Daily spending in Beijing runs on mobile payment apps, and the payments, SIM cards, and banking guide covers that setup. Larger sums are a different job: a flat deposit, a term’s tuition, salary you want to send home, or money arriving from abroad. Those go through a bank, and they need preparation before the day you move the money. This guide is general orientation, not financial, tax, or legal advice. For any specific transfer, your bank’s answer at the time is the one that counts.
Start with the right account
Beijing’s official visitor guidance states that foreigners can open a foreign-currency bank account at a nearby bank branch with valid identification documents such as a passport, and names the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and the Bank of Communications as banks offering account-opening services. The same guidance lists what follows from such an account: RMB and foreign-currency deposits and withdrawals, foreign-exchange services, domestic transfers, and cross-border remittances.
Open the account before you need it for something urgent. Ask at account opening whether receiving money from abroad and sending money abroad are already available on your account, or need separate activation: finding that out during an urgent transfer is the most common avoidable delay.
Exchanging currency
Foreign currency can be exchanged for RMB at banks, foreign-exchange agencies, or self-service currency-exchange machines marked with currency-exchange signs, according to the same official visitor guidance. For a small amount, any of those routes works. For a large amount, use a bank branch: the rate is quoted there, the transaction is recorded against your account, and you leave with a record you can show later if anyone asks where the money came from. Beijing’s official Payment Services guide is the hub for payment setup for overseas visitors and residents, and Beijing has set up payment service centres for overseas guests at both Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport.
This guide states no exchange rates and no fees. Both move, and any figure quoted here would be out of date by the time you read it. Compare the bank’s quote on the day, and keep the exchange slip.
Sending money abroad: prepare the paper trail first
A cross-border remittance is really two steps: converting the money and sending it. Before you start, ask your bank for its own document checklist for your case, and assemble the file first:
- Your passport and residence documents, and the details of the account sending the money.
- The beneficiary’s full name exactly as it appears on their account, the receiving bank’s name, the account number, and the SWIFT/BIC code. One wrong character can stall a transfer for days.
- Employment and tax documents from your stay: contract, recent payslips, and income tax records. The individual income tax guide explains the March 1 to June 30 settlement window; those records are the natural proof salary was earned and taxed in China. Ask which ones your bank wants, and have them ready either way.
Send a small test transfer first when the route is new. If the details are wrong, you discover it on a small sum, and the corrected details are then on file for the larger one.
One quota rule, stated narrowly
There is one widely quoted figure in this area, and it is easy to misread. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange circular on foreign-exchange sales and settlement for foreign citizens holding foreign permanent resident ID cards says that the card is a valid identity certificate for handling foreign-exchange settlement and purchase, and that cardholders are eligible for the annual quota of the equivalent of USD 50,000 for foreign-exchange settlement and purchase. That statement is about holders of that specific card. If you do not hold one, do not assume the same quota applies to you: ask your bank which rules govern your status before you plan a transfer around a number.
Receiving money from abroad
Money arriving from abroad uses the same account. Give the sender your full name exactly as it appears on your Chinese bank account, the bank’s name, your account number, and the SWIFT/BIC code, and ask your bank whether an incoming transfer needs any action from you — such as confirming the receipt or converting the currency — before the money becomes usable. Keep the sender’s transfer confirmation until the money arrives: if it is late, that confirmation, with its reference number, is what the receiving bank will ask for first.
Large domestic payments
A flat deposit, a tuition payment, or a payment to a local company is usually a domestic bank transfer, and it needs the same care over beneficiary details: the recipient’s full account name, the bank, and the account number, checked character by character. Keep the transfer record with the contract or receipt it pays for — if there is ever a dispute about whether you paid, the bank record plus the contract is the evidence. If a recipient insists on cash for a large sum, pause: a bank transfer leaves a record for both sides.
When something goes wrong
Work through the likely causes in order: a mismatched beneficiary detail, a conversion or confirmation step not yet completed, or a document the bank is still waiting for. Contact the bank with the transfer reference number, not just the amount and date — the reference is how the bank traces the payment. If the bank cannot solve it, the 12345 hotline and the official links on the resources page are the official fallback routes.
Checklist before any large transfer
- The account that will send or receive the money is open, and you know whether it can already handle cross-border transfers.
- Beneficiary details — full name, bank, account number, SWIFT/BIC — are checked character by character.
- The bank’s document checklist for your case is in hand, with employment and tax records ready.
- A small test transfer has succeeded on any new route, and the exchange slip, transfer reference, and contract or receipt are filed together, paper and digital.