How can I move my money to Canada?
February 6, 2021 5:56 AM Subscribe
So, I have a bank account in Colombia with some money that I have saved up throughout the years. I'm moving to Canada and I want to transfer my money there eventually.
I need help doing this because I'm not quite familiar with Canada's financial system. Also, the fact that my country has a reputation for dealing drugs poses a potential challenge. My money is in a serious bank, and I could never put my money there if they ever thought it was drug money. Let's face reality though, Colombia is a third world country, and it has some serious crime issues involving drugs and money, in particular USD. I don't know if Canadian banks are this meticulous, but I'm just saying, if I was them I'd think twice about it.
First, I have $50K USD sitting in my bank. This is a large sum of money to move. I was planning to move it through transferwise from my account to whatever account I end up opening in Canada.
Second, I know these type of transactions are likely to get flagged, regardless of where they come from or where they are going. I know FINTRAC is in charge of looking into it. I have proof that this money is legal, I have receipts from the companies that paid this out. Nonetheless, I don't really have a huge paper trail to prove where it all came from. I have letters that can verify that I worked at those places but I don't know if that's solid proof that this is taxed money.
Third, please don't give me illegal advice. I want to do this legally. If it's not possible then I'll just leave my money where it is at. I've already had suggestions like putting it on bitcoin and retrieving it later. Canada looks down upon that too, and bitcoin is crazy volatile too. Also, no I'm not going to be carrying a briefcase to the airport with $50K USD. If I wanted to look like a drug dealer that would definitely be the best way to do it, my country's reputation is also not going to do me any favors.
Anyway, I would like to hear people's advice.
I need help doing this because I'm not quite familiar with Canada's financial system. Also, the fact that my country has a reputation for dealing drugs poses a potential challenge. My money is in a serious bank, and I could never put my money there if they ever thought it was drug money. Let's face reality though, Colombia is a third world country, and it has some serious crime issues involving drugs and money, in particular USD. I don't know if Canadian banks are this meticulous, but I'm just saying, if I was them I'd think twice about it.
First, I have $50K USD sitting in my bank. This is a large sum of money to move. I was planning to move it through transferwise from my account to whatever account I end up opening in Canada.
Second, I know these type of transactions are likely to get flagged, regardless of where they come from or where they are going. I know FINTRAC is in charge of looking into it. I have proof that this money is legal, I have receipts from the companies that paid this out. Nonetheless, I don't really have a huge paper trail to prove where it all came from. I have letters that can verify that I worked at those places but I don't know if that's solid proof that this is taxed money.
Third, please don't give me illegal advice. I want to do this legally. If it's not possible then I'll just leave my money where it is at. I've already had suggestions like putting it on bitcoin and retrieving it later. Canada looks down upon that too, and bitcoin is crazy volatile too. Also, no I'm not going to be carrying a briefcase to the airport with $50K USD. If I wanted to look like a drug dealer that would definitely be the best way to do it, my country's reputation is also not going to do me any favors.
Anyway, I would like to hear people's advice.
You can send an international wire transfer once you open a bank in Canada. "Flagged" just means the transaction will be reported; it doesn't mean you'll be investigated. This kind of transaction is super normal and I don't think you should worry about it. People do this every day.
Source: I used to work in a wire transfer office in the US. The only countries that couldn't send us wire transfers were ones under economic sanction - Iran, North Korea, etc.
posted by toastedcheese at 6:44 AM on February 6, 2021 [10 favorites]
Source: I used to work in a wire transfer office in the US. The only countries that couldn't send us wire transfers were ones under economic sanction - Iran, North Korea, etc.
posted by toastedcheese at 6:44 AM on February 6, 2021 [10 favorites]
Response by poster: Can you call up a bank in Canada or consult a bank in Colombia with an international presence? Something like Citibank, HSBC, JPMorganChase and ask them for advice? I admittedly have no experience with this kind of thing but that's what I'd do.
