I will be returning to Canada in Jan/Feb of next year and I've heard that it might not be possible to convert my Chinese yuan renminbi back into Canadian dollars (or any other currency for that matter). Only the other way around (dollars into RMB).
For those who have been to China can someone help me understand their experience? Obviously I don't want to be in a position where I return to Canada with a stack of cash that I can't exchange or use!!
Reply to this Hi Oliver,
Just sent you a preivate message for this...
Peter
Reply to this If you keep the reciept when you converted dollars to renminbi you will be able to change them back again.
If you haven't or you earned untaxed renminbi you will have to be more creative, I guess thats what leslie's pm will detail
Reply to this keep the receipts......then there isn't a problem........I think ther is an upper limit of how much you can convert from RMB to a foreign currency, but, I should imagine, you won't have huge amounts to convert back.
Reply to this when I returned to Europe in August, I had a (Chinese) friend exchange 5000 RMB into Euro.(Bank of China, Beijing) It was not a problem, no original receipts were needed. However, my friend had to fill out a lot of forms and it took her two hours though generally speaking it is possible to exchange it back into a foreign currency. I would recommend to ask a Chinese friend to do so and not to accompany them into the bank so they don;t know its for a foreigner. I think foreigners would have to fill out even more forms...
Reply to this Thanks Julia. To make things easier I'm giving my cash to a coworker (another expat), who will then wire the money to me in my home currency. Makes it easier and he needs the cash anyway. There has got to be an easier way to do this though, especially for cash that is reimbursed for business rather than personal purposes.
Reply to this I have also traded money with a Chinese friend. I give them RMB, that they can use, and they give me dollars in return. You are getting paid for some work? Why don't you pay for housing etc. in RMB that you receive?
Reply to this It's for business expense reimbursements which I had to pay out of pocket. My housing is paid for by my company. Nothing else to spend the money on, unless I wanted to go on a spending spree (which I've done enough of already!)
Reply to this I see, then you are almost forced to give the money to a co-worker for the trade....or ask them to pay you back in US dollars, which they can do.
Reply to this I bought Yuan in the UK and then changed them back on my return to the UK. I assume it's the same for other countries.
Reply to this yes, I would check in Canada if you can exchage yuan for Canadian dollars without any receipts or documentation.
Reply to this Chinese people with a Bank of China account can exchange RMB into USD. It is fairly easy. It only takes my friend about ten minutes to do it.
Reply to this 
