Latest on leaving Vietnam with over $5000USD?

It's hard to earn $5000, but I think it's easy to take $5000 out of VN. Just move in / move out several times, each time $1000-2500 - Tourist visa. 

Hi All, I also intend to hand carry USD9k (in 100 dollar note) from HCMC to Singapore. My intention is to make a declaration to avoid problem with the authorities. I have employment contract, salary slip, resident card and bank withdrawal receipt as support document.

Is there any other documents i need to produce?

Thanks

Possible you might need a proof, of paid taxes/insurances

My employment contract indicated tax is paid by Company.

I have no experience but is it possible to go to the customs office now and discuss? If all ok, can you be given a permission letter to show at the airport?

Just curious, why not wire the 9k? Is safer and avoid hassle at the customs.

For 9k USD the transfer fees, be it private or via bank, the fees are negligible.

My gut feel is if your are met with a upright officer, you will be guided with the right procedures but if not, you might ending up paying "admin fees" + "taxes" + the actual taxes. However, I suppose experiences vary.

Once, I was sending a customer off at the airport & he was carrying 15k. He tried to be legal & end up with debates with the guy in uniform. Fortunately, he did this before going in the check-in gate. Long story short, he trusted the money with me and I transferred via bank for him.

The issue in Vietnam I reckoned is not about doing the right thing. Very much we want to do it right (as a Singaporean way) but the environment here prohibited it with many "grey areas" and inconsistencies. The "officials" somehow have their way in doing what they do & is accepted by the general public.

As foreigners, we have to be liquid & not insist on impressing our culture, concept, integrity or whatever values each one of us may have. We may not agree to certain things, but we have to accept it, I guess.

My 2 cents.

Good luck & Bon Voyage! 

Thanks Athanasius for the advice. Alas, my bank account in home country is not setup for wire service yet. which is one of the item on must-do list when I go back in 2 weeks time. Btw, I'm a Singaporean too.

Well, as its come up before in this thread, why not pre-pay a ATM or credit card for 9K, then in SG just withdraw the money at a machine?

If anyone has done that, what are the steps? What bank will open such a pre-paid account for a foreigner today, and issue a card with the international logos (chips?) on them to allow use outside the country? How long does it take to get such a card? What are the costs? Then, having use such cards outside what were the problems encountered, if any, and what exchange commissions and charges were incurred on ATM withdrawls?

I guess as much you are from SGP.

I have seen many come and go. Those who left was because there were much conflicts between our way of life and in Vietnam.

Anyways, left you a PM. Probably we can meet up when back home. ;-D

cheers!

How about converting your money to bitcoins and then re-converting to whichever currency you desire once you get home ? There are no transfer fees this way and you won't get screwed on the exchange rate, if applicable.  The process takes about an hour once your bitcoin wallet is set up amd linked to your home bank account. There is a bitcoin broker operating in vietnam that accepts cash deposits to the best of my knowledge.

Eric, wouldnt that be the same as making a deposit in Paypal? And SG has Paypal and its extremely easy to set up Paypal and link to a SG bank account. Free and about 1 day.

Paypal is free to set up but not to use. Bitcoins would work the same way as Paypal in this scenario . Paypal is good for moving amounts up to $100 but after that it's not really worth it. They charge you x % of your transaction plus they make money on converting the currency. Banks are better to move larger amounts as they will only charge you a fixed amount per transfer (plus conversion fees). Bitcoins are a great alternative to look into if you would like to keep more of your hard earned cash in your pocket and not waste it on bank fees.

I think Bitcoin is not legal in SGP?

iGot allows withdrawals to an SG bank account

Eric, I do understand. The deal is that bank to bank is GREAT if they just let you do it. From what I have read in Expat.com about VN banking, they simply will not transfer out money.  IN, yes. This is what gave rise to all manner of alternatives, and I dont personally know anyone succeeding in alternatives, at least nobody willing to talk about it.

