How Much Can I Receive Money From Vietnam

International money transfer policy: Vietnam

International money transfer processes and limits are mandated by local regulatory authorities, as well as by banks and remittance service providers. Each country has its own specific environment. We are launching a series of articles about international money transfer regulations in different countries. Finding precise and trustworthy information is not an easy task, which is why some details given may be approximate and may not always be relevant after the publication date.

International money transfer policy: Vietnam

Vietnam is still a cash society, which prefers cash to credit cards and e-money, but is experiencing increasingly large interest in e-money, especially crypto.

In Vietnam, as in many other Asia-Pacific countries, policy is strict regarding international money transfers and is strictly regulated by the National Assembly and State Bank of Vietnam.

Cryptocurrency regulation

Vietnamese authorities are still considering their approach to regulating the cryptocurrency. In 2018 State Bank of Vietnam banned commercial banks and others from making transactions using cryptocurrencies, maintaining that using crypto puts users at risk of terrorism financing and all activities related to cryptocurrency became strictly illegal.

But the unstoppable interest from society, the Ministry of Industry and Trade opposition and the increasing global crypto movement have motivated Ministers to offer alternative policies which are under decision now. There currently is a buzz that Vietnam gets its first cryptocurrency exchange and there are many Vietnamese closed communities involved in crypto.

Bank wires out of Vietnam

If an individual wants to transfer money via bank transfer they will have to show confirmation of tax payments and a legal source of income within Vietnam.

For individuals the valid sources of income are:

Salaries earned in Vietnam, held in a Vietnamese bank account with showing of paid taxes;
Personal funds held in a Vietnamese bank account and originally transferred from other countries;
Funds from other tax-paid sources in Vietnam held in a Vietnamese bank account.

If a personal bank account in Vietnam has received funds from sources not in the above list, the holder will face difficulties. Also list of accepted purposes of transfer money overseas is limited: a) Study and medical healthcare; b) Business trips, tourism and travels; c) Payment of fees, charges abroad; d) Grants provided for relatives e) Immigration; g) some others but with legal legitimate proof documents.

If a company wants to transfer money abroad, it must provide documentation confirming payment of tax, in addition to further documents depending on what it wants to do with the money (for example paying foreign companies or individuals abroad for services provided abroad). These will usually require withholding taxes to be paid.

The difficulty is that not all local banks provide services for transferring money abroad and in such cases customers usually go to foreign banks with branch offices in Vietnam, such as ANZ, HSBC or Citibank.

Bank wire limits and fees

The maximum amount that can be transferred abroad depends on the reason for transferring the money and the specific regulations of each bank. According to an assessment carried out by the Vietnamese financial comparison platform TheBank, the most open available remittance policy shows that for many types of transfer in many Vietnamese banks the limits are USD 25,000 per person per year. At the same time, according to the government's Decision №1437/2001/QD-NHNN, transferring money abroad for settlement is regulated at USD 50,000 per person per year. If the amount is over 50,000 USD, many specific documents must be provided.

On average, based on research carried out by TheBank, banks charge fees of 0.2% + USD 25.

Online payment regulation

Based on legal documents dated to 2017, the government has set limits for transferring money abroad for different types of online payment transactions: for some type of transactions for individuals the limits are <VND 200 million (<USD 8,600) per transaction and <VND 1 billion (<USD 43,000) per one one-day, while for some others limits are higher. For companies, there is a limit of <VND 500 million (<USD 21,500) and a one-day transaction limit of <VND 5 billion (<USD 215,000).

Moving money into the country

Transferring money into Vietnam is fairly easy. The Vietnamese State Bank doesn't monitor the source of money inflows as strictly as when transferring money out of the country. Airport rules says that amounts exceeding USD 5,000 must be declared on arrival. Charges will apply for funds received from abroad in your Vietnamese bank account. For example, at Vietcombank the fee is: 0.15% (Minimum: USD 2). The limit of receiving money from overseas on bank cards issued in Vietnam is on average USD 2,500 per transaction.

Money transfer services

Online payment services have their own transfer limits depending on licenses and the corporate compliance policies they operate. The difficulty is that even huge online payment operators like TransferWise have limited numbers of supported local banks in Vietnam. Users have fees to deal with but can avoid a lot of the paperwork. The active players are MoneyGram, Western Union and Paypal, among others.

Credit cards

In Vietnam, credit cards are widely accepted in bug cities, mostly represented by local and foreign bank cards, Visa and Mastercard. Charges for purchases made by credit cards may be added and they are on average 3–4% (or 1 USD — 3 USD).

Both foreign and domestic banks are interested into growing Vietnamese credit cards market. There are common requirements to get a credit card:

Individuals must be Vietnamese or foreigners living in Vietnam with a valid work permit
Credit card holders must be at least 18 years old and must have a stable income of 3 months or more. By making a credit card, you must pass the proof of income, which can be a savings book, valuable papers such as housing documents, etc.
Other conditions requested by banks individually

Most interesting credit cards in Vietnam: Citibank Visa cash back credit card, HSBC GOLD VISA credit card, Shinhan Visa Cash Back credit card, VIB MASTERCARD PLATINUM credit card and others. Details of each card are described in this article or here.

Withdrawal limits in and outside of country

These questions are under regulation of government. The limit of cash withdrawals in foreign currency abroad to the maximum equivalent of 30 million VND (some USD 1,300) per day for international credit and debit cards from 1 January, 2019.

Under Vietnamese law, on the territory of Vietnam ATMs can only dispense cash in Vietnamese dong. Most ATMs in Vietnam have withdrawal limits of VND 2,000,000 (USD 86) per transaction with an additional service charge. In the major cities, however, you'll find ANZ, Citibank, and HSBC ATMs which offer much higher limits. Fees vary from bank to bank, on average between VND 30000 (USD 1.3) and VND 55000 (USD 2.4) per withdrawal.

STICPAY for Vietnam

STICPAY's STIC prepaid cards may be of interest to Vietnamese customers. STIC cards can be used in more than 177 countries for ATM withdrawals and offline purchases. As well as in STICPAY you can deposit, transfer and withdrawal crypto (BTC, ETH, LTC). Also we have crypto-to-fiat converter. For details, please, check website.

*exchange rate VND-USD is actual to date of publication