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Tobacco Fiend
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 10:08 am Post subject: Passport stamped when you send money home? |
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Friend and Colleagues,
What's going on here?
When I send money home, my banker sometimes stamps my passport to record the amount sent.
Sometimes he doesn't.
It all seems to depend upon whether he's in a good mood or not. Good mood: smile, thank you, no passport stamp.
Bad mood: Bang! A permanent record on the back page of my passport of having sent money out of Korea.
Does anyone know what the current state of the law is?
Can we exit Korea and/or send money out of Korea in excess of USD 10,000 a year?
Just wondering.
Tobacco Fiend |
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Gord
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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There is no limit on the amount of money you can send out of Korea. The $10,000 limit you are thinking of is the limit on cash you can carry across the border into the U.S. without declaring it.
I can walk into the U.S. with eleventy billion dollars in cash, but I simply have to inform the customs officers I have it.
You may get into trouble if Immigration decides to look into your stay in Korea one day and note that you sent home more money than you made at your job, but that's about it. |
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mack the knife
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...
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| Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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| ...I can walk into the U.S. with eleventy billion dollars... |
Yeah, and the IRS will be all over you like a cheap suit...Not to mention the FBI, and possibly the MIB  , FTC  , CNN  , CNBC  , and NAACP  .
To the OP,
If you're worried about the stamp, have a Korean wire the money for you, or, use the brain and buy a bank draft (thus obviating expensive transaction fees). |
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howie2424
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, I've been here a couple years now and wish someone could clarify this. I have wired money home every month and never had my passport stamped. My buddy in the next town over has his stamped on every occasion. I've been told on this board and elsewhere that you are limited to sending out $10,000 US per year but the folks at my bank don't seem to think so. They claim it's a $1000 a day with no cumulative limit (for obvious reasons I wasn't about to argue the point with them). I know I wired over $10,000 home last year with no problem. I would love for someone to clarify this as well but suspect that like so many things in Korea there are umpteen different stories and you'll never know which one is right. |
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usteach
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 5:18 pm Post subject: Passport Stamped at Bank |
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I lived in Masan last year and at my local branch of the KOREA EXCHANGE BANK they indeed stamped my passport EVERY time i sent money back to the US. When I hit the 10,000US dollar mark they said no more, so i then had a Korean friend wire transfer the rest of my money home.... I think it totally depends on where you live and the mood of your bank teller. I now live in Pusan and have never had my passport stamped.
But do keep in mind the 10,000 $ US limit as they sometimes will enforce it. Best option is to get a Korean friend you trust to wire the money for you to your account. Good luck. |
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crazylemongirl
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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I have never had my passport stamped when I exchange money at the kookmin branch in bucheon (damn nice guy in there too). But at my local branch in incheon when I tried to wire money they asked for my tax number. So it varies from bank to bank etc. what happens.
Keep your exchange recpiets though (unless your wiring more than you offically earn) never hurts to have a paper trail if everything is above board.
CLG |
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weened
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Location: May you live to be a thousand years.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| My guy likes to give me the wink-wink, nudge-nudge deal with all my transactions; said he was charging a lower percentage. I like him. In his absence I receive full charge and the stamp. Like so much of the bureaucracy here, the J-factor affects your relationship. I think a friendly attitude on top of the rockstar/foreigner/practice english with me thing can become lubricating capital in that relationship. Also, I hear that you could only send 2/3 of your salary home. Don't know where i got that from, yet it remains there, in my dome. |
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Blue Flower
Joined: 23 Feb 2003
Location: The realisation that I only have to endure two more weeks in this filthy, perverted, nasty place!
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| mack the knife wrote: |
| [use the brain and buy a bank draft (thus obviating expensive transaction fees). |
could you explain this? I'm always looking at ways to save money. |
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ratslash
Joined: 08 May 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:41 am Post subject: |
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| i go to the chb near where i live. the first time they took a copy of my passport. didn't stamp it. i kept the original documentation that they gave me and ever since, so long as i take these papers with me, they haven't even asked to see my passport. which is nice! |
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BTM
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Back in the saddle.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:58 am Post subject: |
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| See also.... |
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JackSarang
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 10:16 pm Post subject: |
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| My branch of Hana Bank stamps my passport every time. Always. They won't wire money if I don't have my passport with me. My back page is full, the nice ladies have started on the second last page. Last time I was in there she was even adding it all up for some reason... so I don't have a clear answer either. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2003 12:16 am Post subject: |
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| Gord wrote: |
There is no limit on the amount of money you can send out of Korea. The $10,000 limit you are thinking of is the limit on cash you can carry across the border into the U.S. without declaring it.
I can walk into the U.S. with eleventy billion dollars in cash, but I simply have to inform the customs officers I have it.
You may get into trouble if Immigration decides to look into your stay in Korea one day and note that you sent home more money than you made at your job, but that's about it. |
Yup, don't worry people, there is no limit on how much you can exchange. Some banks are still stuck in the past and think there are rules limiting how much you send out, hence the stamp. For instance, the local nonghyp stamps, while my local KEB doesn't. If you have a problem with it, just go to another branch of that bank, or another bank all together. |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 11:17 am Post subject: |
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No limit indeed but you must be careful what you have at the other end (home country) and how much you spend in a year...
As for transfer method, I prefer the ole wire transfer, cheap, fast and efficient. However, some of the people on here seem to be paying higher fees for this service when they should not be.
Like I said before, my home bank charges nothing and I just pay for the fee here in Korea.
I just made a deal with the RBC BEFORE leaving....as simple as that.
As for stamps on the passport...it never happened to me, but some of my friends have had theirs stamped. |
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