We seem to be in an endless loop:
1) everyone asking how to get over-limit amounts out.
2) everyone else offering suggestions.
3) nobody explaining in detail how they actually did it and succeeded, and by that I mean a method other than packing their coat with stacks of cash and praying for the best at the border. That doesnt count.

In the case of bitcoins, ok fine, have you actually done it or will you? Then come back and explain the details?

There are companies that assist in transferring money out of Vietnam.

There are different level of these companies. From underground mafia to professional corporates.

Charges are different and way of doing it is different.

Certainly. I use bitcoin to transfer and withdraw money all the time. For the record I´ve been away from VN for a while and can explain the finer details in 2 months time when I am back. In the meantime this is how you do it;

-Open an account with bitcoin vietnam https://www.bitcoinvietnam.com.vn/ and link your vn bank account to it.
-Deposit $ by making a payment. The exchange rate is locked in at the time of payment. I am not sure how long the funds take to clear at this stage.
-Once your VN dong has been converted to bitcoins all you have to do is transfer your bitcoins to another wallet that enables you sell your bitcoins and transfer the money to your bank account. Kraken is the best one for European based banks and iGot is the best if you would like to transfer it to Singapore. Circle is the best for the USA.
-Bitcoin transfers take up to an hour and are free
-The only catch is bitcoin´s volatility. The price doesn´t tend to fluctuate too much from hour to hour but it can vary greatly from day to day. As I am unsure how long it takes for funds to clear in VN I cannot advise any further but suggest that you try out sending a small amount of around $10 to get the hang of it and know the time frame before moving larger amounts.

It´s certainly not a perfect way to move money but it sure beats a lot of conventional methods.

Good luck.

In case u decide to sign up with iGot use this link https://www.igot.com/?inviter_code=1042353862 and I´ll earn a whopping $5 !

EricSchmeric wrote:

Certainly. I use bitcoin to transfer and withdraw money all the time.
.....
Circle is the best for the USA.
-Bitcoin transfers take up to an hour and are free
-The only catch is bitcoin´s volatility.
.....
It´s certainly not a perfect way to move money but it sure beats a lot of conventional methods.
....

I see it's an old thread, but I'll add a comment for the record, since I've been in the cryptocurrency field for several years.

- Bitcoin's volatility is not the only catch.
There are several other pitfalls with using cryptocurrency to move fiat to fiat through it.
There are safe ways to do it, but one has to educate oneself how to move large sums safely, or pay someone trustworthy to do it.

- While Bitcoin transfers themselves cost under a dollar regardless of sum, moving from fiat to Bitcoin and back out is not free, because the associated intermediaries operate on a spread.
There may also be other costs, depending on your citizenship, and where you wish to exit to fiat.

For example, the US government considers Bitcoin money, currency, financial asset and commodity, depending on the agency you ask.
Depending on the amount, time held, and exchanges you use, there may also be costs associated with declaring it properly as a capital gain on your income taxes.

If banks know the funds are coming from centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Circle or Coinbase, and it's a noteworthy sum, particularly in the US, the bank is likely to file a Suspicious Activity Report, which can lead to inquiries regarding source of funds.

Since relevant law is untried or nonexistent, lawyers are likely to give you conflicting advice whether moving fiat to fiat through cryptocurrencies is "legal", if it's prohibited for you through banks.

*So, if you go to buy or sell Bitcoin for fiat, I suggest you DON'T do it through exchanges such as Circle, Coinbase, and the like.
*And, most importantly, if queried here or on the other end why you are buying/selling Bitcoin, safest and best answer IS NOT that it was because you were not permitted to move it through banks.

So certainly as stated by others, Bitcoin  is "not a perfect way to move money".
That's only true though IF you move money from fiat to fiat, because it competes with "conventional methods" and associated incumbents.

I think gold shops are still the champions, especially if you use their hawala type services "moving money without moving money", with some noteworthy limitations of their own.

Nevertheless, there are more and more ways to move value through Bitcoin safely and much faster than large stacks of paper notes and banks.