Importing Money

[johnw100]

I'll be going to Uruguay in a few weeks. Any idea what paperwork may be required to open an account and is there a cost to do the transfer?

Search for BROU on here (Bank of Uruguay) There must be loads of posts on the subject of opening an account. Just give yourself a few hours and take everything you have to prove who you are and where your money has come from.

 

[nikad]

I have heard that it is not easy now for Americans to open accounts in Uruguay. You might want to look up on Facebook the group of expats in Uruguay and ask in there.

 

[Macanudo]

It's my understanding that you can wire $2999. using Xoom to Uruguay for a cost of $60. and pick up in US dollars. That comes to about 2% cost without adding in the ferry expense. If you add the ferry expense ($80?) it comes to around 4.66 %.

 

[French jurist]

There has been discussions here about changing dollars to pesos. I don't remember any discussions on how to get the money into AR in the first place. In the past I've tried to import money to a bank here but the end it cost me money to my bank in the US to send it here and money to the local bank to send it back.

Of course you can bring in up to $10,000 dollars if you come from the states. Or you can go to Uruguay and use ATM's for small amounts at approx 6% cost. Or you can go to an "import bank" at a 4% to 6% cost. Or you can use Xoom, up to $2500 at a 8.5% cost.

Any suggestions on how to bring larger amounts of dollars in ($5000) at minimum cost?

Can money be transferred to a bank in Uruguay? Ecuador?

Hove you had luck with private parties who want to send money to the US?

Those of you who live here on US money (social security, rental income, dividends) probably have a good strategy. Please share.

Thanks,
Tom

I guess those info still are mostly valid (for the BROU in Colonia)

You can open an account in 45 minutes at BROU:
-Arrive at 12:30 and wait for the bank to open at 1pm
-Once the bank opens, people in front of you will go to take a number on the right & on the left -> take a number on the left
-Once the clerk calls you, give the proper documentation + photocopies: 2 valid IDs, one proof of where you live (either a public service invoice in your name, or eventually an expensas invoice in your name = a rental contract is not valid, even if stamped by an escribano publico), proofs of your monthly income (Purchase orders in your name, etc.). You'll also need a document by an official accountant or an escribano publico stating you make XXXX$ per month (better inflate a bit the figures because you'll need to stay below this amount every month, otherwise they'll ask you why you make suddenly more). This last document can even be given later on, you can even give it to the offices of BROU in Buenos Aires.
-Minimum deposit is 200 USD. They give you immediately a Maestro card.
-When I was there, I asked the clerk if Americans were treated the same way as Europeans (due to IRS rules, etc.) => strictly no difference

 

[ElQueso]

It is a little more difficult to open a bank account in Uruguay for American citizens now, the last year or two. I have two friends who opened up accounts some 3-4 years ago and they haven't been closed. I don't know exactly what the restrictions are now.

However, you may want to start up an Uruguayan corporation (a little expensive, I understand, about $2000 USD) through the help of an accountant there (lawyers don't handle this as I understand) with a bank account - if you can't open a personal account.

The big thing with opening an account in Uruguay for Americans is because they don't want to deal with the IRS and the US crap that may follow. However, I'm betting it's still possible, you just may need to have a lot of support (such as apostilled documents from your accountant stating origin of funds, whatever paperwork the IRS requires, etc.) to do it.

Another option, BTW, for getting an Uruguayan account would be to get Argentine citizenship...if you have problems as an American, er USAer.

Frenchie - I wonder how many times people have asked something here in LA/SA and gotten an easy answer...that turned out to be pure crap? I know two guys within the last year that couldn't do it, but I don't remember what specifically they said. Maybe they had some other issue. Tom, I'd sure try as Frenchie suggests though, before anything else like starting a corporation, that's for sure! If you could get money into Uruguay, a day trip for a month's worth (or more) of dollars would be the second best way to handle things, in my opinion. See below for the best, if you can find it.

Sending money to Uruguay via wires is as easy as your origin bank will allow you. I have two banks in the US and have sent money regularly, for more than two years, to Uruguay via both of them without problems. Both banks have really good online wire sending ability (I never deal with anyone at the bank, and my wires go out immediately if sent during business hours - as late as 5:00 PM where the bank is located). Used to be it took 2-3 days for the money to be credited in the Uruguayan account, but recently I've even had it show up the same day if I send it early enough and even when not the same day, the next business day for sure. The only cost I've had has been my wire transfer fee which varies from bank to bank. I don't know what the receiver pays on his end for his account, but he has never indicated to me that he had to pay for money coming into the account.

