clearbluesky Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 Hello, Do you know what amount of cash is allowed to carry to US when arriving as immigration? And also how we can transfer funds? My wife or I don't have bank account in US. Since I have been living out of US for many years now, so if we were to wire transfer funds from any of our accounts here in China before we leave, then we would have to send it to one of my family member's bank account in US. but the question would be how could we clear this as fund transfer based on immigration. Does anyone have any information on this ? Thank you Link to comment
rogerluli Posted February 1, 2008 Report Share Posted February 1, 2008 I believe you can bring in any amount of cash but any amount of $10,000 or more must be declared...ie...paperwork... Link to comment
jim_julian Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 There are a lot of restrictions on bringing money out of China, I won't deal with those, just issues bringing cash into the US. Rog is right, of course, when you hit $10,000 or more you must declare it at the POE on a Treasury Dept form. The US doesn't have a limit on how much you can bring. When you then open a US bank account you'll get questions about the source of this large amount of cash and the bank will file a report. Again, no real upper limit. The real question is taxes. Whose money is it and when was it earned. If you and your wife filed jointly (MFJ) then you are taxed on your world wide income (check the IRS site for the Pub that deals with this) if the money was earned in a year that you filed together. If the money was earned by your wife before an MFJ tax year then you do not owe US taxes. My wife brought in a significant amount of money she got from selling her restaurant. We filled out the papers as above. I discussed it with IRS on the phone. We never had a problem. One more thing ... hopefully you bring the money out in US dollars, I don't know how you'd change it if you had a large amount of RMB in the US ... maybe some one here has experience. Link to comment
Don Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 There are a lot of restrictions on bringing money out of China, I won't deal with those, just issues bringing cash into the US. Rog is right, of course, when you hit $10,000 or more you must declare it at the POE on a Treasury Dept form. The US doesn't have a limit on how much you can bring. When you then open a US bank account you'll get questions about the source of this large amount of cash and the bank will file a report. Again, no real upper limit. The real question is taxes. Whose money is it and when was it earned. If you and your wife filed jointly (MFJ) then you are taxed on your world wide income (check the IRS site for the Pub that deals with this) if the money was earned in a year that you filed together. If the money was earned by your wife before an MFJ tax year then you do not owe US taxes. My wife brought in a significant amount of money she got from selling her restaurant. We filled out the papers as above. I discussed it with IRS on the phone. We never had a problem. One more thing ... hopefully you bring the money out in US dollars, I don't know how you'd change it if you had a large amount of RMB in the US ... maybe some one here has experience. You might check HSBC and Bank of China. Both have many branches in the US and in China. Several have brought larges sums of money to china to buy homes and other items using their account at HSBC. You can just put your money into accounts in China and withdraw in the USA or leave it for the longer term. I am not sure of the amounts you can withdraw or how to exchange it to dollars. I am sure if you went to a local branch in China and ask them how to access the account in China and the US they can help you. Link to comment
izus Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US Link to comment
clearbluesky Posted February 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Link to comment
Sebastian Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Not necessarily true . BOC has the type of debit card that WILL work outside of China and IN The USA. RE: HSBC - if you go that route, get a premier account. Dead easy to open in China, Dead Easy to use in USA. HSBC has about 300 branches across the USA now. RE: BOC - sorry, they only have 2 branches in USA - NYC and LAX. But - they do have international clearing on many things. Link to comment
jimncherry Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Not necessarily true . BOC has the type of debit card that WILL work outside of China and IN The USA. RE: HSBC - if you go that route, get a premier account. Dead easy to open in China, Dead Easy to use in USA. HSBC has about 300 branches across the USA now. RE: BOC - sorry, they only have 2 branches in USA - NYC and LAX. But - they do have international clearing on many things. Yes you are right....most banks in China have two forms of cards that can be issued...one for local and one for traveling abroad. Link to comment
rogerluli Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 (edited) why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Not necessarily true . BOC has the type of debit card that WILL work outside of China and IN The USA. RE: HSBC - if you go that route, get a premier account. Dead easy to open in China, Dead Easy to use in USA. HSBC has about 300 branches across the USA now. RE: BOC - sorry, they only have 2 branches in USA - NYC and LAX. But - they do have international clearing on many things. Yes you are right....most banks in China have two forms of cards that can be issued...one for local and one for traveling abroad. The HSBC Premier account sounds good BUT...you have to keep $100K in it... Citibank has 8 branches in China now and has a Global Access thingie also but no info on minimums on their website... Edited February 13, 2008 by rogerluli (see edit history) Link to comment
Sebastian Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 (edited) why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Not necessarily true . BOC has the type of debit card that WILL work outside of China and IN The USA. RE: HSBC - if you go that route, get a premier account. Dead easy to open in China, Dead Easy to use in USA. HSBC has about 300 branches across the USA now. RE: BOC - sorry, they only have 2 branches in USA - NYC and LAX. But - they do have international clearing on many things. Yes you are right....most banks in China have two forms of cards that can be issued...one for local and one for traveling abroad. The HSBC Premier account sounds good BUT...you have to keep $100K in it... Citibank has 8 branches in China now and has a Global Access thingie also but no info on minimums on their website... it's 100,000 rmb to OPEN a HSBC premier account (about 14K USD) . If the OP is trying to get a one time transfer set up to the USA, I strongly suggest to carry the cash in USD across the border, and declare it at the POE. Anything else has fees to pay on at least 2 tiers, and eats away the value of the CASH. FWIW, I've never heard of 'fund transfer based on immigration.' and I've lived overseas a lot this century. Edited February 13, 2008 by Darnell (see edit history) Link to comment
rogerluli Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 why cant you just use a debit card ? just be sure your bank knows your traveling to the US China Debit system/logo is different from US. ATM from US will not take Chinese bank debit cards Not necessarily true . BOC has the type of debit card that WILL work outside of China and IN The USA. RE: HSBC - if you go that route, get a premier account. Dead easy to open in China, Dead Easy to use in USA. HSBC has about 300 branches across the USA now. RE: BOC - sorry, they only have 2 branches in USA - NYC and LAX. But - they do have international clearing on many things. Yes you are right....most banks in China have two forms of cards that can be issued...one for local and one for traveling abroad. The HSBC Premier account sounds good BUT...you have to keep $100K in it... Citibank has 8 branches in China now and has a Global Access thingie also but no info on minimums on their website... it's 100,000 rmb to OPEN a HSBC premier account (about 14K USD) . Ah only 100K RMB...My bad...That sounds fine then... Link to comment
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