Best way to transfer funds from Brazil to Canada

11/14/22 Hi, NBoer.  Is someone (e.g., an attorney) handling the sales for you under a Power of Attorney/Procuração?  That person should be able to work out the details of wire transferring the funds from his/her Brazilian account to your Canadian account and review them with you without too much trouble, if all the paperwork on the properties is in order.  If you have your own Brazilian bank account, so much the better.

@NBoer I'm  looking at the same thing currently but opposite direction. Banks will charge you alot more for wire transfers. Also there are other companies to do this... WISE. EX.. You get better rates and some have limitations on amounts. I was also told its good to upload a file for proof of funds proving that the funds were not from illegal gains but from a property sale.

hum, a bit tricky, since i do not think it very easy or legal for anyone to send money out of Brazil... there is a strong federal control over flow of money in and out...

you should definitely check with a lawyer first... anyway, for sure, it would be better if you had an account in Brazil to receive the payment...

if not, anyway, i would not trust an unknown attorney with a power to handle all the paper work... what will you do if he does not send the money to you?  if you have to give power to anyone, it has to be a person 100% trust... not 99%...

i am pretty much interested in this subject, thanks to keep us posted about the solution you find!!

cheers!

I agree...check with a lawyer. If you need one in Brazil, I have one that I am using. He is located in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. Speaks great English. If so, PM me and I'll send his contact info.

We have been sending money from US to Brazil (not done the other way yet) to pay for the land we bought and now remodeling one of the houses on it. I used several methods to move the money:

• XOOM,
• WISE (better rates then Xoom), but I stopped using them as they (their banking partner in Brazil) requested alot of additional financial information, statement from my wife, etc. which I did not want to provide
• via a friend who lives in Rio (to his US bank and then he'd withdraw & deposit in my wife's Brazilian bank account),
• via same friend's cambio associate (again, we transferred to a US account and they deposited into hers).
• directly from my account in the US to her bank in Brazil (horrible rates/fees).

11/15/22.  There is nothing especially tricky, and certainly nothing illegal, about a bank-to-bank transfer of legal funds, either into or out of Brazil.  The regulations are what they are to prevent money-laundering and to ensure that taxes that are due have been paid, that's all.  Someone not moving illegal funds or trying to evade taxes has much less to fear from the formal SWIFT system than from any of the semi-formal, informal, or outright sketchy alternatives on offer.

I would think that anyone who has formally empowered an attorney or another agent to sell real estate for them would have done sufficient due diligence before giving them a power of attorney to be confident in their  trustworthiness.

I agree with you, abthree, on the legal transfer.  IMO, all depends on how the receiving bank handles, particularly what exchange rate they use and fees.  I know the SWIFT transfer I did to her bank, the exchange rate was significantly below the official rate (something like getting 4.5 when the rate was 5+.  Via the Cambio, it's the official rate less 2%.

That said, with all the cyber security concerns, I try to limit sensitive financial information that is exposed using Wise.  Nothing sketchy about my other methods as the money is still being deposited into her account (which is likely tracked) and we will handle the taxes next year with assistance from my local attorney (and the accountant he knows) as it will be necessary should we sell the property in the future to manage taxes on that sale.

For what it's worth, the friend in Rio that I am using is an American ex-pat/business owner that I've known for 20 years.   

11/15/22 @madrac. I couldn't agree with you more about Wise. I stopped using for them last May for the same reason, and wrote about my experience with them here at that time. I actually tried to satisfy their documentation demands, but gave up after two weeks and two additional documentation demands and had the transfer refunded. To add insult to injury -- really more injury, not just insult -- they insisted on communicating only by email, and gave themselves three business days to reply each time. We were living on ATM withdrawals for two weeks, and you know how those rates are!

I'm surprised at those rates you received, because banks are required by law to give "market rates", although the definition can be loose. The rate I've been getting from BB lately has been around 5 plus a few centavos, not as good as Wise -- but the money arrives. 😂 Banks can always find some quirk to add another fee, though.

Great that you have a network, especially with such an ambitious real estate project in hand -- you're braver than I am! How's it progressing?