MoneyGram UK) is immediately available, making it a great option if you are in a hurry.
Using MoneyGram is simple:
- Bring the sum of money you want to send in cash to an agent;
- Present your passport
- Complete the money form;
- List whoever will pickup the money in the recipient country.
- The agent then provides you with a tracking number (MTCN), which the designated recipient uses to collect the cash.
While the service is relatively easy, I have had a number of problems with it in the past. One thing to remember is that you must list the recipient’s entire name as listed on their identification card (i.e. their passport or ID card).
I made a mistake once where I left out my sister’s middle name on the money form. Because my sister’s middle name is listed on her driver’s license, the omission of her name from the form compelled the agent to withhold the funds.
So be sure to list all the information of your designee as listed on their identification.
Another problem with MoneyGram is that locations not attached to a bank do not have a lot of cash on hand.
A number of times I have sent amounts of around 5000USD to the United States and my family member had to call many branches before finding an agent with enough cash to complete the service.
If sending amounts over US$500, I recommend having your recipient request money order when making the pickup through MoneyGram. Also, if sending through the UK, you’ll want to check out the MoneyGram UK site.
- Fees: Anywhere between US$15-$40, depending on the amount being sent.
- Time: Immediate
- Bottom Line: If you need to send money overseas and have it available instantly, MoneyGram is the way to go.
Final Thoughts | Sending Money to China in 2023
As you can see, there is no “one size fits all” solution to send money to China.
China has gone out of its way to make sure that sending money out of the country is as frustrating as possible. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to give a gift or your transferring money to pay taxes as an expat.
Still, it’s relatively easy to use a service like Wise to move money into China and you can always visit a bank or use Moneygram to move money out of China.
What do you think?
Do you have experience with any of these services you’d like to share? Or perhaps there is a service not listed here that you think deserves a mention? Please leave a comment below!
Can a chinese friend transfer funds in australian dollars using alipay to my australian bank to pay of my credit card?
Hello,
Thanks for all The information. One information that I couldn’t find is this: if a foreigner in china manages to open a bank account with a simple visitor visa, can he then make deposits using an atm machine? or does he have to go speak to someone inside the bank every time he wishes to deposit cash? (sorry for caps lock, I don’t know this form does not let me write in small caps).
As long as you have a bank card, you can deposit at the cash ATMs.
Can I transfer money from china without the swift code but with all other details like the ABA (routing CODE)?
That really depends on your bank back in the US. All banks have to have either an IBAN number or a SWIFT code, so if you don’t have one, you have the other. That should be sufficient to transfer funds.
is it possible for someone to send us $ to a someone staying in beijing china for not mored than 20days
Yes, it’s possible. For quick needs like that, it’s usually best to use a service like Moneygram or Western Union. The transfer is immediate and they just need the verification number to pick it up.
My child is in Shanghai right now and needs 200$ by tomorrow. When I send it western union can she receive the money in $$?
When you send via Western Union, she can pick up the money immediately. She has the option to take it in US dollars or to convert it to RMB.
Note of caution: Make sure you wire the money using her full name as it is written in her passport. Anything less and the bank won’t let her get the money.
I used Wall street exchange to transfer my chinese university application fee from pakistan TO edulinkchina’s bank account in bank of CHINA last week on friday. How long will it take to get there? They said tuesday (today) but I’m a Bit doubtful.
There’s really no way for me to know that. You’ll have to speak with your bank. My wire transfers usually took 5-7 days from the U.S.
My sister want to send money from State bank of India through net banking to bank of China is that possible?
Yes, it should be possible using these currency exchange options.
hello, I have some money in China that would like to transfer it to Germany. If someone wants, we can trade it.
If not which option suits me? Can Alipay transfer my CNY to germany?
Alipay can work, but you’ll need to find a friend to help you who has a Chinese ID card.
I have group of private students from China and pays me about 2K USD/month. However, the coordinator always makes 2 transactions 1K USD each. She said, banks won’t allow her to transfer 2K wih single transaction. As a result, i am always charged twice with wire fees. Any thoughts? FyI: MONEY IS SENT FR CHANGSHA TO CAMBODIA
Tia
One idea is to make the Chinese students pay the extra wire fees. This is on you to negotiate.
