New Chinese immigrants who don’t have legal status or papers often have to ask their relatives for help when they want to make wire money transfers to their families in China. Wire transfers are made under the names of their relatives.
But come the Chinese New Year, Chinese, with or without legal status, have to wire money back home; however, due to a limit to how much money one can wire abroad, many Chinese neighborhoods find there are not enough legal Chinese immigrants who can help wire money for undocumented Chinese immigrants. This is causing anxiety in the community.
According to Mr. Wang, who has wired money from Manhattan’s Chinatown, depending on the amount, many wire transfer companies require customers to present the proper paper work. For example, Western Union requested that all those who wanted to wire transfer more than $3,000 provide a Social Security number. Those who wanted to wire transfer less than $3,000 needed to present a driver’s license or other photo identification. In fact, all wire transfer companies require paperwork from their customers.
Once the customer presents a driver license or Social Security number, the wire transfer company automatically records and lists the wire transfer amount and information. If the amount exceeds a certain limit, the company has to report the transfer information to a government regulation agency. In order to avoid being checked or reported, many people make wire transfers from in different locations.
On 31st Street on East Broadway, Mr. Lu, who wanted to transfer $20,000 back to Fujian China, had to ask five or six relatives to help him transfer the amount. Unable to transfer the total amount, he became frustrated and came close to asking passersby on the street for help. He needed to send money back to his family so that they could build a house in China. Some relatives could not help him because they themselves needed to transfer money back home and had to stay within the limits for their own personal use.
This situation has prompted the use of companies that bypass the paperwork requirements, enabling them to attract more customers.
