You’ve saved up some money and now you want to send it home, but what do you need to do?
Well, let me show you how to send money home from China.
So, you have been working in China for a while, saved up a load of money and decided you need to send it home. You’ve Googled transferring money from China and there are many options but none of them seem right. You either have to ask a friend, get a hefty fee or you can only send a small amount. It could take months to send all your money home.
Don’t worry there is another way, and it is totally legal!
As with most bureaucratic things in China, it isn’t super easy and I warn you even when you do go to the bank it could still take up several hours of your day, but it will be worth it in the end. So, get your documents sorted, make sure you have a few hours to spare, head to your Chinese bank of choice with a snack and full battery on your phone, and you will be fine.
For me this is a no-brainer, it is the best way to send money home from China. Yes, it may take a little bit longer but you can send as much money as you earned that year back home.
Step 1 Get the documents you need.
This could take a few days to set up depending on your company’s HR department. You need a copy of your contract and also you need a proof of income form. This shows your name, passport number, how much you earn yearly and monthly. This should be stamped by your HR department to show you have earned the money. If you have physical payslips then you could use these but this form is easier than a load of payslips.
You need your tax report for the year to show you legally made that money in China at your company. You can do this by going to your local tax office and requesting the form, or if you have the self-assessment tax app you can download it straight from there and print it off.
You need:
Your passport which should also have your valid work visa in.
Your bank address, IBAN, and BIC number of the account you are transferring the money to. This is standard if you are from the UK but might be called something different in your country so Google this to find out. If you have online banking in your home country, then this should be pretty easy to find.
Your Chinese bank card.
A whole lot of patience.
So, to sum it up here is a list:
1. Work contract
2. Proof of income/payslips
3. Tax report
4. Passport and visa
5. Bank details
6. Chinese Bankcard
7. Snack (optional)
8. Portable phone charger (as you might be a while)
Ok, so now you have all the documents set it’s time to take them to the bank. I ran into a few complications when I first did this so here’s how to avoid them.
When I arrived at my local bank (I bank with ICBC FYI) they said I couldn’t do it there. So not all banks can send money abroad. The lady was very kind and showed me the location of a different branch of ICBC that could transfer money. So, off I headed to the new location.
Tip 1 – Check your bank transfers money abroad
My name on my tax report didn’t match my bank details. This is something that might happen when you apply for your tax assessment. You can’t get the money you are owed if your card name doesn’t match. A lot of banks put in your name differently because foreigners often have more than one name so make sure the bank and tax report match.
Tip 2 – Check your names match up
Another complication I had was I opened my bank account in Nanjing, but I now live in Beijing. Apparently, that meant I couldn’t send money from Beijing. Luckily, I could open a new account in Beijing and transfer the money from the Nanjing account to the Beijing account. WHY??? I will never know.
Tip 3 – Send money in the same city as your bank account
Ok, so complications aside it was nothing that couldn’t be resolved but it did mean I had to go back on more than one occasion. Hopefully, you won’t have these problems and it should be straightforward.
The bank will make you fill in a form with all the details of your bank and who the money is going to.
Tip 4 – Keep this as you can use it again the next time you send money home (as long as it’s the same details.)
Then, once you have all these give them to the clerk behind the counter and they will do the rest. They will take copies of your passport, contract, tax info, etc. They will take pictures for their computer of your bank card, passport, etc. First, they will change the money you want to send into your chosen currency, then they will send it to your account. As these are separate processes it feels like they are just doing the same thing over and over but I’m pretty sure it’s a computer system thing.
After the different steps, you will have to sign some forms and check the rate and fee. The great thing about exchanging money at the bank is it is pretty bang on the same as the exchange rate that day. Also, the fee is pretty minimal in comparison to other ways of changing money.
Once you are finished the money goes into your bank within a few hours. I was pretty surprised as I thought it would take a few days but the money appeared pretty much straight away. It took longer for me at the bank than to get the money.
Once you have done this once it gets easier and the more you do it the faster it will be. Obviously, there are pros and cons to this.
Pros –
You can send as much money as you earned and paid taxes on
Really fast
Great rates
Small fee
Cons –
Need to get all the documents
Can take a long time at the bank
Have to go in person rather than online
Personally, I feel the pros outweigh the cons and I’m happy to do this once or twice a year to know that I can legally transfer all of my hard-earned cash out of China.
After living in China for 4 years and trying a few different ways of transferring money out of China I have found this one to be the best. Not necessarily the quickest but certainly one of the most secure and cheapest ways to send money home.
I hope you found this useful share it with an ex-pat friend who might need some help!