Is there a limits Dollar amouNt for ali pay to transfer money to usa? If i worked in china and got a Yearly Bonus lets say $500,000. How am i going to transfer money back to usa?
Yes, there are limits. If you’re getting a yearly bonus of US$500,000 you’re going to need to work with your company and your bank to wire that money back.
my experience in getting my money out of china legally, was to just use a chinese bank account which i had to use while living in china, and after making a trip to the usa to visit home and friends, i left my china bank card (like a debit card) with a trusted friend. then they could take a limited amount of money out of the account, by atm to get cash (i believe it was $500/day) and then they deposited that cash into my bank account in the usa. there seemed to be no expiration date of doing these kind of transactions. just the amount was limited. my paycheck was in rmb in china, and went automatically to the bank account, so this was a great method to get my money to where i wanted it, in the states, without the hassle of the $5000 limit per person through an airport. so if it is sent little by little, electronically, it can get there even if you only make one trip per year from china to the states. worked for me!
After looking at all the options, it seems like the best way to take your money out of China at the end of a working stint. Have your money in a bank account in China with a UnionPay debit card and use the Union Pay card when you get home to make purchases and ATM withdrawals.
This works – kind of. I did this for a little while, but after a month I was asked to verify my account and since I didn’t have a Chinese phone number or the ability to visit a Chinese bank brand, I was stuck. The last thing you want is your money stuck in China because you didn’t want to go through a little trouble or a pay a little fee.
hello,
thanks for your tips, i have two questions related to euro to cny transfers.
firstly, i have just moved to china (and opened an icbc bank account) and need to pay my rent and various fees before i get my first salary. i can either pay with my credit card in euros or transfer euros to my new chinese account (as you suggest) and then pay. it will be altogether around 18,000 cny. what option do you think will be cheaper – pay by a euro credit card, or make a transfer from euro to cny and then pay?
secondly, i am scheduled to get a compensation of about 500 euro for cancelled flights in europe. the airline offers an option to be paid in cny and requires a swift/aba code for the chinese bank (in the following format: $$$$CN%% or $$$$CN%%%%%, where ”$” means a letter, and ”%” means an alpha numeric character – letter or digit). given all the restrictions on money transfers to china, do you think that the airline will be able to wire the compensation to my chinese bank account?
many thanks for all your advices!
This is simply not true. You cannot top-up money from a Chinese bank account into a Chinese PayPal account nor can you use transferwise to transfer funds from a Chinese bank account to an overseas bank account. I can’t vouch for the other methods but I’d suggest this is a poorly researched article or out of data.
Hey there, I appreciate the comment although I wish you would read the entire article before pouring out criticism. I never say that you can top up money from a Chinese bank account into a Chinese PayPal account (the title of that section is “How to Send Money TO China Online”). However, you can withdraw money from a Chinese PayPal account into a Chinese bank account. Therefore, it is a way (although not an advisable way) to transfer currency into China.
Likewise, I never said that Transferwise can transfer funds from China to an overseas account. In fact, I put in very bold letters that you can’t transfer yuan into foreign currency due to Chinese regulation. I’m not quite sure how else to be any more clear about the subject matter if you as a reader aren’t willing to actually read the material.
in order to transfer RMB 900,000 (about usd 150,000 i believe) from China to the us, can i just open An account with say bank of china, deposit it, THEn come to a bank of china branch in the us, and simply withdrawl it in USD As cash? Does it matter what nationality i am? THAnks.
No, you can’t. The account you open in China will be completely separate from anything you try to do in the US. For that amount of money, you’ll be getting scrutiny not only from the Chinese government, but also the US government.
I just tried using transferwise and ran into a bit of a snag. I recently opened an ICBC account/union pay card, but after putting in my information it said they could only transfer money to chinese residents who opened an account using a chinese national id card (i only have a permanent residence id card).
Via transferwise’s site: “You can only make CNY transfers to private recipients who have a UnionPay bank card. We can only pay out to UnionPay accounts opened using Chinese National ID cards. Accounts opened with a passbook, driver’s license or military document are not supported. ”
so because i do not have a national id card, i was unable to use this feature.