I think we have a ScotiaBank here. I might ask them
posted by Tarsonis10 at 6:59 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I think we have a ScotiaBank here. I might ask them
posted by Tarsonis10 at 6:59 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I think you are overthinking this.
I have $50K USD sitting in my bank. This is a large sum of money to move.
Not in the sense of any drug or illegal activity it isn't. It's just a relatively small sum of money. It's not that much in the scheme of things, even. It's a similar amount for a fairly nice car or a house deposit or whatever. You can just transfer this money when you have a Canadian account and you have proof the money is legally got, and your requirement to transfer it is legitimate. There is no real issue here.
I know these type of transactions are likely to get flagged
Doing this legally and avoiding being flagged are completely unrelated. A transfer of this kind in these circumstances for these reasons is perfectly legal and justifiable. It may get flagged anyway, but so what? It will likely get judged and dismissed, it also may get investigated and you have the proof it is a legal (ie no issue) transfer.
Just transfer it bank to bank with a wire. Stop worrying.
posted by Brockles at 7:33 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have $50K USD sitting in my bank. This is a large sum of money to move.
Not in the sense of any drug or illegal activity it isn't. It's just a relatively small sum of money. It's not that much in the scheme of things, even. It's a similar amount for a fairly nice car or a house deposit or whatever. You can just transfer this money when you have a Canadian account and you have proof the money is legally got, and your requirement to transfer it is legitimate. There is no real issue here.
I know these type of transactions are likely to get flagged
Doing this legally and avoiding being flagged are completely unrelated. A transfer of this kind in these circumstances for these reasons is perfectly legal and justifiable. It may get flagged anyway, but so what? It will likely get judged and dismissed, it also may get investigated and you have the proof it is a legal (ie no issue) transfer.
Just transfer it bank to bank with a wire. Stop worrying.
posted by Brockles at 7:33 AM on February 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
Best answer: So I agree $50,000 is not that much money, even by Colombian standards. Real estate prices in a lot of areas are similar to Canada and when I was there a few years ago it seemed like a lot of people had two or more decent cars to get around the even/odd license plate restrictions. While this amount is a little high to be sitting in a regular account and not invested, I would not say it was unusual or suspicious, especially for someone planning an international move. It also seems you probably have enough backup to reasonably prove the money came from legitimate means if it was ever questioned. Plus, although your transaction may be "flagged," it is cash transactions that are most suspicious. I would advise you to find a way to transfer what you want to transfer in one transaction rather than a lot of smaller transactions. For example, five transactions of $9,900 every fifteen days or $2,500 every days for twenty days may be easier and cheaper for you, but they would definitely be more suspicious than a one time transfer of life savings.
So do not worry about the amount but find the solution that works best for you. I would suggest Scotiabank is a good option to investigate. Opening a bank account in Canada may be difficult than you anticipate as some of your identity documents may not be recognized right away without being translated or apostilled. If Scotiabank can open accounts in Colombia in both Canadian Dollars and Colombian Pesos it may make your life a lot easier. And if you could get a domestic bank draft between your bank and Scotia and transfer it before hand, you might get a better interest rate and cheaper fee than an international draft.
And just a heads up, I am not sure what your immigration status will be when you arrive in Canada, but they made changes to their Temporary Foreign Worker policies yesterday that may impact you.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 8:09 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
So do not worry about the amount but find the solution that works best for you. I would suggest Scotiabank is a good option to investigate. Opening a bank account in Canada may be difficult than you anticipate as some of your identity documents may not be recognized right away without being translated or apostilled. If Scotiabank can open accounts in Colombia in both Canadian Dollars and Colombian Pesos it may make your life a lot easier. And if you could get a domestic bank draft between your bank and Scotia and transfer it before hand, you might get a better interest rate and cheaper fee than an international draft.
And just a heads up, I am not sure what your immigration status will be when you arrive in Canada, but they made changes to their Temporary Foreign Worker policies yesterday that may impact you.
