What's the best way to transfer money to Mauritius?

Being from the US ( don't know whether being a citizen or resident with a green card) , expect a lot of question from banks in Mauritius when you open a bank A/C.

All wrt  FACTA:

Just google :"FATCA and bank a/c in Mauritius" to know the facts

Hmmm, have you tried transfer through suitcases on commercial airlines? :-)

Seriously, yes banks will ask you for source of funds, to fight money laundering. The other day, I paid money into my own bank account and the teller asked to see my ID and noted it down! On top of that, FATCA does not help!

External wrote:

Being from the US ( don't know whether being a citizen or resident with a green card) , expect a lot of question from banks in Mauritius when you open a bank A/C.

All wrt  FACTA:

Just google :"FATCA and bank a/c in Mauritius" to know the facts

ETA and FYI:

1. The United States has imposed reporting restrictions on any wire transfer of more than $5,000 involving a U.S. bank.
2.Wire transfers denominated in U.S. dollars that involve more than $5,000 in most cases are transfered through the United States routinely, through correspondent banks in the States, and must be approved by the Federal Reserve Bank, even if neither the sending nor receiving bank is American. This process greatly complicates the logistics of the transfer and  it  can take several weeks, while the Federal Reserve gets around to approving the transfer.
3. BTW:Banks on the island  cooperate closely with the United States in restricting what "U.S. Persons" can do with regards to bank accounts and investments, as well as wire transfers involving U.S. dollars. They  have little choice - so they will frequently restrict what types of bank accounts you, as a U.S. Person, can set up.

Thus , bring a cheque ( similar to a bank draft )  drawn on an international/American institution that is accepted in Mauritius  ( Citi or Wells Fargo etc- could differ since it's been a while I have had such transaction but in the reverse direction) and expect to wait for at least 15 days or more for that draft to be cleared once it is accepted by a Mauritian bank  ( plus you will get dinged for a fee) .
Expect a Cash Transaction Report (CTR) if the amount is $10K or above.

Good luck  and be patient  (so long you remain a US person, Uncle Sam would like to be in touch , especially the IRS) 

From what I gather, NileshD is a Mauritian citizen.

Now if he has taken up US citizenship or currently holding a green card and has to abide to rules and regulations imposed by FATCA, there are chances of some banks refusing to open bank accounts. This scenario has happened with US citizens in many countries. Not only banks but also asset management and other investment companies.

FATCA really complicates matters regarding foreign monetary transactions.

Of course, the easiest way out is to either demand the cancellation of a green card or even renunciation of US citizenship, but that's another issue.

Now coming to the question, the simplest way obviously is to create a local bank account and do wire transfers.
Or you can do transfers through PayPal.
Of course a lots of factors to consider like the amount being transferred, transaction fees and obviously if you are subjected to FATCA requirements.


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Thanks a lot for the multiple answers. Appreciate the answers and perspectives.

Damn FATCA!

Helps a lot and gives me some good pov on what to expect and what documents to keep/produce when I am in Mauritius. Yes, I am Mauritian and US citizen as well (yeah.. sucks.. have to pay US taxes everywhere). From what I gathered and the documents I read, as long as I can prove my source of funds to the banks in Mauritius and they believe it, they will open an account for me and I should probably be able to do a wire transfer. Had not considered a bank draft. Will research more into that as well.

I guess it's no point opening a dollar bank account in Mauritius?

Gawesh, bringing money in a suitcase on commercial airlines is an option as well, as long as it's below 500MUR... But I think I might need a bit more than more for an initial car purchase.

For smaller amounts, I do have a Schwab ATM card which gives worldwide fee-free atm usage and pretty good exchange rates. So, hoping that that'll be good for day to day transactions.

Opening a bank account was the easy part from my local credentials. (I am a dual citizen US/Mauritius). The bank told me if it's bank to bank transfer, it's no worries and they don't need verification of source of funds. It's only when I am brining cash that they need verification of source of funds.

Now looking at wiring money from a US bank to the Mauritian Bank Account in Ruppees and they have ridiculous exchange rates - like Rs3 less than the actual US -> MRU exchange rate. Crazy!!!

I might have to look into opening a USD account and then wire money as USD itself and incur the exchange rate penalty here. I am sure it won't be as bad as Rs3 less!

nileshd wrote:

I might have to look into opening a USD account and then wire money as USD itself and incur the exchange rate penalty here. I am sure it won't be as bad as Rs3 less!

Let's hope it is easy because we hit a brick wall some time ago with the branch of a US bank ( they don't operate on the island anymore ! ).

Just to give an update so that others can get the insight from my experience.

So once I opened a regular MCB savings account (which as painless), opening a USD account was a breeze from their online self-service portal. After I had the USD account here in MU, my US bank could perform international wire to it (you'll easily get the IBAN and Swift from MCB online portal) for a flat $45 fee and USD is transferred 1:1. Once in the MCB USD account, transferring to my Rupee account is done at today's rate without any fees or commission.

That seems to have been the cheapest way to transfer large sums to Mauritius in my experience, rather than transferring from USD account abroad to Rupee account in Mauritius.

There are some excellent Apps you can perhaps use. Look into an app called Revolt

A Parallel question... but might be intresting.
As a UK citizen..is there any gold dealers on the island that buy Uk Gold Sovereigns?

Try contacting Currencies direct.   I used them to move funds from Guernsey to South Africa and had good service.  They move funds all over the world.

Neil the wilson wrote:

A Parallel question... but might be intresting.
As a UK citizen..is there any gold dealers on the island that buy Uk Gold Sovereigns?

Please start your own thread and not hack another ones.
Regarding your question the answer is NO.Most goldsmiths in Mauritius will buy gold as a undervalued spot price so you will loose out.Best to sell it in UK as you purchased them VAT free.

Thank you for sharing. In my case I transferred my Canadian dollars to SBM directly. The money get converted into rupees automatically.

Apologies if you think it's a hack. That wasnt my intention.
The thread was about moving money for outside MRU. Onto the island. And with someone talking about suitcases of cash I had a thought about gold coins as cash.

Neil the wilson wrote:

Apologies if you think it's a hack. That wasnt my intention.
The thread was about moving money for outside MRU. Onto the island. And with someone talking about suitcases of cash I had a thought about gold coins as cash.

Suitcase of cash. This is not 1995 anymore. Sniffer dogs behind the scene sniff the cash now

You can bring drugs though if you know someone in ministry, and as long as you feed the fair share to the corrupt and greedy official then you are free to go. Dont forget it is Africa and island is full of bend officials.

maisonmaurice wrote:

Neil the wilson wrote:

Apologies if you think it's a hack. That wasnt my intention.
The thread was about moving money for outside MRU. Onto the island. And with someone talking about suitcases of cash I had a thought about gold coins as cash.

Suitcase of cash. This is not 1995 anymore. Sniffer dogs behind the scene sniff the cash now

You can bring drugs though if you know someone in ministry, and as long as you feed the fair share to the corrupt and greedy official then you are free to go. Dont forget it is Africa and island is full of bend officials.

The officials are not as bad as in some European countries. I don't think that this portal  is created for this kind of comments. If I don't like it here I wouldn't stay here.

@gawesh I am not receive  money USD in my bank account

Hello ramphulabdoolnizam85,

Welcome to expat.com!

Kindly note that this thread has been inactive for a while and the member gawesh is also no longer active.

You can start a new thread on the Mauritius forum if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Yoginee

Expat.com team

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