How To Send Money From China
If you’re living as an ex-pat in China and have been doing so for at least one year, the chances are your income will have accumulated, especially as the cost of living here is relatively low. And if you’re working for a school, you’ll most likely live in an apartment on campus. Otherwise, your employer might be providing a stipend (an allowance) to pay the rent which will increase your finances.
When your income reaches 50,000 to 100,000 Chinese RMB I recommend transferring it from your bank account in China to your bank account in your home country, especially as the documents you need, such as an annual contract, will expire, especially if you change jobs. While you can send unlimited money from a bank account, this won’t be possible if you don’t have valid (concurrent) documents proving that the money you’ve earned is from the school or business where you’re working. However, make sure you leave enough savings to live on and enough to pay the transaction fee.
Firstly, you will need to check that your local or nearest bank where your salary is paid does carry out international money transfers — not all branches provide the service (although they should) due to staff inexperience which involves language barriers or difficulties. If the nearest branch doesn’t provide the service, they’ll send you to one which does which might be a taxi or an hour’s bus ride away. If they show you the branch on a Chinese search engine such as Baidu, take a photo of it or ask the staff to write it down so you’ll be able to show it to the taxi or bus driver. If you’d rather go by bus, ask a colleague or a student at your workplace which bus or buses to get.
Now, you’ll need to take the following:
Your passport
A valid contract — stamped. (stamped documents go a long way in China)
The tax number or code your employer uses to pay taxes from your salary. A photo of the information or the number written down will be sufficient.
Monthly records of your salary will have everything itemized such as tax and utility costs deducted. Depending on how much you want to transfer, be sure to take enough months paralleling the total amount. Each of the papers needs to be stamped by your business. If you’re not sure where to find the payslips, say ‘gongzi dan’ (Chinese for payslips or salary record) and someone will direct you to the appropriate office.
Statements from your Chinese bank showing proof of income and the total balance which will already be stamped by the bank.
The IBAN number of your account at home.
The BIC (Bank Identification Code) or Swift number of your home bank branch.
(Make sure your account number and sort code are clearly identifiable).
Further Information
International money transfers can take from one to three hours, especially if it’s the first time you’ve used the service.
If you send 500,000 RMB the bank will charge about 500 RMB
Once the transfer is completed, it should take up to three working days for the money to show in your account at home. If the bank doesn’t text or send you an email, check your account online. Make sure you keep the receipt from the Chinese bank just in case the money doesn’t or hasn’t shown.
Other Ways to Send and Receive Money
While the banking method is easily the safest and an unlimited amount can be transferred, other ways are as follows:
Using a Paypal account where you will need to link your Chinese bank card to your branch in your home country. The transaction fees might be higher.
You can use your Chinese bank card at any ATM machine outside of China provided the machines have the Union Pay Logo displayed. However, the risks are that your card doesn’t get accepted or doesn’t work. Therefore, it’s best to make sure your Chinese card works before you leave the country. Furthermore, you’re only allowed to withdraw up to the equivalent of 10,000 RMB a day and 100,000 RMB a year.
Otherwise, taking loose cash in your hand luggage before you board a flight isn’t recommended as you’re only allowed to take 20,000 RMB out of the country.