I live in Beijing, the capital of China. When you go abroad from where you live, you exchange money. It’s better to exchange money before going to the destination than to go to the site and some people will probably exchange money before going on a trip. Where on earth would you exchange money? Some may be banks or post offices, while others may be exchanging money at the airport because it is quick.
I have a Belgian husband and an 8 month old son. I’m here in Beijing from Belgium to take advantage of my long vacation to meet my son’s relatives. So while I was in Beijing, I had to change the RMB into euros, but there were various problems that didn’t happen in Japan. Here, we will introduce the wall when exchanging RMB.
Foreigners can exchange only $500 maximum
The amount of money you can exchange in a day
When you go abroad from Japan, there are many people who exchange money in tens of thousands. When you board an airplane, you can generally bring in hundreds of thousands of cash, and some people will have the experience of exchanging that amount of money in one day.
However, if a foreigner wants to exchange RMB into foreign currency in China, the limit is $500 (US dollars) per day. We had to exchange for euros, so 400 euros was the limit. Even if 1 dollar (US dollar) is 100 yen, I think 1 euro is about 120 yen, but it was 400 euro for some reason!
Standard is not clear
However, is this the limit per day at one branch (for example, if you exchange $500 at the Bank of China XX branch, can you go to the Bank of China △△ branch to exchange the next $500), or the entire bank? Is it the limit (for example, if you change $500 at the Bank of China ○ branch to go to the Bank △△ branch of the Bank of China), is this the overall limit per day (for example, at the Bank of China ○ branch 500 I don’t really understand that if I exchanged dollars, it would be useless to go to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Branch.
Even if you try to exchange money at the airport, it is said that “up to $500 per day”. But there are various banks at the airport! When we flew from Beijing to Japan, we had tried it at various banks. First, at the Bank of China, my husband and my two exchanged $500 each, and then went to another bank and offered to exchange $500 each. Then I checked my passport and said, “My husband has already exchanged money at another bank, so I can no longer exchange money. My wife can exchange money.” My husband and I exchanged money at other banks, but for some reason only I was able to exchange money. However, at least his husband’s passport seemed to have information that he had already exchanged $500 on that day, so he cannot necessarily say “you can exchange another $500 if you go to another bank!”.
Therefore, when exchanging RMB for foreign currency in China, it may be worth thinking that it is $500 per person per day. So if you need to exchange more money, you should be prepared to go to the bank every day.
You can exchange money at the airport if you are okay with bad exchange rate
However, there are blind spots at the airport. The rates are pretty bad, but there are exchange offices where you can exchange over $500. There you can exchange $500 for each passport and then use your staff ID to do the rest. But again, this is only a last resort, as the rate will drop.
Having an account matters
You may not be able to exchange it if you don’t have an account
This also depends on the bank, but in some cases you may not be able to exchange money unless you have an account. My husband is Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, I have an account at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and we went to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and tried to exchange money. Then, at first, I was clearly told “I can’t exchange money without an account” (I had my account, so there was no problem!). However, at the other banks I went to next time, I didn’t have to have an account. However, he said, “You don’t have to have a bank account, but you need a phone number.” So we couldn’t accept my son’s passport, which is going to be 8 months soon, and we just had two couples exchange 800 euros. By the way, wasn’t able to exchange money because he couldn’t sign it.
Make an account in advance!!
If there is a possibility that you will have to convert the renminbi into a foreign currency in China, it may be good to open an account in various banks in advance. If you have a bank account, you can easily create one if you have a passport and phone number. There is no problem even if you are a foreigner.
If you have a bank account, you can exchange money here and there, so it is important to make an account in advance.
They may not have the currency you want
”We only have 400 euros”
In Japan, you can go directly to a bank or post office for typical foreign currencies such as US dollars, euros, pounds, and renminbi. However, there is a possibility that there is not a desired foreign currency here in China. When we went to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and asked for the yuan to be exchanged for euros, the first day was told, “I have only 400 euros right now.” It seems that some people had just exchanged for euros, and in the first place there was no euro in the bank. Of course, I got the 400 euros.
”We don’t have euros”
When we went to Bank of China, we were told that “no euro”. It’s a foreign currency that has earned citizenship all over the world, so no way! I thought, but I was told by two banks of China that they did not.
Therefore, it is important to exchange foreign currency in advance before you can exchange it in China. Act early and early so you don’t have a problem if it doesn’t work that day.
Make sure to check what you have received
This is not limited to currency exchange, for example checking change is a matter of course, but if you exchange money, be sure to confirm the foreign currency received.
Actually this is in Japan, but when I went to the post office and exchanged Japanese yen for Canadian dollars, a staff man opened an envelope that seems to contain Canadian dollars, Showed me. When I thought it was a strange Canadian dollar, it was the American dollar, not the Canadian dollar. While holding a laugh, he told the staff, “That’s the US dollar” and “Can I get the US dollar at the Canadian dollar rate?” .. Even in Japan there is such a thing.
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