Hi Thomas, thanks for the update. If you have a Chinese bank account, you can still wire money there from your foreign account and then convert the money to yuan at the bank.
Hi,
just some info on transferwise. It maybe worth making it clear that you can only setup a china bank account on your transferwise account if you are a chinese national with an id card, if you open your bank account with your foreign passport, you are unable to add that account in transferwise as a recipient. Just thought it might be worth mentioning. unless you know of a way to link a china bank account to transferwise?
Did you set up your China bank account with online banking? That makes a big difference.
Yes, my account was setup with online banking. But, I am unable to set it up as a recipient in Transferwise.
I would like to send my salary as an English teacher back to the usa every month. i use to live in china 5 years ago and had a chinese friend that use to send money home for me back then. however, i don’t have anyone like that, nor do i want do it that way this time around if i don’t have to. what’s the best way to send money back to the usa from china? i have a bank account at the china construction bank with a union pay card. i also have a paypal account.
I think the options have been laid out pretty well here in this article. The best way to do it if you’re in China (without the help of a Chinese friend) is to go to the bank and wire the money back home.
Would it be possible for a Hong kong citizen to make bank transfer from his chinese bank account to his own bank account in hong kong. it there any limit for this kind of transfer?
Yes, that is certainly possible! I can’t say exactly what the limits are, but as long as you’ve paid all the appropriate taxes on the money in China – and can prove that – there should be no limit to what you can transfer.
I appreciate all the information available on this website, but people should be aware that using moneygram to send money is definitely not as simple as stated here. First of all, a good part of the chinese banks listed on the moneygram website know very little about how the service works, so they will ask you to open a bank account. when you try to explain them how it works, and even show them the chinese webpage of the service, they will still say you need to open a bank account. even getting a form explaining the rules and fees for the service in a particular bank is an ordeal. Others will simply say they don’t have the service. i get the feeling this would be very different if i were trying to receive money and not sending.
Very interesting experience, Evandro. I think most of what I wrote of was the experience of *receiving* a Moneygram transfer from within China. I don’t think I factored in the difficulty you describe of *sending* money via Moneygram from within China.
i just returned from china having had a terrible experience with moneygram along the lines of what evandro reported. i was both the sender (no problem through the app) and recipient (huge problems at the banks). i can provide further details if necessary. summary is that western union is fine, moneygram is a disaster.
A Chinese company wants to pay my salary in USD into my PAypal account. I am an american citizen and have a US bank account connected to my paypal account. so, the question is: can I receive my salary from the chinese company is USD into my paypal account, and then have it deposited into my us bank in usd?? .. there will not be any currency conversion, any idea how much paypal would charge for such transfer service? would it be “over-the-border” charges only ??
Hmm…if the company insists on this type of payment method, I would ask for a small raise to compensate for the 2%-3% that Paypal will charge you. I believe the process will work, but those fees add up!
Use caution with PayPal. I recently had PP decide to hold up transfer of a small payment from a client in china, demanding that the client acknowledge that the service involved was performed. The client did so — I saw that approval on PP’s web page, and now PP claims the client has not done so and I have to nag him again to get this done. The CSR I spoke with on the phone said she would send my client and me explicit instructions on how to make this acknowledgement happen, but she did not do so. it is clear they are not going to let me have access to money I earned, and they are crooks. Be careful: they steal. Just trying to suggest you look for other ways than PayPal to get paid by people in china or transfer money from china to your own country.
Based in China, I have recently started to have problems getting money – especially transfers over the amount of $10,000 – transferred into My Bank of China Foreign Currency account from Clients based in the US and Europe. Formerly clients just made money transfers into our bank Accounts in china, but since October there have come a new set of rules to curb money Laundering and the process has become a lot more difficult and tedious. We can still receive transfers but there is now a cap, per month, on how much money comes into an account, and it can take up to 2 months before funds finally deposited into an account. We have also had one instance where the bank has sent one transfer back. Anybody out there have any experience of alternative ways of getting payments into China without having to use a western to Chinese Bank transfer process?
So true…that US$10,000 amount is critical. Anything below that is relatively easy. Anything more than that, like gets really difficult. Have you considered setting up a business and banking in Hong Kong?
