Korean Job Discussion Forums

[roscoe2000]

I'm finishing up my time here in Korea and it's time to cash out. I've not sent any money home but the final amount will be about 20k.

what's the best way to get it all out of here? if I understand correctly, bank transfers charge flat fees, on both sides. The korean bank and Canadian bank will both charge me between 10-20 dollars.

is the exchange rate generally fair on those transfers? if I send $20,000 home all at once is there any chance that I will be taxed on this when I return?

what other options do I have?

[spliff]

Put half down your pants, the other half in your sock. Hint: wear brief type underwear and don't wear loose fitting socks.

[Underwaterbob]

I think you will have a great deal of trouble trying to transfer $20'000 from Korea to Canada all at once. Entirely unhelpful I know, just saying be prepared to take the above post seriously.

[roscoe2000]

look, that was the first thing that came to mind. literally, cashing out. i've taken about $6,000 home before. it fit comfortably in my shoe. for $20,000 i'm going to need bigger shoes.

they told me i can transfer up to $20,000 at once at Citibank here. It's what happens when the money gets there that I'm worried about.

[ReeseDog]

I read elsewhere on this forum someone advising another to convert all monies to 500 euro notes and stick them in a wallet. That sounded pretty good to me, actually. Anyone see any holes in that idea?

[spliff]

Wear boots.

[brento1138]

[afsjesse]

I honestly dont think you have anything to worry about. Lots of my friends are from Canada and they told me that they have Non-resident status so dont need to pay taxes, or something to that tone. I know that going to the US you can take up to 10,000 USD and be fine. I'm assuming Canada has something.

I would just wire 1/2 your money home and take the rest with you. The exchange rate is going to be the same when you cash your won in or transfer it any way. In fact, if you transfer with the korean bank you use, you generally get a better transfer rate than going to a place with a bag of cash.

[mnhnhyouh]

[KoreanAmbition]

Ummm, if you were just gone one or 2 years, and you're returning, then I think claiming you were a non-resident is gonna be really really tough.

I mean, face it, you didn't even stay gone very long.


I know some Chinese guys, and one of them brought $15,000 cash into the country. He got checked at immigration for whatever reasons, and they found the money.

I believe they took $5000 of it. (Or 50%... but I didn't want to embelish ).


When are you leaving?

Hmmm, laundering money legally (yet strategically) is something best planned ahead of time.

Good luck... I say bring back a whole bunch of papers, files, documents, etc etc, get as large bills as possible, and spread them throughout with the rest of the papers.

Or what about buying a nice big brick of gold. Will that go through the metal detectors?

[RJjr]

I took mine out in $1000 and $500 travelers checks and checked the amount in at Chicago customs. No big deal. If you don't want to report it to customs, I would go strictly with $1000 travelers checks or the 500 Euro notes.

[RJjr]

[cdninkorea]

If you can prove to the bank you earned the money legally you can send any amount you want. Unless you earned less than 20 million this year, which hopefully isn't the case, just bring your pay slips and that should be enough.

If you don't want to go through the trouble, wire half home and take the other half in cash- you can carry the equivalent to $10,000 USD without declaring it.

[bassexpander]

[ds_fan]

on this topic, didnt want ot start another new thread today, iv just got my alien card from director darth vadar. Im going to the bank in a few days to arrange a bank account. I asked which bank they want to use and they said NH Bank, (nong-hyup) Anyone got any positive/negative experiences?

My main concern is how easy are they to deal with when shifting money from korea to uk once iv finished my sentence here.
thanks