Overseas cash withdrawals in a year cannot exceed 100000 yuan, counted together across every card in your own name; if you carry cash in or out, RMB is at most 20000 yuan each time, and foreign currency over 5000 US dollars must be declared to customs

Overseas cash withdrawals are counted together across every bank card in your own name, with a cap of 100000 yuan a year. Once you go over it, you cannot withdraw again for the rest of that year or the next year. Card spending is not affected. If you carry cash in or out, RMB is at most 20000 yuan each time, and foreign currency over 5000 US dollars must be declared to customs. If you do not declare it, you may be fined. Hiding it and carrying it counts as smuggling, and the cash can be confiscated.

Cost

No money. Before you leave, estimate how much cash this trip will need, and put the rest on a card. The hard part is changing the habit: if you can pay by card, do not withdraw cash. If you need to carry a large amount of foreign currency in cash out of the country, you first have to go to a bank and get a permit, which is an extra trip.

Benefit

The basis is the State Administration of Foreign Exchange notice on regulating large overseas cash withdrawals with bank cards, Hui Fa [2017] No. 29, in force from January (1) 1, 2018. Article 1: "Where an individual withdraws cash overseas with a domestic bank card, the bank cards in that person's own name (including supplementary cards), taken together, shall not exceed the equivalent of 100000 yuan in each calendar year. If the annual quota is exceeded, overseas cash withdrawal with a domestic bank card will be suspended for the current year and the following year." Paragraph 2 of the same article: "An individual shall not evade, or help someone else evade, the controls on overseas cash withdrawal by borrowing another person's bank card or by lending out his or her own bank card." Article 2: every day the foreign-exchange authority sends the suspension list to the card-issuing banks, and a card-issuing bank shall, no later than 17 o'clock Beijing time that day, suspend overseas cash withdrawal with that bank's cards for the people on the list. Article 3: a person placed on the suspension list may take a valid identity document to a branch of the foreign-exchange authority and look up his or her own overseas cash-withdrawal record. Article 4: the per-card daily cap for a foreign-currency card was adjusted from the equivalent of 1000 US dollars to the equivalent of 10000 yuan; for an RMB card, the cap stays at no more than the equivalent of 10000 yuan per card per day. Article 6: where a card-issuing bank, a domestic RMB-card clearing organization, or an individual violates this notice, the penalty follows the relevant provisions of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Foreign Exchange Administration. A press Q&A from the foreign-exchange authority also makes a few points clear. The notice does not affect an individual's card spending overseas. Ordinary transactions for food, lodging, transport, and shopping on an overseas trip, a business trip, or study abroad can all be paid by bank card. That spending also does not use up the annual 50000 US dollar facilitation quota for buying foreign exchange. The annual quota is calculated by the foreign-exchange authority from the data of all the card-issuing institutions, because real-time control would slow the response of the transaction, and "the foreign-exchange authority uses a delayed control method" (it does not block the transaction on the spot). Separately, statistics show that in 2016, 81% of overseas cash withdrawals on domestic bank cards were below 30000 yuan, nationwide. Carrying cash in or out has a separate set of rules. The new customs declaration form in use from April (4) 1, 2025 says on the back: "The RMB each person carries in or out each time shall not exceed 20000 yuan." For foreign-currency cash on the way in, "an amount exceeding the equivalent of 5000 US dollars shall be declared to customs in writing." On the way out, if you carry the equivalent of more than 5000 US dollars and up to 10000 US dollars, you first get a Permit for Carrying Foreign Exchange out of the Country from a bank, then declare it to customs. Above 10000 US dollars, you get that permit from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The foreign-exchange authority's measures state that a person leaving the country "in principle shall not carry foreign-currency cash exceeding the equivalent of 10000 US dollars out of the country." The customs measures on supervision of luggage and articles provide that currency cash above the set amount must be declared to customs in writing both on the way in and on the way out. If the written declaration is still not finished when customs starts the inspection, it counts as not declared. If you did not declare it, but you did not hide it, customs gives a warning and may impose a fine of up to 20% of the value of the goods. If you hide it, disguise it, or under-declare it, that counts as smuggling: the cash is confiscated, and a fine of up to the same value may also be imposed.

Notes

The quota is counted by the calendar year, and the total starts again on January (1) 1. What is suspended is only overseas cash withdrawal. Card spending is not affected. If you really need a large amount of cash overseas, buy the foreign exchange first under the Measures for the Administration of Individual Foreign Exchange, then carry the foreign-currency cash out. Above 5000 US dollars, remember to get the carrying permit first and declare it in the red channel at customs. The destination country has its own declaration threshold too. Check it once before you leave. For example, US customs states that bringing more than 10000 US dollars into or out of the United States each time must be declared, and a family traveling together is counted on the combined amount. The cash rules were checked against the official sites on October (10) 14, 2026. The withdrawal itself has 2 further pitfalls, which the UnionPay International page (境外ATM取款) states. First, on a dual-logo card, at some ATMs in some countries, you cannot choose the UnionPay channel to withdraw. Second, some overseas ATMs show an extra fee (surcharge) on the screen. The local acquirer charges that money, and it "has nothing to do with UnionPay." The same page also says: "Because a credit-card withdrawal requires payment of overdraft interest, cardholders are advised to use a UnionPay debit card for overseas withdrawals." For a lost card, a card swallowed by the machine, or a card used without your authorization, see section 14, item 5 (report a skimmed card lost and freeze it, then call the police). The limits on withdrawals and on carrying cash are as of October (10) 2026. Before you leave, follow the latest notices from the foreign-exchange authority and from customs.

Sources · 9

1. 国家外汇管理局 (2017). 关于规范银行卡境外大额提取现金交易的通知（汇发〔2017〕29 号，第一、二、三、四、六、七条，2018 年 1 月 1 日起实施）. safe.gov.cn/safe/2017/1230/21873.html
2. 国家外汇管理局 (2017). 外汇局有关负责人就规范银行卡境外大额提取现金交易有关问题答记者问. gov.cn/zhengce/2017-12/31/content_5251958.htm
3. 中国银联国际. 境外ATM取款. m.unionpayintl.com/wap/cn/serviceCenter/cardU…
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7. 中国人民银行 (2004). 中国人民银行公告〔2004〕第 18 号（人民币出入境限额调整为 20000 元，2005 年 1 月 1 日起施行）. pbc.gov.cn/tiaofasi/144941/3581332/3582861/20…
8. 国务院 (2022 年修订). 海关行政处罚实施条例（第七、九、十九条）. flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff80818180e0a6130181…
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