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 8:09 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Hi there Tarsonis10, I'm BlueSock, a cop from a medium sized Canadian city. I have some experience in anti-money laundering operations. Here's some info to help you relax. TDLR; you have nothing to worry about, wire yourself the money.
Every transaction in Canada over $10,000 Canadian dollars (including sneaky ones involving $9,999 every couple of weeks) are automatically reported to Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). FINTRAC also gets every single wire in and out of the country. In addition (not really relevant in your situation, but just providing the whole picture) banks and other financial institutions are also required to flag smaller transactions that are suspicious.
Now here's how this works. FINTRAC is an intelligence agency but they have very strict rules about not sharing information unless they're pretty sure a crime has been committed. Even as a cop I cannot call up FINTRAC and say "tell me about Tarsonis10". What I can do is send them my intel, saying that I believe person X is a drug dealer. If FINTRAC finds some banking transactions that appear to be money laundering or terrorism financing they can send me that info. But they can't send me the drug dealer's day job pay stub, because that's neither.
When you make the transaction you may be asked or more info then you think it strictly necessary, e.g. instead of just account to/from you may also be asked where you got the funds and why you're sending them to Canada. It's also possible your Canadian bank will get this info when you arrive, I'm not sure exactly who has to do the reporting on transactions that were initiated outside of Canada. If it's your life savings and you're just moving you're good to go. Canada gets a couple hundred thousand immigrants per year, and a lot of the rules about qualifying to come here involve having cash on hand to support yourself, so your transaction will be lost in a sea of similar transactions. So a $50,000 transfer from Columbia to Canada will go in a pile of other intel for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism, intel. But one transaction does not make a pattern, and if that's all that happens that'll be the end of it. If for some reason a FINTRAC person does take a look at it at random then it'll take them about 5 minutes to match up your immigration/visa information and see that's totally legit, so they'll move on.
After all, by the time you've got a visa to come to Canada you've already been cleared, at that point we want you to bring your money and spend it here. Also get a job, pay taxes, have babies, volunteer, learn to pay hockey (the gear is really expensive and that's most of our economy right there). ;)
Even if you have the same name as some drug kingpin in your country, if you do everything right, make a wire transfer and fill in all the forms properly no one can take your money without having to go to court first and prove to a Judge it's drug money.
On the other hand, Canada does have a civil asset forfeiture regime, and while it's not as insane as the one in the United States we are more then happy tosteal take your cash if you make it easy/tempting. Flying into the country with $50,000 hidden in your luggage and failing to declare it, for example, can support a reasonable argument it's drug money, because if it wasn't drug money, you wouldn't do that. If your funds are seized under the civil asset forfeiture rules (which vary depending on which Province/Territory you arrive into) then you have to go to court to get your money back and the onus is on you to prove the funds are legit**, which means have fun finding every pay stub you were ever issued! To be clear, this cannot happen with a wire transfer and could only even potentially happen if you REALLY go out of your way to make it look like drug money, such as hiding it in your suitcase and not telling Customs you're importing it.
[**strictly speaking the legal process is a bit more complicated, but this is how it effectively works.]
So, as a Canadian cop who has spent a decent amount of time over the years chasing after bad guy's money, and occasionally reading FINTRAC reports on what FINTRAC considers to be suspicious transactions, I can assure you have you nothing to worry about, feel free to wire yourself the money in one big lump, save on fees and just get it over with. You'll be fine.
P.S. Welcome to Canada, I hope you enjoy your stay!
posted by BlueSock at 9:19 AM on February 6, 2021 [9 favorites]
Every transaction in Canada over $10,000 Canadian dollars (including sneaky ones involving $9,999 every couple of weeks) are automatically reported to Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). FINTRAC also gets every single wire in and out of the country. In addition (not really relevant in your situation, but just providing the whole picture) banks and other financial institutions are also required to flag smaller transactions that are suspicious.
