Sending money from Ireland to Canada
Euro converts once into Canadian dollars and goes out either by Interac e-Transfer, using the recipient's email address or phone number, or to an account at RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC. Interac is instant on any day. Bank transfers clear the next business day, with a cutoff at 18:00 Eastern. The rate you accept at confirmation is the rate applied.
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The oldest corridor Ireland has, still running both ways
Irish money and Irish people have been moving to Canada for the best part of two centuries, and the flow has never properly stopped. The modern version is the working holiday: thousands of Irish people in their twenties go out on an International Experience Canada permit, land in Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary, and spend the first month paying for things before the first pay cheque arrives. Behind them are parents in Ireland covering a deposit, a flight change or a gap in the rent.
The other direction of the same story is older. Irish tradespeople who went out after 2008 and stayed, families split between Cork and Ontario, and a Canadian side of the family that has been Canadian for four generations. Payments run for property, for probate, for fees and for the ordinary business of a family that lives in two countries.
Grey converts euro to Canadian dollars once, in Ireland, and pays out by Interac e-Transfer or into an account at RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC or any other Canadian bank. The person in Canada needs no Grey account and sees an ordinary domestic credit.
Three steps from Dublin to a Canadian account
Open the account
Free, about five minutes and one valid identity document. Canada is then one of more than 80 countries the same account can reach.
Fund it in euro
Euro reaches the balance by SEPA transfer from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or a credit union. It sits as euro until you convert it.
Choose Interac or the bank
Interac e-Transfer needs an email address or a phone number. A bank transfer needs the institution, transit and account number. Check the CAD figure and confirm.
What sending Canadian dollars costs
Grey shows both, then the CAD total underneath, before you confirm. That last figure is the one to compare, because it is the one your son in Vancouver or your supplier in Calgary actually receives.
On a one-off payment, a deposit on a flat or a flight home, the difference is a few dollars. On a parent covering rent every month for a year on a working holiday permit, it is the same calculation repeated twelve times.
The rate holds from confirmation to settlement
The euro to Canadian dollar rate is fixed at the moment you confirm. If the dollar moves while the payment is in flight, the amount arriving at RBC or on the Interac e-Transfer does not.
That matters when the payment is sized against something specific. Rent in Toronto is a fixed number in Canadian dollars, and so is a tuition instalment or a contractor's invoice in Calgary.
The conversion happens once, on this side of the Atlantic. Nothing is converted again at the Canadian end and nothing is recalculated afterwards.
Grey against an Irish bank wire to Canada
An Irish bank sends to Canada over SWIFT. It is quoted as an international payment, priced accordingly, and the Canadian dollar rate applied is the one your bank decides on rather than one you agreed to in advance. It also cannot send an Interac e-Transfer, and Interac is how one Canadian pays another. Anyone who has tried to get money to a student in Toronto by Friday knows the difference between an instant e-Transfer and a wire that will be looked at on Monday. Grey converts in Ireland at a visible rate and gives you both options.
What the person in Canada sees
Canadian dollars in their own account, arriving either as an Interac e-Transfer notification or as an ordinary bank deposit. No Grey account, nothing to download, nothing deducted at their end.
Interac e-Transfer
Send to the recipient's email address or phone number. Interac e-Transfer is instant and works on any day, including weekends.
Bank account
RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC are all reachable, along with any Canadian bank, using institution, transit and account number. Bank transfers clear the next business day with an 18:00 Eastern cutoff.
GreyTag
If your contact in Canada also uses Grey, GreyTag moves money between you free and instantly, in any currency.
Funding around a Canadian deadline
The Canadian cutoff at 18:00 Eastern is about eleven at night in Ireland. The practical consequence is that a payment you fund in the morning has the whole Irish day to be released.
Fund the day before
A SEPA transfer onto the balance leaves you free to release the Canadian payment whenever suits, including late in the Irish evening.
Keep a standing amount
Parents covering rent on a working holiday permit often hold a float so the monthly payment does not depend on a bank transfer clearing first.
Use Interac when it is urgent
If the deadline is tonight, an e-Transfer to an email address or phone number does not wait for a Canadian business day at all.
Save the email address or the account details once and the next payment to Canada takes a few taps.
What Ireland sends Canada money for
The first months on a permit
Deposits, rent and living costs in Toronto, Vancouver or Calgary before the first Canadian pay cheque lands, usually sent by a parent at home.
Study and fees
Tuition instalments, residence fees and exam costs at Canadian colleges, where the amount is fixed in Canadian dollars and the date is not negotiable.
Family and property
Families split between Ireland and Canada sharing costs, a property being maintained or sold, and the payments that follow a death or a will.
Contractors and suppliers
Irish firms paying Canadian contractors, agencies and suppliers in Canadian dollars without setting up a separate business account.
Four patterns account for most of it, and three of them belong to somebody in their twenties who arrived in the last year.
Why this corridor is worth doing properly
A deposit that has to be with a landlord in Vancouver tomorrow, a fee due at a Toronto college on Friday, an invoice from a contractor in Calgary. The date is set at the Canadian end and Ireland is five hours ahead of it.
Grey fixes the rate when you confirm, shows the Canadian dollar figure before you send, and delivers by Interac e-Transfer or into an account at RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO or CIBC, with nothing required of the person receiving it.
FAQs
Can I send an Interac e-Transfer from Ireland?
Yes. Enter the recipient's email address or phone number and the Canadian dollars go out as an Interac e-Transfer, instantly, on any day.
Which Canadian banks can Grey pay into from Ireland?
RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC, along with any other Canadian bank, using the institution, transit and account number.
What is the cutoff for a bank transfer to Canada?
Bank transfers clear the next business day with an 18:00 Eastern cutoff, which is about eleven at night in Ireland.
Where is the euro converted into Canadian dollars?
Once, in Ireland, at the rate shown before you confirm. Nothing is converted again when it reaches the Canadian account.
Does my son or daughter in Toronto need a Grey account?
No. They receive Canadian dollars as an ordinary deposit or an Interac e-Transfer notification, with nothing to install at their end.
Can I send money to Canada at the weekend from Ireland?
Yes. Interac e-Transfer runs on any day, so a Saturday payment to Vancouver does not wait for the next Canadian business day.
Can I pay a Canadian college fee instalment from Ireland?
Yes. Send the exact Canadian dollar figure to the college's account, with the rate fixed at confirmation so the instalment is not short.
How do I fund a Canadian payment from an Irish bank?
Move euro across by SEPA transfer from AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, An Post Money or a credit union before you convert.
What details do I need for a Canadian bank transfer?
The institution number, transit number and account number. Grey shows the Canadian dollar amount and the fee before you confirm.
Can an Irish business pay a Canadian contractor through Grey?
Yes. Pay Canadian dollars into a Canadian account from an ordinary account, with the rate and fee shown against each invoice.
Will the Canadian dollar amount change after I send it?
No. The rate is fixed at confirmation, so any movement in the Canadian dollar afterwards leaves the credited amount alone.
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