When using Alipay, there needs to be a reason for the transfer. any idea which reason might be more likely to succeed? for example translation fee, payment of salary, tuition, etc.
I wish I could say one way or the other, but nobody at Alipay has given any indication about which reason is better 🙂
Hi, josh.
IF i wanted to physically Take around 30,000RMB (equivalent of slightly less than 5,000USD today according to Google) would I be affected by the usd limit (5,000) or rmb Limit (10,000)?
I was working under a “>5000usd and fine you will be” assumption, but this article changed my tune…
Kind Regards, and sincere apologies if this has been Answered 🙂
Jt
I’m not 100% clear on the answer, but my understanding is that if you came in with USD, you would be subject to the rules governing US dollars (limit of $5,000). If you came in with RMB, you would be subject to the rules governing RMB. Does that make sense?
Hey Josh, I appreciate it if you could read and reply to my comment 🙂 . I’m just another frustrated american expat living in china who constantly seeks ways to transfer money out of china for a low fee. I saw you said that boc charged max of 170rmb and that you have not been charged wire fees? i’m banking with china merchants bank. i believe they charged me 150rmb, which should be lower. have you had experiences with cmb? and why is that that you have not been charged wire fees, do you know?
(i’m currently thinking of using paypal, for two reasons: a) i hate the 30 minutes i spent at the bank, b) cmb refuses to convert and transfer any amount of money that is not your salary, for instance, reimbursement money won’t do, and I don’t think paypal will care. but i shudder when think about the paypal fees.)
Hey Mars, unfortunately, I don’t have experience with China Merchant’s Bank. When I say “no wire fees”, I mean that while you were charged a fee by the bank, I have never been charged by an intermediary bank or my bank back in the US. I was forced to convert the money to US dollars at the Chinese bank and pay the fee in RMB, so what I sent via wire to my US bank is what arrived in my US bank. Does that make sense?
And you’re right, China banks now won’t transfer anything that doesn’t have official verification that taxes have been paid on it (such as salaray). It’s stupid, but it’s a rule to keep Chinese people from laundering money (and foreigners too, I guess).
Hi Josh
Chinese friends can no longer send money to accounts of another foreigner outside without scrutiny. I’m not sure the Alipay method works either, as Chinese are being asked for a lot of information and the transactions could be stopped. At the same time, the fees charged at bank for transactions using the traditional method have increased significantly. I recently paid about $90 in fees at the bank after showing all the tax papers, for what previously would have cost half of that.
Good t know, Henry. Thank you. I’ll be keeping an eye on how things are changing.
Hi Josh, I am a fan of using Transferwise while living in Singapore. however, I’m having trouble linking my UnionPay card to my account. It seems it only supports certain banks? What bank do you have your account with?
Hey Dan, I use Bank of Communication, but that shouldn’t matter. I needed to be in China in order to link the card because I had to receive a text from the bank and my bank account had to be set up for online payments. It’s going to be really hard to do that from Singapore.
Hi Josh, how do you get around with TRANSFERWise as a foreigner, to transfer into China. On TRANSFERWISE it says only Chinese nationals can receive money …. I AM a foreigner. How will that work? Thanks.
Qoute”
You can only make CNY transfers to private recipients who have a UnionPay bank card.We can only pay out to UnionPay accounts opened using Chinese National ID cards. Accounts opened with a passbook, driver’s licence or military document are not supported.
Personally, I use Transferwise to transfer money to my Chinese friends, so I haven’t run into this problem. I can tell you this much, though – this is not a problem with Transferwise, this is an issue with China’s monetary policy. In the past couple years, they have heavily restricted how money enters and exits the country.
Hello, juSt recently i failed to send money throuth western union Using postal bank in china, and the reason i was given is that i had to prove if i pay tax yet it was just 100 dollars. So things are becoming complicated. You cant Even believe yeT i even hold a Working visa.
Hey Frank, that’s not surprising. You would get the same question if you’re trying to wire money from a bank. Government regulations force you to prove that you’ve paid taxes on any money leaving the country in order to prevent money laundering. If you have an employer who is legit, they should be able to provide you with documentation proving that you’ve paid taxes.
Hi Josh – great advise in all the comments. I will begin receiving direct deposit through my Chinese employer. I want to transfer about $4000 a month to the US. Will i still have to go to the bank in person or can I Transfer online?
