Please excuse my ignorance but....

[LadySnoo]

Hi guys

I hope you can help me to understand what the legal requirements are for transferring money to an Aus bank account...

Do you need the visa grant first?

Is there a maximum you can take?

Do you have to use a foreign exchange agent first or just set up and transfer?

I'm hopeless when it comes to things like this and I'm too scared to do something that could be viewed as illegal either in SA or Aus.

I know it might sound like a dumb question to most so help a gal out please...

[Mikeleigh]

Dont feel stupid, I have the exact same question.......

[Kappie]

I would also like too know. Also how to transfer Aus dollars from a bank there to here in RSA.

[Erik]

You can set up an Aus account from RSA and transfer money to it, but you can't access the money until you have been in Aus and verified your account. You have a max amount you can transfer out of RSA per year - R1mil if I remember correctly. Whoever transfers your money (bank/exchange) will make sure you fill in the legally required forms for the reserve bank to transfer money out of RSA.

[Kanniewagnie]

We contacted CashKows to ask some questions regarding our policies. They arranged for Westpack bank to phone us (yes, felt strange to speak to a bank agent in Oz and don't have to worry about tel costs). We opened an account and there don't have to be money in for 12 months - no bank fees. We chose them because their bank costs seems to be the lowest and CashKows recommended them.

You can transfer money into that account through CashKows / Forreign Exchange at your bank etc. We have a whole $10 in there at the moment ... As soon as we have a date set to move over permanently, we'll contact CashKows again to help us with the Policies, RA's etc.

[Renny]

If you have a chat to your broker, you can set up an Isle of Man account and choose the currency...Aus $, US $ Euro or pounds.

[patrice]

As I understand - from when I moved money over (2008) - you don't need a visa to transfer money out.

There is an annual travel allowance - as per Erik above, this used to be R1mil per adult and R250k per child. To use this travel allowance you need a return air ticket, and can transfer funds up to 6 weeks before your planned filghts - no SARS clearance required as I understand - please check current limits

An alternate method or to transfer more funds over - you need to use the international investment allowance - which used to be R4mil per adult - this is an overseas investment allowance (no return flights or visa required), for this you need a SARS clearance - again please check current limits as they may have changed since I did this.

I am sure the professionals will be able to guide you, although I just asked my bank who sorted it out no problem. As advised by 'kanniewagnie' If you have RA's or pension money to move, best you get cashkows or money4free to help you

gOOd Luck

paT

[ryanbgrant1988]

I moved Rands into AUD last week through Currencies Direct and they said if you are an SA Resident (which I wasn't), you can do R1m no problem. Contact tim.lewis@currenciesdirect.com, he helped me out with my conversion.

[Gerhardk]

I have used Tanya at Exchange for free, best to call her or send an e-mail.

If your purpose is to hedge against the possible devaluation of the ZAR then you can buy currency futures (i.e. buy AUD while in South Africa). The amount that you buy is only limited by how much cash you have. You will of course not take physical delivery of the cash but any benefit in the exchange rate difference will be credited to your account on a daily basis. Of course if the currency goes the other way, you have to pay. So it is a nice way of getting the foreign currency and when you are eligible to buy or ready to buy when you move then you close the future position and buy AUD.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Gerhardk

[miraclebabycaw]

We used exchange 4 free and they were awesome. There is a limit of 1M per person and 250k per child before asking for Reserve bank approval in any given year, so if you use your full amount this year you can send again next year, Travel allowance only forms PART of your discretionary allowance of 1M so you don't need to send it as a travel allowance. For a travel allowance you have to have a visa I think but I could be wrong. You can transfer money as an overseas investment under the discretionary allowance. You can do it through your standard bank to an overseas bank but to get the best rates it is better to speak to Cashcows or exchange 4 free or someone like that as they give better deals than the banks. Pension money is not an issue either as this can be cashed in and transferred as part of your allowances with no issues. RA's are another story and can only be done once you are pretty sure you won't need your SA bank account again as they will change it to an foreign blocked account and you can't just draw money on it until everything is finalised.

[RevinOz]

I worked with Forex in SA. When we moved in 2009 we simply opened an account online with Westpac, walked into our bank in SA (Standard, Forex Teller) and transferred our money into that account. I recently sold some shares in SA (that was a mission - I had inherited them from my late Dad and there were no documents) and the money had to be paid into my SA bank account. I had previously arranged for coded instructions with my bank but they refused (or no longer knew how) to honour them. I transferred the money to a trusted friend's account and he gifted it to me in Australia. That's a bit round about but it saved on the red tape.