How to send money from the UK to Syria in 2026, and what the family actually gets

Which apps actually send to Syria, and which quietly do not

The list of apps that work from the UK in October 2026 is short.

MoneyGram UK sends to Syria. On 24 October 2026 MoneyGram's UK price check quoted Syria normally: cash pickup only, paid by debit or credit card only, with no bank deposit or Pay by Bank option. Run the price check on MoneyGram's Syria page the day you send. If it gives you a quote, MoneyGram is the easy answer. If it does not, read the Western Union section below.

Western Union is the fallback operator route, and it is not simple. WU UK's online send flow does not offer Syria as a destination, and the in-agent route through Post Office UK branches is not something WU or the Post Office publishes a clear public confirmation for. Walk into a Post Office WU counter and ask them to run a UK to Syria send in front of you. If it goes through, WU has a cash pickup network on the ground in Syria in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Latakia, and smaller towns, and the counter prints a tracking number. If it does not, hawala is what is left. Read the hawala section below first.

That was the practical shortlist from the UK in October 2026: MoneyGram first, Western Union possibly at a Post Office counter if MoneyGram will not take the send, and last, hawala, which some UK Syrians already use and which now carries a legal risk for the operator in Syria. The household-name apps tell you plainly, or tell you at the last screen after you have already put the money in.

Wise refuses. Syria is not on the list of countries Wise sends to from the UK, and its own help centre confirms this. If you try, the destination selector does not offer it. Wise has not said when this changes.

Revolut refuses. Revolut runs a page for "send money to Syria" that turns up in search results, but you cannot actually send. The service is not available for this destination from the UK.

We could not confirm that Monzo sends to Syria. Monzo's list of international fees from 1 November 2026 has no row for Syrian pounds. If you use Monzo, try the send flow in the app before you count on it.

Starling international does not appear to send to Syria. Neither its public help pages nor its supported-country list publishes a Syria row we could pull. If you use Starling, open the destination picker in the app and try the send flow yourself before you count on it.

Instarem UK is the same story: we could not confirm a Syria row on Instarem's public destination list, and the destination picker in the UK web flow does not offer it in our test. Open the app on your side and try before you rely on it.

Small World, which many people used to use for this route, closed down in 2024. Do not go looking for it.

If someone tells you they send with Wise, ask again. They may be sending to a Wise account holder in a country that is not Syria, or they may be confusing Wise with WU. Wise from the UK does not send to Syria in October 2026.

Why the pound on the receipt is not the pound the family will spend

Syria has two exchange rates at the same time, and this is the single most important thing to understand before you send anything.

There is the official rate, set by the Central Bank of Syria. On 11 October 2026 that was about 122 new Syrian pounds to a US dollar, almost the same number as in July. Through the pound, that works out at about 162 Syrian pounds for each £1 you send.

There is the parallel rate, which is what changers on the street actually pay for a US dollar in Damascus and Aleppo. On 25 October 2026 liratoday.net put the street rate in Damascus at about 140 new Syrian pounds to a dollar. The official rate was about 122.50, so the street paid about 14 to 15 percent more. The gap moves, so check sp-today.com or allira-sy.com the morning you send.

What this means in practice: on 26 October 2026 MoneyGram's Syrian-pound payout was about the official rate. A family that collects Syrian pounds may then turn some of them back into dollars at a changer, or spend them at prices the shop set by looking at the parallel rate, not the official one. The family lives at the parallel rate, and the receipt does not show it. A changer with no licence now faces legal action in Syria, and the hawala section below explains this.

If the family needs dollars in hand, a route that pays out in dollars directly beats one that pays out in Syrian pounds. On 25 October 2026 the dollars were worth about 14 to 15 percent more. In a bad week that gap widens; in a calmer week it narrows.

A Central Bank of Syria statement of 7 June 2026 says licensed payers must hand over MoneyGram and Western Union transfers in Syrian pounds or in foreign currency. The recipient chooses, as far as the payer has that currency. The statement does not name the dollar, so the family can ask for dollars, but a branch may not have them that day. Ask the family to check with the specific branch before they travel to it.

Shopkeepers price to the parallel rate too. So the "loss" is real but less sharp when the family spends the money in Syrian pounds anyway, on food, rent and household goods. It still matters, and it is worth explaining to a sender who thinks the receipt tells the whole story. It does not.