Now here's how this works. FINTRAC is an intelligence agency but they have very strict rules about not sharing information unless they're pretty sure a crime has been committed. Even as a cop I cannot call up FINTRAC and say "tell me about Tarsonis10". What I can do is send them my intel, saying that I believe person X is a drug dealer. If FINTRAC finds some banking transactions that appear to be money laundering or terrorism financing they can send me that info. But they can't send me the drug dealer's day job pay stub, because that's neither.
When you make the transaction you may be asked or more info then you think it strictly necessary, e.g. instead of just account to/from you may also be asked where you got the funds and why you're sending them to Canada. It's also possible your Canadian bank will get this info when you arrive, I'm not sure exactly who has to do the reporting on transactions that were initiated outside of Canada. If it's your life savings and you're just moving you're good to go. Canada gets a couple hundred thousand immigrants per year, and a lot of the rules about qualifying to come here involve having cash on hand to support yourself, so your transaction will be lost in a sea of similar transactions. So a $50,000 transfer from Columbia to Canada will go in a pile of other intel for anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism, intel. But one transaction does not make a pattern, and if that's all that happens that'll be the end of it. If for some reason a FINTRAC person does take a look at it at random then it'll take them about 5 minutes to match up your immigration/visa information and see that's totally legit, so they'll move on.
After all, by the time you've got a visa to come to Canada you've already been cleared, at that point we want you to bring your money and spend it here. Also get a job, pay taxes, have babies, volunteer, learn to pay hockey (the gear is really expensive and that's most of our economy right there). ;)
Even if you have the same name as some drug kingpin in your country, if you do everything right, make a wire transfer and fill in all the forms properly no one can take your money without having to go to court first and prove to a Judge it's drug money.
On the other hand, Canada does have a civil asset forfeiture regime, and while it's not as insane as the one in the United States we are more then happy to
[**strictly speaking the legal process is a bit more complicated, but this is how it effectively works.]
So, as a Canadian cop who has spent a decent amount of time over the years chasing after bad guy's money, and occasionally reading FINTRAC reports on what FINTRAC considers to be suspicious transactions, I can assure you have you nothing to worry about, feel free to wire yourself the money in one big lump, save on fees and just get it over with. You'll be fine.
P.S. Welcome to Canada, I hope you enjoy your stay!
posted by BlueSock at 9:19 AM on February 6, 2021 [9 favorites]
And BlueSock, it is Colombia, not Columbia. :)
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 10:12 AM on February 6, 2021
posted by Short End Of A Wishbone at 10:12 AM on February 6, 2021
Response by poster: And BlueSock, it is Colombia, not Columbia. :)
It's fine, I don't mind.
posted by Tarsonis10 at 10:38 AM on February 6, 2021
It's fine, I don't mind.
posted by Tarsonis10 at 10:38 AM on February 6, 2021
You're right, Scotiabank has a presence in Colombia, and will probably make this really easy.
posted by kate4914 at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2021
posted by kate4914 at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2021
Different countries but same principle: I moved from Canada to Australia a few years ago and once I had my work visa, I opened a bank account in Australia (online, from Canada). I don't remember all the details, but it was extremely easy. The Aus and Canadian banks are unrelated and unaffiliated. I then used TransferWise to transfer money in increments of just under $10k at a time (same rule as Canada re anything above $10k has to be declared). In total, I transferred about the same amount as yours. Nothing happened. Enjoy Canada!
posted by lulu68 at 4:31 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by lulu68 at 4:31 PM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
By the way, keep an eye on the exchange rate. Banks often offer an exchange rate that's 1-2% poorer than you can get on something like Transferwise. They bank on people not looking closely and that's a difference of $500-$1000 in this case.
posted by dum spiro spero at 10:14 AM on February 7, 2021
posted by dum spiro spero at 10:14 AM on February 7, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
It's tough because while $50,000 is a lot of money, it's not a lot of money to bankers and they may not be as helpful to you as they would be if it you had, say, $500,000.
posted by mskyle at 6:40 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]