The idea of sending via Western Union to Uruguay isn't a bad idea, but you may end up with the problem of needing to send to yourself, plus repeated sendings may cause Western Union to start not approving transactions. I.e., it might be a short-term fix, but I'd start to worry about that over the long haul. Maybe send some money and go pick it up and while you're there look into the BROU in Colonia about setting up an account.

The cuevas (you have to find one, is really the main problem) at 4-6% are certainly a lot better than Xoom or other places like that. Although Macanudo's idea of sending to Uruguay may take a lot of the sting out of Xoom's advantage-taking here related to the blue dollar (not that I blame them with the official rate so low) - but you still have to travel to Uruguay for that and if you can get a bank account there and send money to your own account it will still be better than 4-5% Macanudo indicated that would cost. The only thing is, I still think going through Xoom can be problematic at times. Maybe it's just here. I've used Xoom twice and the second time I got hit with the paperwork thing, took care of that, but remembered feeling iffy about it and saw that others had mentioned problems between them and More.

Edit: BTW - don't forget there are limits on how much you can send via Xoom or Western Union.

The absolute best thing you can do is find someone who makes a lot of money on a regular basis here and wants to get their money out of the country and has a foreign bank account. That's what I do, and I have brought my costs to import money down to about $25 USD (what my primary bank charges for international wires - $15 when I can send to a bank in the US) no matter how much I am sending. The problem with this is that in many cases you may be dealing with pesos from the receiver instead of dollars. If the price of the peso fluctuates too much, you could lose out a bit in the medium term, depending on how long the money lasts you. If you can find someone who has dollars here and needs to get them out (they exist, just harder to find), even better.

 

[nlaruccia]

Search for BROU on here (Bank of Uruguay) There must be loads of posts on the subject of opening an account. Just give yourself a few hours and take everything you have to prove who you are and where your money has come from.

Keep in mind that if you want to transfer or wire funds out of a bank account in BROU to another bank you have to do it in one of their branches in Uruguay. They're not set-up for wires or transfers that can be made through their webpage.

 

[khairyexpat]

I forgot to mention that Exchange4Free service is for FREE .... nothing is cheaper than that ... .
You send $N Dollars .... you receive the same $N Dollars !
NO FEES.
Only problem is you may have to be toooooooo patient .. on edge sometimes... if something goes wrong !

Exchange4Free is a great service .... with a caveat !!!!

Their PayOut Partner ¨More¨ operates with South American Standards 100% ...

My last transaction .. I mistakenly gave a wrong account number. (my memory is fading ... time is gaining the upper hand).
The good news is ... their PayOut Partner picked up the problem and blocked the transaction ( I´m grateful they did).
The bad news is ... NO ONE ELSE KNEW THAT.
Communications broken ( either .. no reply to my queries ... or ... ¨we don´t know¨ ).

Thought I was stranded and left out to hang dry.
My transaction was finally successfully completed by the end of the 15th day.

http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
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http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free
http://baexpats.org/...__exchange4free

 

[French jurist]

No idea why others couldn't do it (would be good to know why exactly).
All I can say is I managed to open one during my first visit, in 45 mins more or less.
Only tricky part was the proof of residency (utility bills are in the name of my landlords), but they finally accepted a simple "recibo de expensas" (which is really a very basic document, partly handwritten).

No idea if things changed since 2 years, but when I asked the lady at BROU about Americans, she told me no problem.

 

[jbhenson]

There are people who will exchange dollars here for dollars there for a fee, going rate is about 4-6%. Then you exchange them where and with whom you like. Usually require an introduction. To the OP - I can help with this.

Unless you're going to Uruguay anyways, this costs a hair more and (once relationships are established) is infinitely simpler.

Ben,
ID like an intro, and more info on how it works. Ive been doing the xoom and Ria thing, they are a pain sometimes"no money here yet" then after 3 days and constant calls they miraculously find your money and you can go get it.

nothing like having someone ask you CONSTANTLY where your money is coming from after you already gave them copies of everything. At any rate id like an easier way!

 

[TomAtAlki]

I forgot to mention that Exchange4Free service is for FREE .... nothing is cheaper than that ... .
You send $N Dollars .... you receive the same $N Dollars !
NO FEES.
Only problem is you may have to be toooooooo patient .. on edge sometimes... if something goes wrong !

I looked up Exchange4Free and it seems they don't send money from the US. :=( Free would be good.