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[herbyrich]

Are there any South Africans out there who can advise on the cheapest & easiest way to transfer funds from SA to a Thailand bank account?

[richardt1808]

Hi,

It's a pain !

The biggest problem for me is getting around the SARS regulations for forex transfers. There are a whole lot of conditions depending whether you are travelling here for a short time or whether you have been here for longer. If you have the SARS approval, you can do a straightforward international fund transfer, or SWIFT transaction. You need to set up permissions with your Bank authorising them to process requests via e-mail or fax and then you can do the transfer from BKK. I did this with Nedbank and can do transfers here on e-mail instruction and charges are minimal. Whatever you do, don't transfer large amounts with a broker such as Western Union as the commission is really high.

PM me if you need help with SA forex information.

Cheers

[Soutpeel]

Thought you didnt have any problems with SARS with amounts below US$ 10,000, havent had an account there for years, but would have thought SWIFT these days would be pretty straight forward ??

[herbyrich]

Hi,

It's a pain !

The biggest problem for me is getting around the SARS regulations for forex transfers. There are a whole lot of conditions depending whether you are travelling here for a short time or whether you have been here for longer. If you have the SARS approval, you can do a straightforward international fund transfer, or SWIFT transaction. You need to set up permissions with your Bank authorising them to process requests via e-mail or fax and then you can do the transfer from BKK. I did this with Nedbank and can do transfers here on e-mail instruction and charges are minimal. Whatever you do, don't transfer large amounts with a broker such as Western Union as the commission is really high.

PM me if you need help with SA forex information.

Cheers

[herbyrich]

Hi,

It's a pain !

The biggest problem for me is getting around the SARS regulations for forex transfers. There are a whole lot of conditions depending whether you are travelling here for a short time or whether you have been here for longer. If you have the SARS approval, you can do a straightforward international fund transfer, or SWIFT transaction. You need to set up permissions with your Bank authorising them to process requests via e-mail or fax and then you can do the transfer from BKK. I did this with Nedbank and can do transfers here on e-mail instruction and charges are minimal. Whatever you do, don't transfer large amounts with a broker such as Western Union as the commission is really high.

PM me if you need help with SA forex information.

Cheers

Thanks for the info. I have been in Thailand for 11 mths & have been using SA credit card to draw small amounts of cash but now need a larger amount. What about a family member in SA sending me the money as a gift via SWIFT to my Thai Acct?

Thanks

[richardt1808]

Thanks for the info. I have been in Thailand for 11 mths & have been using SA credit card to draw small amounts of cash but now need a larger amount. What about a family member in SA sending me the money as a gift via SWIFT to my Thai Acct?

Thanks

I just checked the actual Reserve Bank document:

RSA residents over the age of 18 may transfer up to R 750,000 out of the country in a single year for the purpose of Gifts and Loans, Donations to Missionaries, Maintenance, Travel allowance and Study allowance. So, a family or member or friend could transfer money to you under this section (Gifts and loans may be easiest and doesnt require supporting documents). They can just go to a bank branch and fill out a form to request the transfer.

As regards to you transferring from your own account, it is a little different because you have been in Thailand for a while. Your status is now classed as 'temporarily residing abroad' in which case you are allowed to transfer up to R 160,000 in a single year as a travel allowance. It can be done as more than one transfer, but, for the first transfer you have to present yourself at your bank and show your airticket.

Obviously, since you are over here, it would be best to let a family member do it for you and probably better to do it in a large single amount than try to do it every few months. Whichever way you choose, it will certainly be better than drawing from your credit card.

Edited June 2, 2010 by richardt1808