Sending money from Ireland to Brazil
Euro from your Irish balance converts once into Brazilian real and pays out to a Pix key, whether that key is a CPF, a phone number or an email address, or straight into an account at Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, Caixa Econômica Federal or Santander Brasil. Pix arrives almost instantly and runs 24 hours a day. The rate and the fee are both on screen before you confirm.
EUR
BRL
-
Trusted by 3M+ people around the world
GOOGLE PLAY •22K REVIEWS
APP STORE • 12K REVIEWS
Dublin, Gort and the towns with a meat plant
Brazilians are now one of the largest communities in Ireland and among the fastest growing. A great deal of the money on this route starts in Dublin, where the English language schools and the hospitality trade employ people studying here on student permissions, often for a year or two at a time. But the map is wider than the capital. Gort in County Galway has a Brazilian population out of all proportion to the size of the town, built up over more than twenty years around work at the meat plant and the families who followed the first arrivals from Goiás. The same pattern, on a smaller scale, runs through the beef and poultry towns of the midlands and the border counties.
What those senders want from a transfer is narrow and practical. It has to reach a Pix key, because that is how Brazil pays itself now, and the figure in reais has to be the figure that was promised on the phone the night before. Grey converts euro to Brazilian real once, in Ireland, shows the rate and the fee side by side before you confirm, and pays out to a Pix key or into an account at Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, Caixa Econômica Federal or Santander Brasil.
Nobody in Brazil needs a Grey account to receive it. The reais land the way a domestic Pix or a domestic transfer lands, on a phone in São Paulo or Anápolis, at whatever hour it happens to be there.
From euro in Ireland to reais in Brazil, in three steps
Open a Grey account
Opening one costs nothing, takes about five minutes and needs a valid identity document. A passport or Irish residence permit is the usual choice for someone here on a student or work permission.
Put euro on the balance
A SEPA transfer out of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or your credit union puts euro on the balance. It stays euro until you decide to convert it.
Pay the Pix key
Enter the Pix key, a CPF, a mobile number or an email address, or the agência and account number instead. Check the reais figure and the fee, then confirm.
What this route costs, and where the cost hides
Grey separates them. The fee and the rate appear together before you confirm, and underneath them the figure in reais the Pix key will receive. That is the number worth comparing between services, not the fee line on its own.
For anyone sending the same amount every month, the rate matters more than it looks on a single transfer. The difference between two rates on one payment is small enough to shrug at. Across a year of sending home from a hospitality wage in Dublin, it is not.
The rate holds from the moment you confirm
The euro to real rate is fixed when you confirm the transfer, not when it settles. If the real moves overnight, the person waiting for it in Brazil is unaffected, because the reais figure was already decided in Ireland.
That is the difference between telling someone at home that roughly this much is coming and telling them exactly how much is coming. On a payment that is paying a specific bill, an instalment on a financiamento, a school fee, a medical appointment, the exact figure is the only useful one.
One conversion happens, and it happens here. There is no second conversion waiting at Itaú or Bradesco, and nothing is recalculated after you have sent it.
Grey next to a wire from AIB or Bank of Ireland
An Irish bank sends to Brazil over SWIFT. The money goes out in euro, correspondent banks handle it on the way, and the receiving bank in Brazil converts it into reais at a rate nobody showed you before you agreed to the transfer. There is also no way to pay a Pix key through that route, which is a real problem when Pix has become the ordinary way Brazilians pay each other. Grey does the conversion in Ireland, shows the rate and the fee before you commit, and delivers into a Pix key or an account. Many readers here already use Revolut day to day, so the habit of seeing a rate on a screen is familiar. The difference on this route is where the money lands at the far end.
What the person in Brazil sees
A credit in reais on their own account, arriving as a Pix payment or a bank transfer. It looks like money from down the road, not money from abroad. They need no Grey account and pay nothing to receive it.
Pix, by key
Send to a CPF, a registered mobile number or an email address. Pix runs 24 hours a day and payments arrive almost instantly once your balance is funded.
Bank account
Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, Caixa Econômica Federal and Santander Brasil are all reachable using the agência and account number.
GreyTag
If the person in Brazil is also on Grey, GreyTag moves money between the two of you free and instantly, in any currency.
Getting euro in before you send it out
Most people on this route are sending out of wages, not out of savings, so the funding question is really about timing the week rather than choosing a method.
As wages land
Move part of each week's or fortnight's pay across by SEPA transfer, so the balance is built before the transfer home is due.
All at once, monthly
One transfer at the end of the month, one conversion and one payment to the Pix key, which keeps the count of fees down.
From dollars or pounds
If you are paid in either, the balance converts straight to reais without passing through euro first.
Save the Pix key once and the monthly payment home takes about as long as sending a message.
What money from Ireland goes to Brazil for
The monthly amount home
Parents in Goiás, Minas Gerais or the interior of São Paulo, receiving a set figure each month by Pix out of wages earned in Ireland.
Instalments still running at home
A financiamento on a car or a flat, a consórcio contribution, a loan taken before leaving. These have fixed dates and fixed amounts, which is what Pix is good at.
Building and renovating
Money going back for a house being built or extended at home, paid to a builder or a supplier in instalments as the work progresses.
Freelancers and small suppliers
Irish companies paying Brazilian developers, designers and translators who invoice in reais and expect payment to a Pix key.
The same four things come up again and again, whether the sender is in Dublin 1, in Gort or in a poultry plant in Cavan.
Why Brazilians in Ireland use Grey for this
Sending money home from Ireland usually starts with a conversation. Someone names an amount in reais, for a bill, a fee, an instalment, a month of groceries, and you work backwards from it.
That figure survives the trip. The rate is fixed when you confirm in Ireland, the reais total is on the screen before you send, and the money lands on a Pix key or at Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, Caixa Econômica Federal or Santander Brasil with nothing taken off at the Brazilian end.
FAQs
Can I send from Ireland to a Pix key instead of a bank account?
Yes. Enter a CPF, a registered mobile number or an email address as the Pix key and the reais arrive almost instantly.
Which Brazilian banks can Grey pay into from Ireland?
Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, Caixa Econômica Federal and Santander Brasil, using the agência and account number.
Is my euro converted in Ireland or in Brazil?
In Ireland, once. The reais figure is fixed when you confirm, so no Brazilian bank converts anything on arrival.
Does my family in Brazil need a Grey account to receive Pix?
No. The reais arrive on their own account as an ordinary Pix or bank credit, and Grey charges them nothing to receive it.
Can I send to Brazil late at night after a shift in Dublin?
Yes. Pix runs 24 hours a day, so a transfer confirmed from a funded balance does not wait for a Brazilian working day.
Can I pay a financiamento instalment in Brazil from Ireland?
Yes. Send the exact reais figure to the Pix key or account, with the rate fixed at confirmation so the instalment is not short.
What do I need to open a Grey account in Ireland?
A valid identity document and about five minutes. A passport or Irish residence permit works for someone here on a student permission.
How do I get euro onto the balance before sending reais?
Transfer euro from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or a credit union, and it stays euro until you convert.
Can an Irish company pay a Brazilian freelancer through Grey?
Yes. Pay a Pix key or a Brazilian account in reais from an ordinary account, with the rate and fee shown before each payment.
Why is the euro to real rate more important than the fee?
Because the rate decides the reais total. On the same amount sent monthly, a small rate difference adds up far faster than a fee does.
I am in Gort rather than Dublin. Does that change anything?
No. Grey runs from the phone, so the funding comes from your Irish bank and the payout reaches the same Pix key wherever you live.
Get digital banking
at your fingertips
