I-EUMLiving in Korea

Sending money to your home country — only through registered places

This page is machine translated from Ieumi's guide written in Korean. If the meaning is confusing, please look at the Korean original text. View original text (Korean)

When you send money abroad, use a financial company such as a bank, or a small-amount overseas remittance business registered with the government. Sending money overseas without registering (so-called hwanchigi) is forbidden by law.

📌 Key points

A place that is not a financial company must register with the government in advance to make overseas remittance its business. If it does so without registering, it can be punished by up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to 300 million won, and if 3 times the amount sent exceeds 300 million won, the fine goes up to that 3 times amount.

🔢 Do these in order

  1. On the Financial Supervisory Service "FINE" website, go to Financial Company Information → Small-amount Overseas Remittance Business → Registration Status Search (independent · entrusted) and see if the business is there. The registration number, the countries it can send to, and the limit also appear.
  2. Do not leave your money with a place that is not on the list, or that says it takes cash and sends it through "someone they know." If you are not sure, ask at your bank counter.

📍 Where to go

Banks · registered small-amount overseas remittance businesses

💻 Do it online

⚠️ Things to watch out for

The Foreign Exchange Transactions Act changes from December 3, 2026. A business that is already registered is regarded as registered under the changed law too (Amended Act Addenda Article 3). The business type name and the search screen may change, so check again after that. I-EUM does not recommend remittance businesses.

See also

Basis

  • 외국환거래법 제8조 제3항 제2호 · 제27조의2 제1항 제1호(3년 · 3억 · 단서: 목적물 가액 3배가 3억 초과면 그 3배 이하) (법률 제21065호, 시행 2026-01-02 · 법제처 API 원문 대조 2026-10-12)
  • 외국환거래법 개정 (법률 제21714호, 2026-06-02 공포, 2026-12-03 시행) 부칙 제3조 — 종전 등록자는 등록한 것으로 본다 https://www.law.go.kr/법령/외국환거래법/(21714,20260602) (조사원 원문 확인 2026-10-12)
  • 금융감독원 파인 「소액해외송금업자 등록현황 조회(독립형 · 위탁형)」 https://fine.fss.or.kr/fine/fncco/smlamtLnd/list.do?menuNo=900041 (2026-10-12 확인)
  • 🔴 쓰지 않은 것: 「해외지급결제업」 — 개정 법률 본문에 없고 시행령 개정안 보도에만 있다(공식 원문 확인 못 함, 2026-10-12) · 「잃어도 보호받기 어렵다」(근거 원문 없음) · 업체 이름

This content was checked on 2026-10-12.

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