Taking money out of China

[danielvesey1990]

I am going to be teaching in Zhuhai for a year starting in just over a week. I am hoping to save as much money as I can, as I will spend most of my days off working voluntarily for an English newspaper in Guangzhou. Therefore, when I finish the year of teaching I would like to have a nice bit of money saved up.

 

The only worry I have is being able to take money out of China afterwards, basically if I will be able to transfer it into my English bank account or not. When I arrive they will obviously make a bank account for me but I reckon the account won't have the ability to transfer money to UK accounts. Has anyone successfully transferred money or know ways how to do it? If worst comes to worst I would take all the cash out with me lol, but I wouldnt want to go through customs with a load of cash for them to say prove this is yours..

 

Thanks

 

Dan

[anonymoose]

If you are employed legally, you should have official documentation that will either allow you to transfer your money to your UK bank account, or take it out of China in cash. There are usually substantial transaction fees involved in bank transfers, so you might find that carrying cash is a better option. There is a limit to how much cash you can take out of China without having the necessary documentation (I don't remember the exact figure, but it is something like 20000 yuan for foreigners), and you can take up to £10000 into the UK without having to declare it. You can take more than that, but you need to declare it. It would also be wise to carry official documentation (or copies if you don't have the originals, such as your "foreign expert" certificate) just to show that the money was legitimately earned.

[danielvesey1990]

Hey thanks for the reply.

 

This is the thing, I wasn't able to get a working visa because I don't have two years experience teaching in China. I do have a degree, I just graduated from Uni and I did teach there for six months four or so years ago when I was 19/20 in China. However, back then it was my first time to China and I was naive and went through an agency, who took half of my money and never got me the correct visa, so I worked on a tourist. Now though I understand the importance of a working visa, so I went through the application with the school and sent them a medical. Unfortunately they said I did not have the experience to get one so they would put me on a year business visa, obtained from Shenzhen. I am hoping this business visa will be ok to teach on, it cost around £700, for which I will pay half and the school will pay half, then reimburse me my half after six months.

 

Originally I was supposed to be going to Shanghai to do a three month internship for Shanghai Daily newspaper, but after an extremely stressful visa process it fell through as there are now no internship visas in China. Having already booked my flights, and putting much energy into learning the language, I had to go out there anyway so I have had to accept the fact of teaching on a business visa so that I can do some work for newspapers on the side, I am hoping I will have no problems.

 

Like I have said main issue I am thinking about is the money. I was hoping to save around 50,000 - 60,000 yuan for the year, as I will be getting paid around 10,000 - 11,000 yuan a month at a teaching centre. The main reason I got the job was because I have been personally recommended by a friend who works there who is a good teacher and has been in China for around four years. The year business visa is multiple entry so I can go into Hong Kong as much as I like, maybe I could keep just changing the yuan into English money every time I go there, if I can't transfer it into my bank account. 

[Lu]

Try searching the forums a bit, there have been threads about this in the past. In short: it's hard; if you have documentation, it's not hard but just complicated.

[danielvesey1990]

Ok Cheers Lu I will browse through soon and look for some threads on this topic 

[Simon_CH]

Uh oh, bad timing it seems... you may want to rethink this a little bit given the recent crackdown on foreigners, mostly teachers, with irregular Visa arrangements.

[danielvesey1990]

Rethink? If you read what I said I have already spent a lot on flights and learning Mandarin. I am going there to work for English papers, I tried to make my stay as secure as possible if that means working on a business I will have To do so, if I happen to get deported then thats life, I am sure I will do more than ok in the UK or elsewhere

[Simon_CH]

Fair enough, just make sure you understand the potential consequences of that setup. The fines for both the employer and employees are very steep now, and the consequences for deportation rather drastic. No more travelling to China for business or tourist purposes for several years... If you know and don't mind, who am I to tell you otherwise.

[dementior]

In "zhuhai" there are a lot of ways to spend your hard-working earned money... be careful hehe

 

as for the money I keep checking updates on "transferwise": improbable, but maybe some day it is possible again to transfer to/out of China with their system...

 

And since you are very close to Hong Kong you could open an account there too. There are companies which move money from mainland to Hong Kong having accounts on both sides. And their fees are lower than using banks that is for sure. So you could use them to transfer money from mainland to HK, then to your account there and I guess from HK is easier to move your money back to UK. A friend of mine Chinese national did it that way, but the other way round when she finished her contract in HK.

 

cheers

[danielvesey1990]

Simon CH I know what you are saying, but I do not really have much of a choice. Basically I had to change my flights three times, after everything with the Shanghai Daily thing fell through, so I have spent over £1100 on them and a lot of time learning Mandarin. I could have just gone for a holiday, but it would have been a pretty pointless and expensive one. Therefore I thought I would get a teaching job with my friend in Zhuhai and do some freelance stuff on the side, as well as working with a Guangzhou paper I have spoke to. Anyway I went through all of the process with them, did a medical over here and sent it to them and then last minute they have said I can't get a work visa. I have a degree, some teaching experience but not two years. They have told me to go on a year business visa from Shenzhen which I am not particularly keen on, but what else can I do...If worst comes to worst and I did get in trouble for teaching on a business that is the schools fault no mine, I will leave and if I can't go back I can't go back, thats life. 

 

I wasnt trying to be rude, It just came across as you didn't read my situation and you think I am ignorant to what is happening. I have tried to make my stay as secure as possible, I am going there to improve my Mandarin and get expereince in journalism. A year later I would try and get a job as a feature writer or editor at CCTV in Beijing and if I couldn't I would come back to the UK. 

 

If it all goes wrong it goes wrong, at least I can rest assured that I tried my best and it wasn't meant to be 

[danielvesey1990]

Dementior thanks for the advice Haha how come it is easy to spend your money in Zhuhai ? I won't be gambling in Macau if thats what you mean!

 

Yeah I will look into creating a bank account in HK but I thought you needed to have a Hong Kong ID card to do that? I am sure I will come up with something, even if I just have to keep going to HK every few months and change Yuan into either HK$ or English money. There is no limit to the HK$ you can bring out of China so if I can't change it to UK pounds then thats what I might do. If they did question me as to why I have so many HK$ in cash I can say I won it in Macao haha

[dementior]

I thought you knew well what is the reputation of Zhuhai hehe

You will find out there anyway, but basically there is a lot of friendly women there to cater Macao visitors who stay overnight in Zhuhai