thedignans

Hi there,

Can anyone help please? I know you are only allowed to enter Canada with $10,000 cash but is that per family or per adult?

Thanks

Julie

Tangram

Why would anyone carry that sort of cash around anyway unless you are Colombian ?

Andrew Miller

Where did you find such absurd info? You can bring as much as you want to Canada, even billions if you have that kind of cash.

Up to $10,000 may be brought without reporting it, if you are bringing more than $10K you must report it (for anti money laundering purposes, just as in every other developed country) and you may be asked to explain the source. But there is no limit how much you can bring.

thedignans

i was under the impression that you were only allowed to bring $10,000 in through the POE...again is that per family or per person???
i only ask cos we are finding it a pain in the arse to open a canadian bank account from the UK..so we may need a few bob in hand when we land...( for a car, initial rental fees, etc....
so a straight forward answer would be appreciated...



julie

Tangram

Andrew already gave you a straight forward answer, please re-read post.

Greenhill

Is this what you're looking for??

http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/immigra...lled/funds.asp

Cookie

Mike, if you bring over more than $10,000 cash/travellers cheques then declare it on your landing card which is handed out on the flight. The problems only occur if you don't declare it (saw the interrogation on an OZ tv programme ).

We brought in about $10,000 in cash to put straight into a bank account here to last us until our house equity came through. Wear a money belt.

Also keep some money in the UK for using your UK credit cards. Organise to pay the bill by online banking from your UK bank account.

MB-Realtor

I'm sorry, but WHY? Cash is a pain in the "Nether Area" these days.

Keep the money in your UK Bank, open the Canadian Account with as little as $1, then have your UK bank wire the money to your new account, or just write a cheque on your UK account and deposit it to your new account (this does take longer for you to get your hands on the money, as you have to wait for the cheque to clear).

Or pay the money into your UK credit card, and transfer it to your new bank account when its opened.

Or take a Uk Bank draft made out to yourself (you will still have to declare this at customs as it is a "Monetary Instrument" )

These options are all safer than cash.

No worries about:- Losing it, Theft, drawing attention to yourself at customs etc. etc.

johnh009

Hi Julie, as Andrew says, you can bring in as much as you want. There are plenty of ggod suggestions here on how to procede However, to open a Canadian bank account, you will need a Social Insurance Number here I believe.

louise033

No you don't need a SIN number to open a bank account.

Helen Parnell

Though I am personally not a great fan of HSBC a lot of people have gone to their local branch in the Uk and opened one. Then bring a little bit of money (not $10,000 cash) open up a canadian HSBC and get the money transferred.

There are ways, and carrying large amounts of cash is just not one of them and is so yesterday.

thedignans

hi there,

Thanks everyone for your comments. I am on the process of opening a Canadian Bank Account , but they what i.d and the list of items they except are all Canadian. So it seems like a catch 22.
I got in touch with the Royal Bank of Canada they seemed really helpful and they are sending me out an application pack so fingers crosssed it is a bit more straight forward.
The $10,000 i was going to take was to buy a car and tide us over until we got our bank sorted our then we would have transfered the rest of our money as and when we needed it.
thanks for all the advice
Julie

iaink

The danger of having no cash is that canadian banks are notorous for looooong hold on funds for new customers. But if you can open an account in advance and wire money over in advance it should not be a problem. Bringing a cheque or draft could well be though. Cash and interac daily limits will also be a hassle for kitting out a house, buying a car etc if you dont have an acceptable credit card ( I used my UK one and figured out a way to pay the bill in the UK), but I suppose you might get lucky and find somewhere that still takes personal cheques (increasing unusual though)


You can bring as much cash as you like, you just have to report anything in excess of $10k to comply with money laundering regulations. Not reporting it can lead to big trouble, but its not like they are going to tax you on it, so feel free to report it.

KRoss

I brought $10,000 in cash. I used it to buy beds, couches tv and and other essentials that I didn't ship. At the time my Td canada bank account would only "allow" me to take $1500 cash per week and make a direct interac purchase of $1000! I have since had this changed but it just was easier for me who was buying large value items in the first few days.

nagajara

We landed with no cash (all our money was in Scotland). Scotia bank gave us a bank account, visa & mortgage. All we needed was a copy of our landing papers to open everything. If you have a switch/maestro card - you can withdraw cash from any ATM - just like uk! It only costs around $1.50.