Hi, I may be moving out to Shanghai in August and was wondering what the best way to transfer money back to the uk is? I will have an ICBC account as that is what I would be paid in to. Thanks
Ezra Benson: go to the bank take your passport, work certificate, contract, pay notice and your tax certificate. Have the swift code and address along with your account info of the destination account. Give all the above to the one English speaking teller and wait about 45 minutes to an hour. Same skit every month …enjoy!
Kelsey Fitzgerald: Thanks for the info!! Would rather pay fees and commission than wait that long in a bank.
Ezra Benson: yeah so would we all…15 years in China now and its gotten a bit better but not much…..I pay for the most expensive credit card and all VIP services…no change in transfers…some days better than others but still a lot of wasted time in the bank.
Abel Wilson: HSBC, you can link the two accounts and transfer online. HOWEVER that’s not the tricky part. You will need the docs listed above as you cannot transfer rmb out of china as an expat. You need to convert to £ first. The reason you need a tax and payslip is that the amount you can transfer home is dictated by your net pay, you cannot transfer more than you have earned, this is significant because i didn’t get a final work permit until I had been here 5 weeks, so I wasn’t able to transfer until then. HSBC store my contract, pay info and work permit so i only have to take my tax slip and passport each time i want to transfer. It took over a month to work this out and then two months to actually transfer any money. Its time consuming but doable, HSBC certainly seem the best if you’re from the uk, their charges are lower and the service is quicker, at least in my branch. Best advice is to open an HSBC account in the uk before leaving and then open one in china when you arrive.
Kelsey Fitzgerald: Thanks for that, I am thinking about opening an ICBC account in London, then maybe I can link them. Such little info out there for something I think a lot of people want to do. Thanks again.
Abel Wilson: Mark Bissett yes, exactly. I’ve just gone through it, hopefully the post will help.
Abel Wilson: AFAIK HSBC is the only bank in China that will allow you to link accounts.
Arielle Powers: If your job is providing proper tax documentation it’s easy from most major banks that offer english online banking. I would make sure your job is providing this as sometimes companies will say they do but do not actually.
Maggie Mendez: Just want to point out, ICBC China and ICBC London (or anywhere else) are separate organizations. You cannot create an ICBC account abroad and transfer your funds from China there. When my husband and I left China, we struggled with transferring money in an easy, stress free way that we ended up simply withdrawing cash and exchanging all RMB abroad. Screw the banks and their anal regulations in China.
Paris Chapman: Just been through this easiest way I found was to have a HSBC bank account seamless transfer anywhere in the world
Kelsey Fitzgerald: This seems the most logical option! Is it easy to open a HSBC account in Shanghai?
Arielle Powers: Yes this is what I meant above however still need the tax papers.
Abel Wilson: Mark Bissett yes, actually easier than the UK.
Abel Wilson: Abel Wilson: but make sure you open an HSBC account in the UK before you leave, then you’ll be able to link them.
Norah Crawford: ABC
Daisy Lynch: If your papers are legit and company pays your taxes, it’s easy to send. But need to show bank the tax paid receipt. Get it from your employer.
Daisy Lynch: You will need to show all the documents and they will then exchange any amount into the main current and keep it in your Account at ICBC. When you need to transfer, they will transfer from the foreign currency account. The only pain is you need to do this regularly and not last minute.As long as your employment is legit you will have no issues.
Abel Wilson: Daisy Lynch: I actually had to get the tax slip from the tax office??
Daisy Lynch: Abel Wilson: usually your employer will have a copy because they will pay from your salaries
Abel Wilson: Daisy Lynch: my bank doesn’t accept the employers copy unfortunately. I have to go to the taxol office each month, which is fine as it’s really quick and efficient, which was a nice surprise 🙂
Millie Townsend: Bitcoins
Kelsey Fitzgerald: I have looked into that and if HSBC isn’t an option then I may have to go down the bitcoin route. Thanks
Kylee Hamilton: It’s very, very easy to just go to ICBC and send money home. Better yet, you can use the app to do it in literally 3 minutes. No need to mess around with sending it to paypal or any other BS
Maverick Bryan: HSBC
Olivia Tran: Easiest way is Alipay – get a Chinese friend you trust to send the money via International transfer on Alipay. As a foreigner you can’t do it – it has to be a Chinese person. I get my friend to do it regularly from my ICBC account in China to my HSBC account in the UK. Service charge is about 50RMB (£6) to transfer 10,000RMB (£1100)Seriously way easier than all the other suggestions here. Takes like 3 minutes to do and the ££ will be in your home account normally after 24 hours or so
Kinsley Patton: There is a wechat group start changing it from now into dollars, euro, pounds as per EX website. Hit me up
Karsyn Joseph: 2x paypal accounts. Instant. Lose around 5%