The scheme starts on Friday (12 June) and spares Macao residents in Guangdong the cross-border surcharge on their benefit payments — at least several hundred patacas a year
Cross-border remittance fee waived for Macao welfare recipients living in Guangdong
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Macao residents living in Guangdong will no longer pay a cross-border remittance fee when receiving their Macao government pension and social benefits, under a scheme launching on Friday (12 June).
Known as “Guangdong-Macao Elderly Care Link Plus,” the initiative expands on a previous measure that only applied to the old-age pension, updating it to include other SAR-based social security benefits such as the disability pension, unemployment allowance, sickness allowance, birth allowance, marriage allowance, funeral allowance, as well as payments from the central provident fund.
Macao applicants who successfully apply for the scheme will be able to have their social welfare payouts automatically wired to their designated Bank of China (BOC) or Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) accounts in Guangdong, without having to pay a cross-border service surcharge.
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Residents who are receiving the old-age pension or disabled pension will only need to register for the scheme once, with the cross-border service fee waived for all subsequent social benefit payments wired to their mainland bank accounts.
In a statement, authorities said removal of the cross-border fee would help to reduce the living expenses of Macao seniors who are enjoying retirement in Guangdong. Indeed, information from BOC shows the bank charging a fee equivalent to 0.1 percent of the total remittance made from Macao to mainland China, with the minimum and maximum levy set between 100 and 5,000 patacas.
Under the initiative, the welfare benefit payments will be made in patacas, with the recipient free to select the foreign exchange settlement time based on the exchange rates listed in their local banks.
To apply for the scheme, residents may visit the Social Security Fund’s services point. Queries can be directed to the fund’s telephone number (853 2853 2850) during office hours.
Guangdong-Macao Elderly Care Link Plus was jointly launched by Macao’s Social Security Fund, the Guangdong branch of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and Hengqin’s Financial Development Bureau.
