bringing cash personally into Singapore

[aikido]

Hi all,
me and family will relocate soon and we are intereseted to know if its possible to bring cash in foreigner currency( if convereted) lets say over 100k singapore $ and open a new bank account and deposit it over there in Singapore.
My question is:in order to open a new bank account(my wife is local) does she need any document to proove the source of income of these $ $ comes from or they just dont bother to ask?
your comments are very much appreciatted.

best regards and have a nice weekend everybody.

[viajera]

just curious: why can't you just open an account with a thousand dollars or so, and then wire the money from your foreign bank to the newly opened singapore bank acct?

much safer, i think.

[aikido]

Hi Wiajera
thats the normal procedure,the currency i bring is higher as i sold something and got it in that very currency which in Singapore its exchanged in higher rates, and if i am to pass through the wires the loss is much more as bank rates are not as high as those $changers in some places i know in Singapore.

However i apprecaitte your coments.
i am expecting some one will give or share some of their experiences.
have a nice weekend everybody.

[sundaymorningstaple]

http://singaporehotels.com/info/tips.php

Money Matters
There is no limit on the amount of currency you can bring into take out of Singapore.

http://www.worldtravelasia.com/singapore/

Customs Formalities
There is no limit on the amount of currency you may bring into Singapore.

I don't think you have to worry too much about that. Singapore isn't too concerned about where your money comes from. If they were there wouldn't be so many Indonesian Investors over here.

[Plavt]

A word of advice if needed; it is illegal to import Singapore dollars, Indian Rupees, or the Indonesian currency (rupias?) into Singapore. However, there is no restriction on the amount of currency you may bring provided it is not in any of the above mentioned of course.

I really don't know about tourists and personal cash since I have always had at least a few Singapore dollars from previous trips.

[aikido]

thank you for your comments Sundaymorningstaple and thank you Plavt too for your information given.
i appreaciatte it a lot.
Yes,seems the costums and cehck points authority dont bother where the $ comes from,i wonder if the bank would bother to ask.
any inputs is much appreaciatted.
Have a nice weekend.

aikido

[jpatokal]

Yes, the bank will (or at least should!) ask where the money is coming from if there's over S$100k and you're a new customer, which usually means making you fill out a declaration where you solemnly swear that you inherited it from your great-aunt or earned it flipping burgers over the summer holidays. Whether they actually check is another story.

And Plavt, got a source for your claim? The Exchange Control Act does give the Sing government the right to restrict importation of any currency, but I can't find a word on the Customs or MAS sites saying that any currency is currently subject to controls. Both the Indian rupee and the Indonesia rupiah are regulated by their own countries, of course, but that's not the Sing government's problem and that's why eg. Mustafa can completely legally exchange vast quantities of rupees every day.

[Plavt]

And Plavt, got a source for your claim? The Exchange Control Act does give the Sing government the right to restrict importation of any currency, but I can't find a word on the Customs or MAS sites saying that any currency is currently subject to controls.

Yes, of course! I recently purchased some clothes from a local tailor and the big to do was how to pay him since the electronic transfers from bank to bank internationally cost around £25 and Western Union not a great deal cheaper. For some unknown reason he could not take visa payments over the phone and sent me stubs to fill in credit card numbers to go by post - a practice deemed unsafe here.

However, the easiest way is by Royal Mail 'signed for international delivery' which costs a mere £3.50, it is their guidance that informs me what I stated above and I am told up to date. Just why you can find no reference on the customs or MAS sites I don't know.

Ps:There was no real reference that was plain of the Royal Mail site here in the UK either, I had to ring and ask! See section 4 of the following link;

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=22700576&catId=400035#23500227

[Asian_Geekette]

aikido,

HSBC has a multi-currency bank account. They don't care how much money you put in there.

You can always open bank accounts in 2 or more banks if you're afraid the banks would ask too many questions if you put in a large amount of money into one account.

[borneng]

aikido,

HSBC has a multi-currency bank account. They don't care how much money you put in there.

That's true. That's what we did. We open the account (EUR and SGD) and then we wire our euro money into the account and leave in the account as EUR. Much safer way.

[jpatokal]

Yes, of course! ... There was no real reference that was plain of the Royal Mail site here in the UK either, I had to ring and ask! See section 4 of the following link;

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?mediaId=22700576&catId=400035#23500227

Your link says:

Every country has its own list of prohibited and restricted items that cannot be sent in the post to that country.

So Royal Mail is telling you that they do not allow mailing money from the UK to Singapore. How does this make importing money on your person into Singapore "illegal"?

FWIW, most all postal companies (including SingPost) prohibit mailing any form of cash, not because it's the law, but because they don't want the liability of losing it or the risk of their mailmen getting robbed for it.

[Strong Eagle]

Hi all,
me and family will relocate soon and we are intereseted to know if its possible to bring cash in foreigner currency( if convereted) lets say over 100k singapore $ and open a new bank account and deposit it over there in Singapore.
My question is:in order to open a new bank account(my wife is local) does she need any document to proove the source of income of these $ $ comes from or they just dont bother to ask?
your comments are very much appreciatted.

best regards and have a nice weekend everybody.

I can't see why you would bring cash. The exchange rate will be virtually the same for cash or wire transfer, probably worse for cash. You can check whether the sending or receiving bank will give you the best rates then either wire the foreing currency or Sing $$. Wire transfer fees are capped.

I have sent and received large amounts of money via wire transfer into and out of my company account. Nobody has ever asked a question. I've also watched an "uncle" bring in SGD 320,000 in cash in a paper bag... I know... I watched them count it. Nobody made him fill out anything to deposit the funds.

[Plavt]

So Royal Mail is telling you that they do not allow mailing money from the UK to Singapore. How does this make importing money on your person into Singapore "illegal"?

Royal Mail is not saying that at all! This is what the link says;

Every country has its own list of prohibited and restricted items that cannot be sent in the post to that country. Before sending you should check with Royal Mail customer services on 08457 740 740 to see if the contents of your item are allowed in the country of destination.


What they said was, as I have already said is one may not post SINGAPORE DOLLARS, INDIAN RUPEES OR INDONESIAN CURRENCY!

Any other currency is perfectly permissible; you have imputed your own meaning, observe again the second half of the first sentence; items that cannot be sent in the post to that country.

[sundaymorningstaple]

OK guys, time to cool it a wee bit.

It would seem that someone misread the OP's initial post which clearly indicated that they want to know if they could bring in cash.

Nowhere did they indicated posting or importing cash (anyway, nobody in their right mind would send more than 100US in cash in the post (even that is dumb).

Hi all,
me and family will relocate soon and we are intereseted to know if its possible to bring cash in foreigner currency( if convereted) lets say over 100k singapore $ and open a new bank account and deposit it over there in Singapore.
My question is:in order to open a new bank account(my wife is local) does she need any document to proove the source of income of these $ $ comes from or they just dont bother to ask?
your comments are very much appreciatted.

best regards and have a nice weekend everybody.

Anyway, as has been pointed out, uncles with bags full of cash to the tune of several hundreds of thousands has been brought in and deposited without batting an eyelid.

[Superglide]

Mods fighting all over the place?