Efficient International money transfer
Typical wire transfers are not with 4-5%; but it all depends on the bank that does the transfer. You can chose to send ('wire') the money in source currency or in US $; the former, the target bank in the US does the conversion (so pick one that adds no or little spread); the latter, the sending bank does the conversion (so ask about their fees/spreads). I have multiple times transferred money across the ocean (though not from Japan), and never paid more than 0.3% + ~40 $ flat. It should be possible to get te same range. Note that if you look around for current offers, you might be easily able to even make some money on it - some US banks are eager for new money, and offer 200+$ bonus if you open an account and bring (significant =15k$+) new money to them. Wiring is the best way to move large amounts of money from one country to another.  I am sure Japanese banks will allow you to exchange your Japanese Yen into USD and wire it to Canada.   I am not sure if they will be able to convert directly from JPY to CND and wire funds in CND.  If you can open a USD bank account in Canada, that might make things easier.
Transfer of Millions of USD in and out is not possible for Individuals. There are limits on how much money an individual Indian Ordinary Citizen can send or receive. If an corporate wants to send money, depending on the services offered, they would have to initiate a SWIFT transaction. It typically takes 2-3 days for settlement of International wire. "I'm not sure I understand your question, but I'll try to answer what I think you're asking. I think you're asking this: ""A US bank receives a wire transfer from a Chinese bank. How does the   US bank ensure there's any money in fact arriving before crediting the   destination account?"" Well, the way wire transfers work is that the US bank would debit the senders' account with that US bank. So the US bank in fact transfers the money between two internal accounts: debit to the Chinese bank's account with that US bank and credit the destination customer account. If the Chinese bank doesn't have an account with the destination US bank - a third party intermediary is used that both banks have accounts with. Such third party will charge an additional fee (hence sometimes the wire transfer fees are slightly higher than you initially know when sending the money, the third party would debit from the transfer amount). ""Regular"" IBAN/ACH transfers work through regulatory channels that ensure integrity and essentially use a regulatory bank as that third party. But because they're done in batches and not on-line, they're much cheaper, and the accounting is for the whole batch and not each transfer separately. But batch processing means it will take a day or two of processing, while wire transfer takes hours at most." If you held the shares directly, the transfer agent, Computershare, should have had you registered and your address from some point on file.  I have some experience with Computershare, it turned out when Qwest restarted dividends and the checks mailed to the childhood home my parents no longer owned, they were able to reissue all to my new address with one telephone call.  I can't tell you what their international transfer policies or fees might be, but if they have your money, at least its found. Transfer Agent Computershare Investor Services serves as the stock transfer agent for Tellabs. If you need to transfer stock, change ownership, report lost or stolen certificates, or change your address, please contact Computershare Investor Services at +1.312.360.5389. I don't believe they're right. For international wire transfers you'd need either IBAN or SWIFT codes. I don't think any US bank participates in the IBAN network (mostly Europe and the Far East), so SWIFT is they way to go with the US. Credit unions frequently don't know what and how to do with international transactions because they don't have them that often. Some don't even have SWIFT codes of their own (many, in fact) and use intermediaries to receive money. You could use a money transfer service like Western Union or the equivalent. First, you'll need to find a service that can handle transferring that amount of money, whether it's using a bank, or wire transferring service. Any major Wall Street bank (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, etc.) should be able to handle it. You could also use services such as Western Union. As for your legal and tax obligations, according to Western Union: Individuals in Canada and the U.K. don’t have any tax considerations,   unless international payments are received as income or in the form of   capital gains. Only then must they report it on their income taxes,   says Ilyas Patel, director at Ilyas Patel Chartered Certified   Accountants based in Preston, U.K., and the director of Tax Expert, a   tax advice website. To that end, when considering their tax obligations, individuals   should take care to look into the reporting requirements on foreign   income or gifts ranging up to a certain amount. For example, in the   U.S., the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires individuals who   receive more than $100,000 U.S. dollars from a foreign source to   report it on a Form 3520. “You may not owe taxes on the money, but it   informs the IRS that you received it,” Gragg says, stressing the   importance of consulting with a professional. “They’re looking for   certain terrorist activities and other illegal activity.” Due to the large sum of money your transferring, it would be in your best interest to speak with a banker (maybe even a lawyer or CPA) about this. Depending on your income/savings level and who you work for (if you work for a big company check with an HSBC Premier advisor, they may waive the requirements), you may qualify for an HSBC Premier account, which can allow you to open accounts in different countries and transfer money between them without a fee. You can also get a Premier account without meeting the requirements if you are willing to pay a monthly fee, but I doubt that will be worth it in the long run for what you need (worth doing the math though if you travel frequently).  NOTE: There may be similar offerings from other banks, but this is just the only one I'm aware of. I have taken to using the service TransferWise. I have found them to be faster and cheaper and easier than using SWIFT, given the US Banking's... antiquated system of doing things. I've made dozens of transfers between my international accounts with TransferWise over the past 18 months. Some of them very large and some of them tiny, and even when there's been an issue (I once wrote an offensive joke in my narration for the transfer and they noticed) they have handled it respectfully and quickly. Prior to transferring money to US accounts, I used the SWIFT system - but SWIFT has a pretty spotty record in the US. Some banks you can do it all online but other banks, as Dheer mentioned, you have to go into the bank and sometimes find a senior staff member before you can find someone who even knows what SWIFT is.