There is one more thing to know about the currency itself. On 1 January 2026 the Central Bank of Syria launched a new pound and took two zeros off the old one. One hundred old Syrian pounds is now one new Syrian pound.

The time to exchange old notes ended on 30 July 2026, under Central Bank decision 372/H. Old notes are no longer valid for payments, so the family should not take them as money. Syrian citizens, and people treated as citizens, can still hand old notes in through the Central Bank for five years from 31 July 2026. This is for individuals, not companies, and each person can apply only once. The Bank's notice of 13 August 2026 gives two routes. One is to apply online for an appointment, and the value is then paid into a bank account with no fee. The other is Syrian Post. The notice does not say how the Post route pays.

Some rate tracking websites still print figures in old pounds, and some in new. If a number does not have "new" or "old" next to it, and it is in the tens of thousands, it is old. If it is around 100 to 200 for a dollar, it is new. Do not let this confuse you: on a rate website, the two numbers are the same rate, just written with fewer zeros. This is only about numbers on a screen. It does not make old notes good to spend.

What the pickup looks like, and what ID the family needs

MoneyGram UK pays out as cash pickup only. The family walks to a MoneyGram or Western Union agent, gives the reference number you send them, shows their ID, counts the money, and leaves. Western Union's Syria website also names bank accounts and, depending on location, mobile wallets. It does not say which of these work on a send from the UK, so ask at the Post Office counter.

The ID rules are the friction point.

The recipient needs a government-issued photo ID whose name matches the transfer record exactly. MoneyGram's general guide to ID names a valid passport or national identity card, and says the ID it accepts can change from country to country. The name spelling has to line up with what you typed in the UK. If you send to "Ahmad" and the ID says "Ahmed", the counter can refuse to pay out, and you or the family will need to contact the operator to correct the record.

We could not find a MoneyGram or Western Union page that lists the ID accepted for pickup in Syria. So the family needs to ask the branch before you send, even if they hold the old national ID card. UNHCR's Syria page, read on 4 November 2026, says ID cards from the former government remain valid, and that issuing national ID cards is suspended. Valid does not mean a counter will take the card. The agent finder on the MoneyGram or Western Union website lists branches near a town. The family can walk in and ask what ID that branch accepts. If your relative holds a different paper, ask about that paper too.

This is not a check on you, the sender. It is the counter making sure the money reaches the right person.

What the UK still blocks, and what it does not

The short version, for a person sending a monthly transfer to family: sending is allowed, and the operator does the compliance work.

The UK eased Syria sanctions in stages through 2025 and 2026. The Central Bank of Syria was removed from the sanctions list in March 2025, along with the state-owned banks that a normal transfer route runs through. The Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, and a further set of state entities were removed in April 2025. Sanctions on transport, energy, and finance sectors were lifted the same year. In April 2026 the UK removed further restrictions on trade in gold, precious metals, diamonds, and luxury goods.

Several hundred individuals and entities linked to the former Assad regime remain on the UK sanctions list. UK law says it is illegal to make funds available to a person on that list if you know, or have reasonable cause to suspect, that this is what you are doing. In practice, the operator screens the recipient's name against the list when you set up the transfer, and if there is a hit the operator refuses the transfer. That check happens at the sender side, and it is the operator's job.

For a UK-based individual sending £100 to £500 a month to family in Syria in October 2026, that check is invisible unless there is a name match. There is no monthly limit, no special licence needed, no form to fill in beyond what MoneyGram or Western Union asks for at signup.

Hawala, and where it fits

Some UK Syrians use hawala. A shop or an office in a UK city takes your cash and a name; a matching shop in Damascus or Aleppo pays the family in the local currency. The rate is whatever the operator offers, so ask for it before you hand over any money. There is no formal receipt. The whole thing runs on trust between the two ends and the personal relationship of the operator to your family.

It is how a lot of money has moved in and out of Syria for a decade, and the people running these networks are usually well known in the diaspora communities that use them.

One thing changed in October 2026. A Central Bank of Syria statement says that from 18 October 2026 it takes legal action, with no warning first, against anyone in Syria who does exchange or transfer work without a licence. It tells people to use licensed companies and offices only. A second statement of 19 October 2026 says people doing this work with no licence were arrested, and money prepared for this work was held, ahead of a referral to court. Both statements are about the operators. Neither says senders or families are punished.

