medical tourism and general money handling question

[ericam]

Hi,

I'm new here. I hope no one will bristle at the subject matter I'd like to discuss. I'm traveling to B.A. at the end of this month for surgery and expect to remain for about a month. Unfortunately only after booking the operations have I found out that there are some rather severe difficulties getting money from US to AR. I'm hoping someone can either offer me some advice or point me to a thread where this has been discussed recently. I looked around but couldn't find any.

I'm going to need to bring in roughly $30,000, which for me a queen's ransom. I've asked every bank I know of whether I can deposit it here and withdraw it there. The only one I've found that has an office there is CitiBank and they said it wasn't possible to do that. Funds could only be accessed via ATM, which is no good to me.

To get my deposit to the doctor, I did a wire transfer to a pass through bank in NY, which then went through Santander Bank. By the time it was received over 10% had evaporated. Can anyone suggest to me a cheap way to accomplish such a transfer that would also be safe?

The doctor's office has stated that patients have simply hand carried the funds in. Over and above the obvious risk from the overtly criminal elements, does AR actually any laws against bringing that much US dollars through customs? Are taxes or fees imposed? Has anyone ever heard of AR customs officials claiming that it's against the law and just "confiscating" it? Are there other hidden dangers in this that I'm not considering?

I'd really appreciate any advice anyone could offer me. I've learned some hard lessons in the past about traveling to new countries without first talking to people that know the lay of the land. This money represents many years savings for me and I don't know what I'd do if I was unable to get this surgery.

Thank You
Erica

 

[katti]

stuck it in your underware/bra.

 

[hannstew]

The hand carry limit is $10,000 without having to claim in customs. What about paying with credit card and having the money already in your bank in the US and then just pay the card before there is intrest buildup on it?

Good luck

 

[studiodio]

My understanding is that officially you can bring in 10,000 cash ...so if you are coming with someone, that would cover 20,000 dollars...the rest could be in travelers checks maybe? Also, i have never been asked how much money i have at customs, nor have I heard of anyone being asked....

 

[katti]

You can bring 10000 usd per person. We brought in more, you can put 10,000 in your purse, and hide the rest over your other bags/in your clothes.

AND DON'T DECLARE THEM

 

[hannstew]

They ask on the paper that you fill out on the plane before arriving. That said, they have never physically asked or checked at customs.

 

[dennisr]

10k is the limit. No easy solution. May want to think about 500 Euro notes, but you may loose on the exchange rates. Like the lady said,......

 

[HenryNisental]

Do not bring large amounts of cash with you if you want to live a little longer.
Bring a 30K cashier´s check and Banco Piano will cash it for you. It may take a week or so, and they charge a 1.5% only commision fee. What you do then is up to you. If you have a local bank account they will deposit it directly.
Otherwise, If I were you, I´d deposit it IMMEDIATLY at a friend´s account in a near bank, a walking distance from Banco Piano. You can hire a policeman or two as a personal security guard, they do it all the time. for a fee.
good luck Henry

 

[dennisr]

One other thing, if you do go through with carrying all that cash, be very careful about who knows about your arrival time in Argentina. I would recommend you NOT use prearranged transportation from the medical outfit, if offered. Maybe others could offer suggestions for a good Remis.

 

[ericam]

stuck it in your underware/bra.

Ha, omg, can you imagine how huge and bizarre I'd look with 300 $100 bills stuffed in my bra

The hand carry limit is $10,000 without having to claim in customs. What about paying with credit card and having the money already in your bank in the US and then just pay the card before there is intrest buildup on it?

My guess would be that a credit card is going to turn out to be fraught with fees. Any time you use one, even here in the US the merchant has to pay about 3% of the transaction in fees, but in a foreign transaction the bank also charges the card holder another 2-3% on top of that, plus you get a horrible exchange rate on top of that.

My understanding is that officially you can bring in 10,000 cash ...so if you are coming with someone, that would cover 20,000 dollars...the rest could be in travelers checks maybe? Also, i have never been asked how much money i have at customs, nor have I heard of anyone being asked....

Okay people seem to be converging on the 10K number. I know that anything greater than that must be declared to US customs on the way out, but I wasn't sure about on the way into AR. I take it they do ask you the purpose of your visit so if I said anything like medical services I'd probably be instantly giving them reason to suspect that I'm bringing in a lot of money. I'm coming alone unfortunately. I even offered to buy someone a ticket but everyone is too busy protecting their jobs to take that kind of time off.

You can bring 10000 usd per person. We brought in more, you can put 10,000 in your purse, and hide the rest over your other bags/in your clothes.

AND DON'T DECLARE THEM

Well there are two problems I can think of here, first, US security being as draconian as it is now, everything except the few shreds of clothing you are wearing have to be put through a scanner. I've heard of altogether too many people who've had rolex's, wallets, and all kinds of valuables go disappear once they enter those scanners, kind of like a sock in a clothes dryer. Then when they have a tantrum about it, TSA threatens them with arrest and creating a security offense. I can not imagine how I could safely even ensure that I'd get past US security carrying a large bulky sum of money. I wouldn't want to do anything that would create even the impression of smuggling because then they just confiscate it.

Second, I really don't want to get arrested, I've seen Midnight Run too many times to want to land in a foreign prison, even if it's just for a night, so breaking the law just isn't an option for me. If I'm required to declare then I must declare. So no one knows if there is any kind of fee, penalty, VAT etc if I do declare it?

They ask on the paper that you fill out on the plane before arriving. That said, they have never physically asked or checked at customs.

Hmm, okay this is giving me hope, so perhaps if I can think of a safe way to make it past customs it could go smoothly. The other little complication in this is that I'm transsexual and previous experience tells me that some jackbooted authority types take immense amounts of pleasure in singling us out for scrutiny, even if it's just because there are inconsistencies between my apparent gender and presentation and that which is on my passport. It's all very worrisome when put together.

10k is the limit. No easy solution. May want to think about 500 Euro notes, but you may loose on the exchange rates. Like the lady said,......

Ooh, yeah a double currency conversion would just kill me. Maybe I should think about Diamonds

Thanks and keep the suggestions coming

Erica