Send Money from the USA to Laos
Fees and exchange-rate margins from the USA to Laos vary widely. Compare what your recipient actually receives, not the advertised fee.
What does your recipient in Laos actually get?
LAKThe one amount we checked · on $1,000LAK 21,583,300
At the mid-market rate · $1,000LAK 22,244,805.95
Wise · fee percentage of amount · checked September 2026
1 USD = 22244.8059 LAK
30-day range22,395 – 22,654 LAK
Every provider pays your recipient less than the benchmark. The gap is the rate margin, and it is usually larger than the transfer fee. How the margin worksUSD→LAK reference rate for Sep 10, 2026, updated automatically · Rates By Exchange Rate API · 30-day series: Exchange Rate API (daily series)
Compare 5 ways to send money to Laos
Checked recipient amounts cover 1 of 5 providers here, collected from the Wise Comparison API — which quotes its own operator among them. The rest show each provider's published terms, and are ordered by payout coverage rather than by amount.
Recipient amounts collected and stored, not fetched as this page loads. Exchange rates move daily.
| Provider | Recipient getsby bank transfer | What it costs | Arrives | Payout | Open provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MG | Check provider | VariesRate not published — confirm before sending | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to MoneyGram |
 Cash collection through local partners | Check provider | VariesRate not published — confirm before sending | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to Ria Money Transfer |
 Widest agent network in a thinly served market | Check provider | VariesRate not published — confirm before sending | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to Western Union |
 Bank and cash delivery through BCEL and partners | Check provider | VariesRate not published — confirm before sending | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup | Go to WorldRemit |
 Mid-market rate on a corridor with few low-cost options | LAK 21,583,300 | $37.77bank transfer at 1000 USD0.00% rate margin, measured | Varies | Payout methods: Bank deposit | Go to Wise |
- MGBest for cash pickup
Additional payout flexibility
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- Cost
- VariesRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
Cash collection through local partners
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- Cost
- VariesRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
Widest agent network in a thinly served market
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- Cost
- VariesRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
Bank and cash delivery through BCEL and partners
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- Check provider
- Cost
- VariesRate not published — confirm before sending
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit, Cash pickup
Mid-market rate on a corridor with few low-cost options
- Recipient gets (bank transfer)
- LAK 21,583,300
- Cost
- $37.77bank transfer at 1000 USD0.00% rate margin, measured
- Arrives
- Varies
- Payout
- Payout methods: Bank deposit
What it costs has two parts: the advertised fee, and the exchange-rate margin kept by paying your recipient less than the mid-market rate. The margin is usually the larger, and is never labelled as a fee. Figures are each provider’s published terms, plus bank-transfer quotes from the Wise Comparison API, a source operated by a company this site also ranks — open a provider for a live quote. Recipient amounts are shown only for the providers we hold a checked figure for, which is some of those listed here rather than all of them.
Too few checked amounts on this corridor to rank by money, so the order is payout coverage, delivery speed and published fees — a provider with a checked figure is not placed above one without. Affiliate arrangements never affect this order.
- Best for cash pickup — Offers cash pickup, with the widest payout coverage among those that do.
Where two providers tie, the one supporting more payout types is listed first, then the faster one, then alphabetically. A label is left unawarded whenever the data we hold cannot support it — we would rather show fewer claims than invented ones. We hold a checked amount for too few of the providers here to call any of them best on it, so no Best value is named — naming one would rank a field too small to be a comparison. The amounts we do hold are still shown. Those amounts cover some of the providers listed, not all of them, and the set is chosen by the source that supplies them rather than by us. Full methodology
Independent — providers cannot pay for placement or ranking · Consistent — every checked amount measured on the same corridor at the same send amount, and any fee quoted on a different basis says so on its own row · Transparent — the advertised fee kept separate from the rate margin
How much you send changes which provider is cheapest
A transfer costs two things: a fee you can see, and a cut of the exchange rate you cannot. They scale in opposite directions, so the best provider for $200 to Laos is often not the best provider for $5,000.