Do not use transferwise, it is somewhere between scam and fraud.
See https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/transferwise.html
They promise a fast transfer, they take your money, then days later, you find your account has been deactivated with no notification of any kind – and they still have your money.
I have family members studying in China and I’m trying to make a payment to their chinese ICBC bank account.
With Transferwise, IT IS Not possible to transfer CNY, because said memebers are foreign nationals, therefore their UNIONPAY card does not work.
I have tried FLASHFX, but you can only send CNY to Businesses, not individuals.
other main services (moneygram, western union, OZFX, forex, etc) only offer the option to send USD, EURO, AUD to individuals’ bank accounts in china. they never allow you to work with CNY and you end up losing QUITE A LOT IN currency EXCHANGE FEES.
All in all, it seems like the only viable option for transfers with China is to send foreign currencies in/out, never cny, unless the said cny are going straight into chinese nationals/businesses’ bank account.
the protectionism is real.
Can a foreigner, take cash through Hong Kong or Macau and use money gram there, or would they still need a Certificate? Also, what is THE limit that can be taken through Macau and Hong Kong is it 10,000RMB? Last question, can a foriegner withdraw all their money from a bank account in Hong Kong and transfer the money via moneygram or is there a limit that can be sent via mONEYGRAM?
Thank you for the information, i found it very helpful. One question i have Is, with the limit of 500usd is that daily or monthly? If daily, is it possible to transfer this amount a day after each other?
You can do this two days in a row (not 3) or a total of 4 days out of 7 (no more).
Hi i would like to bring money in china to buy an appartment , however its $ and the Appartment need To be bought in rmb.
Bank in china say only 50000 $ per person can be exchange in rmb per year, any idea as the appartment Value is 500 k $ thanks
China does everything they can to keep RMB from exiting the country. I HAVE LIVED IN cHINA FOR THE PAST 7 YEARS. eVERY YEAR, THEY ADD SOME NEW POLICY TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE DIFFICULT. hERE IS THE CURRENT SITUATION. tHIS INFORMATION IS REFERRING TO AN EXPAT WORKING IN cHINA AND TRYING TO SEND MONEY BACK TO THE usa.
sTEP oNE: gO TO THE Chinese BANK THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS TO EXCHANGE $500 usd WORTH OF rmb TO us DOLLARS. yOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC MONEY EXCHANGE AND NOT A CASH MONEY EXCHANGE. gOING THREE TIMES TO THE BANK WILL GIVE YOU $1500 usd TO TRANSFER TO THE usa.
sTEP tWO: fOR THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH, YOU ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO TRANSFER ANY MORE MONEY. yEP. $1500 usd IS THE LIMIT PER MONTH.
sTEP tHREE: SPEND AN HOUR DOING PAPERWORK AND PAYING THE NECESSARY FEES TO HAVE THAT ELECTRONIC MONEY TRANSFERRED FROM BANK TO BANK.
if YOU MAKEMORE THAN $1500 usd PER MONTH AS SALARY, YOU HAD BEST FIND A WAY TO SPEND IT IN cHINA.
oF COURSE, YOU CAN FIND A Chinese FRIEND THAT YOU TRUST AND THEY CAN SEND UP TO $50,000 PER YEAR WITH NO MONTHLY LIMITS. bE CAREFUL THOUGH. wE WERE DOING THIS THROUGH OUR Chinese ADMINISTRATION WORKERS AND THEY HAVE BEEN PUT ON A BLACKLIST FOR TWO YEARS PREVENTING THEM FROM BEING ABLE TO DO THIS A WHILE. there MIGHT BE AN EXCEPTION THOUGH. if YOU GET YOUR TAX FORMS FROM THE Chinese GOVERNMENT tAX oFFICE, SHOWING THE TAXES WERE PAID PROPERLY, THEN YOU CAN SEND MONEY LIKE A Chinese NATIONAL WITH NO MONTHLY RESTRICTIONS AND UP TO $50,000 PER YEAR. tHE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT COMPANIES AND SCHOOLS ARE VERY TIGHT WITH THIS INFORMATION BECAUSE (AND I AM ASSUMING HERE) THEY ARE USING LOOPHOLES AND OTHER MEANS TO SKIRT SOME OF THE TAXES BEING PAID. sO, GETTING THIS INFORMATION CAN BE PROBLEMATIC.
