Can you take 20,000 cash through an airport?

[Chilli]

As the title really, from London to Dubai. My parents are coming for a holiday for a week and I need them to bring some money over. If it's declared etc, will it be ok? Do they have to have good reason...ie make up a story?

Cheers.

[Pommygranite]

Not sure of the security aspect or customs requirements but surely something like www.hifx.com or www.xe.com makes more sense?

[AJS-]

It's legal but I think for amounts over £10,000 you have to declare it and state why. Going to the middle east this might be a bit of a problem too!

I don't know anything specific for UAE but the easiest way to send money to most places is a simple bank transfer which costs around £20 and saves the headache of carrying large amounts of money around.

[oilydan]

dubaicustoms.gov.ae- said:

All passengers arriving in the country are to declare the cash amounts in their possession, which exceed AED 40,000 (Forty Thousand Dirham) or any other equivalent amount of currencies ....

Which is GBP 7K each.

After that you pay duty which is what? 5%?

So you would end up paying GBP 300 in tax. You're better off with a TT for about 50 quid.

[TimJMS]

You can take as much cash as you like through an airport - just ask anyone who has bought or sold any Spanish property

[GTIR]

I'm pretty sureif you can't prove where it originally came from it can be seized as proceeds of crime. "Normal" people don't carry that sort of cash around.

Kudos for getting your parents to act as mules though.

[Asterix]

Even if it is bank transferred, you may be asked the source of the funds by the bank until they release it - the UAE has been (rightly) accused of being one big washing machine for lots of different currencies and they are now very, very suspicious.

That said, why would they worry about a months salary for you...?

[XG332]

Does your dealer not take card or cheque?

[GeraldSmith]

If you carry more than £1,000 through a UK border you will be asked (if detected) to prove the source of the money. If you can't do that they will hold on to it under the proceeds of crime act. I have no idea what the chances of being stopped are but they do train dogs to detect cash.

[ZOLLAR]

GeraldSmith said:

If you carry more than £1,000 through a UK border you will be asked (if detected) to prove the source of the money. If you can't do that they will hold on to it under the proceeds of crime act. I have no idea what the chances of being stopped are but they do train dogs to detect cash.

Wish i had one of those!.

[Beardy10]

I was takingabout £4k in Swiss Francs out to a Ski resort for a mate of mine who was already there and spending money like it was going out of fashion on the four kids he had out there. Most money I have ever carried through customs and I was pulled aside and asked it I was carrying a large amount of cash....no sniffer dogs but my guess is that they have some kind of sensor in the airport scanner (this was a three or four years ago)....either that or it was an almighty coincidence. Luckily I had the proof that I'd got the cash from Amex and they believed the tale about my friend....

[Dilligaf10]

GeraldSmith said:

.....but they do train dogs to detect cash.

Bet Mrs D could find it faster!!

[JMGS4]

Beardy10 said:

I was takingabout £4k in Swiss Francs ....and I was pulled aside and asked it I was carrying a large amount of cash....no sniffer dogs but my guess is that they have some kind of sensor in the airport scanner .

YES RFID reader!! New SFR and Euro notes all carry an RFID chip. If you don't believe me take a small denomination note put it in the microwave for 10 seconds and watch it pop and burn! DON'T do it longer otherwise the note will catch fire!

[sleep envy]

GeraldSmith said:

If you carry more than £1,000 through a UK border you will be asked (if detected) to prove the source of the money. If you can't do that they will hold on to it under the proceeds of crime act. I have no idea what the chances of being stopped are but they do train dogs to detect cash.

you don't have to cross a border, same rules apply in the street

[308mate]

So....Nick Matthews from Essex....likley that the parents live in Essex also.

Search all passengers with Surname Matthews leaving Stanstead in the next few weeks, see which of which ones of those are going to Dubai and then which of those live in Essex. Good chance they will have 20k cash on them or at least lying around the house in the days preceding.

blame any spelling mistakes on trying to type from under a tin-foil hat

[JB!]

308mate said:

So....Nick Matthews from Essex....likley that the parents live in Essex also.

Search all passengers with Surname Matthews leaving Stanstead in the next few weeks, see which of which ones of those are going to Dubai and then which of those live in Essex. Good chance they will have 20k cash on them or at least lying around the house in the days preceding.

blame any spelling mistakes on trying to type from under a tin-foil hat

I'd happily provide "emotional support" for a 15% fee!

[burriana]

ZOLLAR said:

GeraldSmith said:

dogs to detect cash.

Wish i had one of those!.

See "match.com/POF" thread!

[Neil H]

Pretty sure it will be cheaper to change it a via foreign exchange service than carrying cash to Dubai and changing that. And easier, obviously.

[Hugo a Gogo]

buy gold brick, carry that through (on a chain around your neck)

[Hugo a Gogo]

re: the RFID thing in Euros :

I was stopped on the Autobahn by customs (Zoll) guys in Germany and asked if I had a large sum of money, I asked 'How much is a large sum?' - had about 20k on me (for wages and stuff for my old company)

so they'd got a signal from a moving car at Autobahn speed