The flat fee is most of what you pay
On a small transfer a $5 fee is a real percentage of the money. A rate margin of half a percent on $200 is one dollar — small enough to ignore. Sort by the fee and take the lowest one you trust.
The exchange rate is most of what you pay
The fee stops mattering and the rate takes over. Half a percent on $5,000 is $25 — five times a typical fee, and no provider calls it a charge. A zero-fee offer on a large transfer is the one most worth checking.
USD to LAK at common amounts
| You send | Mid-market value | Load into calculator |
|---|---|---|
| $100.00 | LAK 2,224,481 | |
| $250.00 | LAK 5,561,201 | |
| $500.00 | LAK 11,122,403 | |
| $1,000 | LAK 22,244,806 | |
| $2,500 | LAK 55,612,015 | |
| $5,000 | LAK 111,224,030 |
Pick a row to load that amount into the calculator at the top of the page. These are mid-market values, not provider quotes — every service pays your recipient somewhat less, so use them as the figure to measure an offer against.
Laos at a glance
- Currency
- LAK · Lao kip
- Payout methods
- Bank deposit · Cash pickup
- Typical delivery
- Varies by provider
- Cash pickup
- Available from 4 of 5 providers
- Cash pickup is available from 4 of the 5 providers, including Western Union, WorldRemit and Ria Money Transfer — no bank account needed.
Before you send to Laos
- Laos has one of the thinnest provider fields of any US corridor. Fewer competitors generally means wider pricing spreads, so comparing two or three quotes matters more here than on a busy corridor.
- BCEL is the main banking rail and U-Money the principal mobile wallet, though wallet coverage from US providers is limited.
- A 1% US federal excise tax applies to remittance transfers funded with cash, a money order or a cashier's check, effective January 2026. Transfers funded from a bank account, debit card or credit card are not subject to it — so how you pay can change the total cost.
More on the 1% tax — who owes it, when it applies, and how the funding method changes it: US remittance tax.
What it costs to send money to Laos
Sending money from the USA to Laos converts US dollars (USD) into Lao kips (LAK). Most of the real cost is not the headline fee — it is the exchange-rate margin, the gap between your quoted rate and the mid-market rate banks use between themselves. Two providers can both advertise "no fees" and still differ by several percent on what actually arrives.
Laos has one of the thinnest provider fields of any US corridor, and fewer competitors usually means wider pricing spreads.
That is why the comparison above leads with how your recipient can be paid rather than with a headline price: match the service to how they actually want the money, then check the final quote.
How to choose the right provider
Compare the amount received, not the fee
Enter the same amount with two or three providers and compare what your recipient in Laos actually receives in Lao kips. That one number folds the fee and the rate margin together.
Match the payout method to your recipient
In Laos the common rails are bank deposit through BCEL and partners, plus cash pickup. A slightly pricier provider paying into the wallet or account they already use beats a cheaper one that means a trip to an agent.
Check cash pickup coverage before you send
4 providers offer cash pickup in Laos, including Western Union, WorldRemit and Ria Money Transfer. Check the specific branch is open and stocked before sending, especially outside major cities.
Verify the provider is licensed
Any service moving money out of the USA should be registered with FinCEN and state money-transmitter licences. Everyone we list is — worth checking for any service you find elsewhere.
Laos corridor insights
Researched figures for this corridor, each linked to its original source.
Remittances equal about 1.49% of Laos's GDP — a much smaller share than neighbouring Cambodia at roughly 6.1%, despite similar income levels.
World Bank · 2024
Around 245,000 people of Laotian origin live in the United States, a community that traces largely to refugee resettlement after 1975, including a substantial Hmong population.
Pew Research Center · 2023
The World Bank publishes no retail price benchmark for this corridor, so there is no official figure for what it should cost to send $200 to Laos — one reason to compare quotes directly.
World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide · Q3 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
Other corridors to Southeast Asia from the USA
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Before you send
Ready to compare your transfer?
See rates, fees and delivery options for 5 services side by side.