Money & Remittances

This guide covers sending money from the diaspora to family in Eritrea — the channels available, and a separate issue you should understand before you send anything: Eritrea's compulsory 2% "diaspora tax." Fees, exchange rates, and which providers operate can change quickly; confirm current terms with the provider directly before sending.

Eritrea's banking system is state-controlled and largely cut off from the international card and correspondent-banking networks most transfer services rely on. Western Union does not currently offer transfers into Eritrea. In practice, most private remittances reach Eritrea through Himbol Financial Services, a cash-pickup network with locations across the country; mainstream services including Remitly and Xoom (a PayPal service) list Himbol as their delivery partner for Eritrea.

Worth knowing: Himbol is operated by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Eritrea's sole legal political party — it is the same institution through which the diaspora tax below is channelled. There is no private, non-state alternative network for cash pickup inside Eritrea; sending a personal remittance through Himbol via a licensed provider like Remitly or Xoom is a separate act from paying the diaspora tax, but it uses the same underlying institution, which is worth being clear-eyed about.

Source: Remitly, "Send money to Himbol Financial Services in Eritrea" — https://www.remitly.com/us/en/providers-eritrea/send-money-to-himbol-financial-services

Since the 1990s, Eritrea has required citizens and people of Eritrean descent abroad to pay a 2% tax on their income, generally collected through Eritrean embassies and consulates, often tied to access to consular services (passports, ID documents, exit visas for relatives still in Eritrea). In December 2011, the UN Security Council, in Resolution 2023, condemned Eritrea's use of "extortion, threats of violence, fraud and other illicit means" to collect it abroad and called on Eritrea to stop.

Several Western governments have since restricted how it can be collected on their territory — see the country sections below. None of this affects your right to send an ordinary, voluntary remittance to family; it specifically concerns the compulsory tax collected through consular channels.

Source: UN Security Council Resolution 2023 (2011) — https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/717164

Germany has told Eritrean diplomats that collecting the tax through the embassy is incompatible with their diplomatic status, and has formally warned Eritrean consular staff against it. Ordinary remittances to family are not restricted.

The Swedish parliament (Riksdag) has criticised the tax's collection methods. The government examined a legal ban on collection but concluded Eritrea may continue to request the payment as long as no threats or coercion are used to collect it. Ordinary remittances to family are not restricted.

The UK told the Eritrean embassy to stop collecting the tax on UK soil following the 2011 UN resolution. Enforcement has been inconsistent since; UK-based reporting has found the Eritrean embassy's own website continuing to solicit the payment. Ordinary remittances to family are not restricted.

Source: written evidence to the UK Parliament, "Repression Imposed by the Eritrean Regime on Its Diaspora" — https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/138072/html/

In 2013, Canada's government ordered Eritrea's consul general to leave the country after finding the tax was being collected using threats, harassment, and intimidation. Ordinary remittances to family are not restricted.

The US has not taken formal government action specific to the tax; advocacy groups have pressed the State Department to act, noting Eritrea's Washington, D.C. embassy and New York mission have continued to solicit payment. Ordinary remittances to family are not restricted.