wESTERN uNION IS NO LONGER AN OPTION IN cHINA.
currently, THERE DOES NOT SEEM TO BE ANY REAL VIABLE WAY TO TRANSFER MONEY from cHINA TO A usa BANK ACCOUNT. aT OUR SCHOOL, WE ARE EXPLORING OUR OPTIONS. rIGHT NOW, THE ONLY VIABLE OPTION IS A cHINA pAYPAL TO A usa PAYPAL ACCOUNT WITH HIGH FEES. aLL OTHER OPTION IN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT VIABLE, UNLESS YOU ARE TRYING TO SEND MONEY to cHINA.
Hi Bill. great tip, thanks. i am trying the paypal to paypal option. i opened one personal account with my china info and want to transfer to my business account back home. i made a small test transaction and it work perfectly but now that i want to make a bigger transfer, paypal has limited my chinese account until i provide proof of residence. have you been through this? if so, how did you solve it? i have china construction bank account but i dont think their statement includes my address. what about unicom and their monthly bill? I cant seem to find my invoice online anyone has an idea? thanks in advance
I have tried every moneY sending company i can think of; my bank,transfer,wesTer union ox, etc every one has failed. All say they can do it. When they can Not, Most say you must be a cHinA nationalist to receive money. Am I missing something?
How do you actually plan to receive the money? Do you have a bank account in China?
Hello
I just Tried to send money to china bank using my bank(Us) but I cannot complete it and get this message.
“You are not permitted to create international wires for this account.”
Does anyone know about this?
Please let me know
Thank you
I tried sending money to my own bank account in china through Transferwise and was told the account should belong to a chinese national/same for alipay. I had to send it through a Chinese friend. I live in Hong Kong, if that makes a difference
my transaction in china was also rejected since i was told that the account must be from a chinese national. any suggestion what to do? thanks!
My son is teaching in Shanghai and has saved money while working there. He just got accepted to grad school back in the u.s. … how does he exchange the RMB for $ and bring back all the money that he saved with him?
It all depends on the amount. If it’s a lot…that’s going to be hard. He will be required to prove to the bank that he has paid all necessary taxes on that money before it can be converted to USD and transferred to the US.
Alternatives could be that he walks the money across the border (there are limits) or has trusted friends help him do that. He could also distribute money to friends in China who may have USD holdings that could work. He might have to either go through the red tape or get creative.
Xoom (Paypal) will not work for transferring money into China. It specifically states that “to receive money, your recipient must have a Chinese national ID.) China really makes it quite difficult to spend money here…
Hey Amanda, thanks for the clarification! You are correct. The way around this as a foreigner, though, is to transfer money to your Chinese Paypal account and then connect that to your Chinese bank account if you have one for transfer. It’s not a smooth transaction, but it usually works.
Sorry but this is not correct. You cannot traNSfer for example British pounds or Us dollars to an account that was not opened with a chinese national id card to subsequently transfer to RMB at your local bracnsh in china. so this excludes most if not all foreigners, unless they have long-term residence in mainland china and have been given a chinese national id.
You can convert British pounds for example into Chinese Yuan by a transfer to a person with a chinese national identity card, like a spouse.
for foreigners to traNSFER form home to china Two currencies need to be involved before rmb. So, as an example you can transfer british pounds into american dollars as a deposit in your chinese bank account as a foreigner. then you would have to do another transfer at your local branch. the single transaction limit is 31,00o CNY ( renminbi). It’s an expensive option.
I am Us Citizen trying tO get paid $2K For work done at a chinese university. They request my Bank information to do a wire transfer. Chinese university also requested my PASSPORT personal page which Chase my usa bank said they SHOULDN’T need and I Should not sebd over my passport info. What should I do?
I would send your passport over. Your passport number is not like your Social security number where it’s something you need to hide. In China, proper identification is often necessary to move money anywhere and when you live there, you give out your passport info to so many different people it’s not even funny. So it’s either send a copy of your passport page or don’t get the money.