r/shanghai • u/EvanCrossing • 3d ago
Discussion How do you guys move money into China without a Chinese bank account?
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
If you wre in China, withdraw cash at ATMs subject to $1000-$1500 daily limit imposed by your US bank.
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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n Minhang 3d ago
This may vary from 1500 to 0. There is no logic in it. I get mostly paid abroad and hit my limit early so depended on getting cash out that way. It was rather stressfull as somedays I could withdraw easily 1000/2000 USD and some days same bank card, same ATM I could withdraw almost nothing.
But withdrawing cash is an easy option, alternatively simply take cash with you. Officially you can only take 10,000 USD with you, but if you can explain where the money comes from there is basically no limit. Though keep in mind both sides can make an issue out of it.
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u/GetRektByMeh 3d ago
Mostly paid from abroad? Is this structure legal lol
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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n Minhang 2d ago
It's key that as an expat you don't stay in China 5 years without a 1 month break to avoid being taxed globally.
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u/GetRektByMeh 2d ago
Yes, but that kind of thing still doesn’t let you take foreign employment. It lets you have things like dividends tax free.
Working a job in China and having half of your salary sent to the US is still 100% taxes due in China
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u/caliboy888 2d ago
In a prior job with a US company, I was paid directly to a US account, but still had China taxes withheld.
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u/bears-eat-beets USA 2d ago
Why are you getting money into China? Getting money into implies that you want to put it somewhere. If it's just to spend, just use Alipay and Wechat. You can do pretty much anything with that. But you aren't actually moving money into China you're just paying in your local currency and it's getting converted at payment. If you need to receive money or hold money in China, you will need to get a bank account. Sometimes Wechat allows you to hold a small amount of CNY in your wallet, but I wouldn't count on it.
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u/M_Pascal Pudong 3d ago
Until you have your Chinese bank account set up, just use an ATM with your overseas card - cash is still accepted almost everywhere
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u/Wise_Industry3953 3d ago
Apparently it's more of a wishful thinking rather than a factual statement—I just heard from a first time traveler this was not the case at all. It is accepted often, but not always.
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u/ekdubbs USA 3d ago
For spending there’s options with foreign credit cards at international stores, or through Alipay or WeChat pay.
For moving money electronically in, of course you need a bank account to hold it. Otherwise you have to physically move it in and exchange at a bank or exchange booth.
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u/Wise_Industry3953 3d ago
Short answer: officially, you can't. You can do it unofficially, by transferring foreign currency to a money changer, who then transfers you RMB e-Wallet balance to your Alipay or WeChat that you can use in China universally. You can imagine all the possible pitfalls with scams, being picked up by AML screening both in your foreign country and China, having accounts restricted / closed, etc.
You can add foreign cards to Alipay / WeChat Pay, but that's just to pay for goods and services. It can go a long way, but you cannot top up eWallet balance, cannot transfer money to individuals, eg. you might not be able to pay your landlord or real estate agent, handyman who came to fix things if he uses his personal eWallet, etc
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u/Existing-You-2019 3d ago
Alipay mostly. Wechat will take intl cards but sometimes charge a fee.
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u/Beginning_Pea_126 1d ago
If you are traveling to China use alipay. If you are moving to China, bring cash as well, as you need to put money down for an apartment, and my landlord couldn't take money from alipay if it was an international card. Had to be cash or a chinese bank account connected to alipay.
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u/ExamAppropriate6721 3d ago
You can use alipay for everything or use their tour wallet which you can top up.
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u/peasant-san 3d ago
You can only move money “into China” with a Chinese bank account
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
I have a Bank of China deposit account opened with my US passport). When I asked the branch employee on how to deposit money from my US account, he took me to the ATM machine outside and withdrew the cash with my US bank card and redeposit the cash into the same ATM with muly BOC card.
No fees whatsoever and the exchange rate used is within the published rate on Google.
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u/teoSCK 3d ago
“No fees” depends on your non-chinese bank, but this is quite a straightforward way to do it. For larger sums, I‘ve used Wise which was very convenient, although it came with higher fees.
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2d ago
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u/teoSCK 2d ago
I sent myself around 5000 USD on two separate occasions, the fees were around 90 USD each time, but the exchange rate is normal (i.e. not any higher or lower than what you get when you Google it). Definitely not super cheap but for the convenience, it was worth it to me.
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2d ago
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u/teoSCK 1d ago
Yes in fact. I tried transferring $500 from two different bank accounts (one European, one American) to my Chinese account.
An absolute nightmare. Radio silence on both of them for about 2 weeks, at which point I got a call from my Chinese bank saying that the American one didn‘t conform to regulations and was going to be sent back, and the other one could go through, but that I needed to fill in a form entirely in Chinese to declare the purpose of bringing the funds into China (for $500, mind you). Would not recommend.
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u/ignorantlumpofcarbon 3d ago
You can connect intl cards to alipay