Transferring money out of China

[Anou]

I've been working in China for a few years, and am planning on going back home. Does anyone have any experiences with transferring money overseas? I would like to know what I'd need to do and what documentation I'd need to provide to the bank. Any tips would be great too! 

Thanks.

[陳德聰]

I don't have any special tips but my boyfriend brought bank drafts with him when he came over. The fees he paid were less than they would have been for a wire transfer, but obviously it's less convenient. What currency are you hoping to exchange into?

[gato]

If you were legally employed and paid income taxes, you can present your work permit, a copy of your employment agreement and record from the tax bureau for payment of income taxes to your local Bank of China branch to wire the money overseas.

[Anou]

I'm planning on exchanging to CAD or USD, with the former being more convenient. 

 

Yes, I'm legally employed. Where can I get a record of my income tax payments? Would that be something from my employer?

[gato]

You can get a copy of your payment records from the tax bureau of the city district where your company is based. You'll need to bring your passport.

[Sinofaze]

If you have an ICBC account, you can just go to the head-branch of your city and locate the international transfers department.

 

You will have to provide them with payslips that equal to the total amount of your transfer. Say for example you want to transfer 元25,000 yet your salary is 元5k a month. Then you will need to take in 5 X payslips.

 

You will also need to provide a tax notice from your employer, which is likely to be on your payslips anyway.

 

Also, you will have to take in your home-country's bank's switch-codes in order for the transfer to happen, along with your passport and a copy of your employment contract.

 

There is a set transfer-fee of 元200.

 

In my experience, it took only a few hours for the transfer to show in my account.

 

I'm not sure, but I think this transfer system also works in BoC.

[abcdefg]

I'm not sure, but I think this transfer system also works in BoC.

 

Yes, BOC also does international wire transfers. Need to go to one of the major branches. Smaller neighborhood branches won't be able to help.

 

Term for it is 电汇。As in 我要办个国际电汇。

[LinZhenPu]

What about those who happen to have money that can't be backed up by tax records or payslips? For example, English teachers whose living expenses are only just covered by their official emoloyment and have saved up cash by working in private one-on-one tutoring arrangements for money under the table.

Is it a viable option to use such money to purchase BTC (Bitcoin) and then exchange the BTC back to 'real' currency and withdraw it to one's bank account in one's home country?

To my knowledge (hint: educate me) there is no legal basis to prevent people from doing that and it's probably done all the time.

[陳德聰]

That is precisely one of the reasons people seem to think Bitcoin is bad. But the money lost in transaction fees necessary for buying and selling Bitcoin may be barriers depending on how much money you're planning on converting.

[LinZhenPu]

How ever much money you're going to lose in transaction fees is going to be worth it to avoid an officer demanding you to tell them where you got the money from, total loss of the money and potentially a ten year ban from the country for violating the rules of your work permit. And I don't think the fees are too bad. Since Bitcoin is such a volatile currency, you could just buy when the value is low and sell when it is high to make up for it.

[Sinofaze]

@LinZhenPu

 

 

What about those who happen to have money that can't be backed up by tax records or payslips?

 

It shouldn't really matter where the cash you put into your Chinese bank comes from. It's only for the money you are transfering out that you use your employer's tax-notice and payslips.

 

However, I can see that if you don't have an employer (with a contract, work-visa, payslips and tax-notice), then making an international bank transfer is not an option for you.

[LinZhenPu]

I did mean money that can't be backed up with tax records that one wishes to take back home with them. The fact that it doesn't really matter where the cash comes from when it comes to simply depositing it in your bank account is what makes it very easy to get money out by simply exchanging it to BTC online. I believe one option is using a Chinese friend whom you trust, as Chinese citizens aren't subjected to such requirements to transfer money internationally.

[Sinofaze]

 

I did mean money that can't be backed up with tax records that one wishes to take back home with them.

I think there's a crossed-line here.

 

I'm talking about just the transfering of money from Chinese bank to home-country bank. In this transaction, you only need to use your employer's tax-code and payslip. It doesn't matter where the cash comes from. If you are leagally employed in China, you're safe. They won't ask where your cash came from.

 

This is not an issue of tax-verification, it's issue of legitimate employability. That is all.

[LinZhenPu]

Ok, got you.

[imron]

What about those who happen to have money that can't be backed up by tax records or payslips?

You get a Chinese friend to go and help you.  Chinese natives can send up to a certain amount overseas every year (it used to be like US$50,000, and is probably even higher now).  You take your cash with your friend to the bank and they make the transfer in their name to your overseas account.  Problem solved.

 

you could just buy when the value is low and sell when it is high to make up for it.

The same advice works for the stock market.  By low, sell high!! It's easy  

 

Personally, I wouldn't use Bitcoin for storing/transferring any sort of money that I wanted to keep.

[LinZhenPu]

Well BTC is way more volatile than stocks.

You get a Chinese friend to go and help you.  Chinese natives can send up to a certain amount overseas every year (it used to be like US$50,000, and is probably even higher now).  You take your cash with your friend to the bank and they make the transfer in their name to your overseas account.  Problem solved.

How do you know your friend won't screw you over by keeping your money? You need someone that you have a good trust relationship with... which you may simply not have.

[imron]

Well BTC is way more volatile than stocks.

All the more reason to stay away from it.

 

How do you know your friend won't screw you over by keeping your money?

Because you're there in the bank with them, filling in the form with your overseas bank information and verifying it all before handing over the cash directly to the teller.  There's not really much room for them to screw you over.

[LinZhenPu]

So you both walk up to the teller like that and the banks have no problem using your friend's account as an intermediary when it's obvious what's going on?

[imron]

I've never had any problems the several times I did it.

And it doesn't use your friend's account as an intermediary. Your friend doesn't even need an account at the bank, they just need to take their ID.

[LinZhenPu]

Even better. Well, I guess the government must definitely be aware of it and they would have closed that loophole already if they didn't want it to be open.

I wonder if permanent residents can use the PR card? From what I gather the card is the same as the standard Chinese ID card, with the obvious difference being that it's tied to a foreign national and not a Chinese citizen.