What are procedures for carrying $ US 35,000 upon exit?

Passengers upon exit declared at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport

Regarding the question, the Legal Consultancy Team of Customs News consulted as below: According to the Article 2 of Circular No. 15/2011/TT-NHNN dated 12/8/2011, an individual in exit, entry through Vietnam’s international border gates with passport, carry cash in foreign currency or Vietnamese dong in excess of the following amount shall be declared to the border Customs.

a) USD 5,000 (Five thousand United States dollars) or other foreign currencies of the same value;

b) VND 15,000,000 (Fifteen million Vietnamese Dong).

In the case where an individual in entry carries an amount of cash in foreign currency equal to or less than USD 5,000 or other foreign currencies of the same value and has a demand for depositing this amount of foreign currency to his foreign currency payment account at a credit institution, foreign bank’s branch authorized to engage in foreign exchange, he shall be required to declare to the border Customs.

Entry-exit Customs declaration certified by the border Customs about the carried amount of foreign currency in cash shall be a basis for the authorized credit institution to accept the foreign currency in cash deposit to the payment account.

The amount of foreign currency and Vietnamese dong in cash required to be declared to the border Customs shall not be applied to individuals who carry means of payment, valuable papers in foreign currency or in Vietnamese dong such as traveller’s cheques, bank card, savings book, securities and other valuable papers.

The Clause 1 of Article 1 of the Circular stipulates the governing scope and subjects of application” This Circular provides for the carrying of cash in foreign currency, and Vietnamese dong (including paper money, coin) by individuals in entry, exit through international border gates of Vietnam with passport or other documents of same validity with passport that are issued by a competent agency of Vietnam or a foreign country (hereinafter collectively referred to as passport).

Therefore, an individual in exit carries foreign currency according to the amount described (the amount for each passport/person without age difference), he shall not declare on the exit declaration to the border Customs when implementing the exit procedures. Only declaring to the Customs if the carried amount exceeds the described amount upon exit on the entry-exit declarations when implementing the exit procedures. The Customs declaration fee is VND 20,000 per declaration.

This is the case that you directly fly to Vietnam to take the money, so you will strictly follow the above regulations to carry foreign currency upon exit.

In the case where you want to register the money transfer via bank, you should instruct your relative to directly contact with a Bank with a Western Union Bank service for further instruction.