# Moving money from SA bank to UK



## aquilar (Jan 23, 2015)

Hi there

I am employed in South Africa and paid into a StandardBank account. However I spend most of my time in the UK. I am looking for the safest, cheapest way to transfer funds (R50,000) from my SA bank account, to the UK.

To make it more complex, I am currently in the UK, so it must be organised from here.

I've searched through the past posts on this forum and can't find a solution.

Thanks for your advice!


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## dave smythe (Dec 16, 2014)

Hi Aquilar

It depends if you are a SA citizen / SA permanent resident / foreign national 

If you are a foreign national
If you have someone in SA who has signing powers on your account they could apply for a swift transfer at the bank - that would be the best route. Few banks will act on a faxed instruction unless you happen to know an employee very well. 

If you have internet banking you could apply for a swift transfer online - easy and painless but rather expensive: min R300 charge. You are entitled to repatriate part of your SA earnings abroad if you are a foreign national, provided your account is designated as such at your bank. 

Your only other option would be to use your card and draw the funds over a period of time if you have a card. 

If you are South African or hold a permanent residence permit you are limited; not sure of the amounts but I think it is R1m annually so you should be fine. Unfortunately you would need to use one of the methods above.

Good luck!


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## aquilar (Jan 23, 2015)

I didn't realise foreign nationals are entitled to repatriate part of their SA earnings. Thanks - I will look into that.

The problem is StandardBank seem to charge fees to make any transaction, and they haven't revealed what those would be (I have to make the transaction and then see what I'm charged!). Plus, I'm not in SA right now, so everything must be online/phone/fax.


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## dave smythe (Dec 16, 2014)

you could always have a look at the pricing guide on their site. they will most probably charge you something like 1% for a swift transfer. yes you can send earnings abroad but your account has to specify foreign national. if they opened a resident account for you you could get the money out in terms of your foreign travel allowance.


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## shadeslayer (Feb 17, 2012)

aquilar said:


> I didn't realise foreign nationals are entitled to repatriate part of their SA earnings. Thanks - I will look into that.
> 
> The problem is StandardBank seem to charge fees to make any transaction, and they haven't revealed what those would be (I have to make the transaction and then see what I'm charged!). Plus, I'm not in SA right now, so everything must be online/phone/fax.


I was in a similar situation as you (employed in SA but staying outside mostly). I used SWIFT or IBAN a number of times and it was easy. The bank will most probably ask you for some documents when you apply for a transfer of funds. They used to ask me for contract of employment, work permit, passport scans etc. It takes about 3~4 working days for end to end transfer (funds showing up in destination account). Swift charges are not much, IIRC they were around 1 or 2%.


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