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Western Union today is present in more than 200 countries around the world, and Bolivia is no exception. Western Union fully works when sending and receiving money from Bolivia and also when sending and receiving money to Bolivia. What is important is that Western Union works for tourists and residents staying inside the country.

There is no restriction when using Western Union in Bolivia, whether you are receiving or sending money to the country or from inside the country. For receiving or sending money within the country, you just need your passport and that’s all. Fees in Bolivia are around 5% when you send money.

Here we will talk about whether Western Union works or not in Bolivia. Also to what extent, with all the details about its services and the requirements to use it in our country, its agencies, schedules and working days it normally has here.

Yes, Western Union fully works in Bolivia

At this point, Western Union works in Bolivia without any kind of restriction, as in many other countries of the world. In regards to Bolivia, Western Union can do the following activities (“anyone” means natives, tourists, residents, naturalized citizens, etc):

1. Anyone inside Bolivia can send money to anyone.
2. Anyone inside Bolivia can receive money from anyone.
3. Anyone outside Bolivia can send money to anyone inside.
4. Anyone outside Bolivia can receive money from anyone inside.

So, in summary, anyone within the country can send and receive money from anyone within and outside the country, and vice versa.

Western Union is fully available for tourists and residents

Western Union doesn’t have restrictions for people that are only tourists in Bolivia. Unlike other financial services in the country, you can send and receive money to anyone just by presenting your passport to a Western Union agency located inside Bolivia.

Western Union works for foreigners with the following permanency statuses in Bolivia:

• Tourists (presenting your passport).
• Temporal residents (presenting your foreigners’ ID card).
• Permanent residents (presenting your foreigners’ ID card).
• Naturalized citizens (presenting your Bolivian ID card).

Requirements and steps to use Western Union in Bolivia

Here we will show you the requirements and steps for either sending or receiving money with Western Union in Bolivia.

Requirements

As we just said, in the worst case, you:

• Only need to present your passport to either receive or send money when you are inside Bolivia.

That’s all. 

But if you have a better identification document, like a foreigner ID card or even a Bolivian ID card, then you can also present this document, but just for more accuracy purposes. Remember that Bolivia doesn’t have any kind of “legal restriction” to use Western Union within the country.

Steps

To either send or receive money when you are inside Bolivia, you can follow the next steps to achieve this task:

1. Locate an available agency or Bank partnership that Western Union has within the country:
   1. You can use this tool: https://location.westernunion.com/bo.
   2. Use the GPS functionality and proper filters inside the tool.
2. Go to the chosen agency or Bolivian bank, bringing with you the proper ID document you will need (your passport, your ID card, etcetera).
3. Give the employer working there:
   1. Your accurate personal information to receive your remittance.
   2. Both your personal information and the receiver’s personal information to send money.
4. Pay the fees if you are sending money (fees in Bolivia are around 4% to 7% of the money you’re going to send). Remember that when you receive money you don’t pay any fee.

Fees for sending and receiving

In Bolivia, Western Union charges from 4% to 7% of the money you’ll send, no matter if it’s sent to another region of Bolivia or sent to a country from overseas.

Also in the country, like in any other country in which this company works, when you receive money, you don’t pay any fee.

Agencies from Western Union available in Bolivia

Western Union has its own agencies inside the country, but also works with many Bolivian banks, so you can receive your money also in these institutions.

If you want to know exactly which agencies and Bank partnerships Western Union has in Bolivia, to either send or receive money, use this tool from the company:

• https://location.westernunion.com/bo

Remember to use the filters and activate the GPS functionality of your cell phone in order to find the nearest open agency in the tool.

Schedules and working days of Western Union in Bolivia

Western Union schedules and working days operate in the following way, depending on which type of agency you’re looking for:

• Western Union agencies inside Bolivian Banks. This type of agency will be open, in almost all cases:
  • From 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
  • From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
  • Closed on Sundays.
• Standalone Western Union agencies. This type of agency will be opened, in almost all cases:
  • From 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays.
  • From 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturdays
  • Some standalone agencies will be open all day long on Sundays.

Conclusions:

In this note about whether or not Western Union works in Bolivia, you have seen that this company fully works within our country, for either tourists and residents staying or living here. To send or receive money with Western Union in Bolivia, you just need to present your passport, and there is no Bolivian legal restriction to use it for anyone.

You also have seen that this company currently has a lot of partnerships with major Bolivian banks, so many of them have in-house Western Union agencies, in which you can do the same operations of sending and receiving money. But also, there are standalone agencies that are open on better schedules, some of them including on Sundays.

Finally, you have seen that to either send or receive money when being in Bolivia, you need to pay a fee between 4% to 7% and use the Western Union tool to locate the nearest open agency to your location. To find it, don’t forget to activate the GPS of your cell phone and use the proper filters.

We hope this information has helped you, and if you want to know which payment options and methods are available in Bolivia, with all the details of them, according to whether you are a tourist or a resident, visit our guide in the following direction: Payment options available in Bolivia, a complete guide.

CasasenBolivia.com, information about how to live, work, invest, and travel in Bolivia.