The trade-offs are real and worth being clear-eyed about. The biggest is now that legal action. Our reading is that if the Syrian end of your route has no licence, that end can face the courts while your money is on its way. The 19 October statement does not say whose money was held, or that a transfer in progress was caught. There is also no receipt and no dispute route if something goes wrong.

If you already use a trusted route, ask whether its Syrian end has a licence, and decide with that answer in front of you. If you have never used one and are curious, ask someone in your community who has, not a stranger and not an online forum.

What £300 looked like on 26 October 2026

We checked these numbers on 26 October 2026. Every rate has a day next to it because rates move. Do not treat them as today's numbers.

That day the real exchange rate for pounds into US dollars, the one you get if you search it on Google, was about 1.334. So £300 is around $400 before anyone takes anything.

MoneyGram UK sends for cash pickup only, and you pay by card only. On 26 October 2026 its price check for £300 to Syria showed a £4.99 fee, added on top, so you pay £304.99. The family could collect $386 or 47,610 new Syrian pounds. These are MoneyGram's normal prices, the ones you pay from your second send on. On a first send it showed a slightly better Syrian-pound payout.

The dollar payout: at the real rate, $386 is about £289. You pay £304.99, so the send costs you about £16. That is the £4.99 fee plus about 3.5 percent kept in the exchange rate.

The Syrian-pound payout: 47,610 new Syrian pounds is about what $386 buys at the official rate (about 122.50 to a dollar on 25 October). At the street rate in Damascus that day, about 140 to a dollar, the same $386 would change into about 54,000 new Syrian pounds, about 13 percent more. Compare the two payouts on MoneyGram's price check the day you send, and ask the branch whether it has dollars.

Western Union does not offer the online UK to Syria route in October 2026. If the Post Office WU counter accepts the send in front of you (see the shortlist section), the counter quotes the fee and the rate before you pay. For cash pickup at the counter in Damascus, Aleppo and other cities, the family can ask for Syrian pounds or foreign currency, as far as the branch has that currency. The Central Bank's statement of 7 June 2026, in the two-rates section above, sets this out.

In October 2026, what moved the outcome by 10 percent or more was whether the family collects in dollars or in Syrian pounds and then converts at the changer.

When to re-check

Three things about this route can change quickly, and any of them flips the practical answer.

MoneyGram UK's Syria route could stop. The price check on MoneyGram's UK Syria page is where to look: if it quotes you a Syria send, the route is open that day.

Sanctions can be re-imposed if the UK government judges the transitional government has broken its part of the deal. The eased position rests on political conditions, and the government has said openly that the changes are reversible. If that happens, more operators will refuse the destination again.

The gap between the official rate and the parallel rate moves with the political news.

Reasonable habit: run MoneyGram's UK price check for Syria and check the numbers on whichever app you plan to use the morning you send, check the parallel rate on a site like sp-today.com or allira-sy.com the same morning, and if the piece you are reading is more than three months old, ask a family member in Syria what the changer is paying that week. The number they give you is the true one.

Check that the route is actually open the morning you send. Pick the operator the family can collect from without an ID problem. If the family would rather have dollars than Syrian pounds, ask the branch before you send which payout it will offer that day. Then phone the family and ask them to go in person, so the name on the ID at the counter is the name on the transfer.

Corrections

• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said Monzo refuses Syria because its international transfer is powered by Wise. Monzo's terms changed on 1 November 2026, and we can no longer confirm that reason or the refusal. The page now says its list of fees has no row for Syrian pounds, and to try the send flow in the app.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said it is illegal to knowingly make funds available to a person on the UK sanctions list, and that the operator's check happens once. The law also covers having reasonable cause to suspect, so the page now gives that full test. We have no source for "once", so it is cut.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said the gap between the street rate and the official rate sits between 5 and 15 percent in a normal week, widens to 25 percent or more in a bad week, and narrows below 10 in a calm week, with no source for these ranges. They are cut. The page now gives the reading of 25 October 2026 with its date, and says the gap moves. It also said the gap moves with foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank, with no source, so that is cut too.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said old Syrian notes still circulate in an extended transition period. Under Central Bank decision 372/H the exchange period ended on 30 July 2026 and old notes are no longer valid for payments. The page now says so. It also says Syrian citizens and people treated as citizens can hand them in, once, online or through Syrian Post.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said dollar payouts were at the branch's discretion, that the family collects in Syrian pounds, and that the app has to use the official rate. The Central Bank of Syria's statement of 7 June 2026 says the recipient chooses Syrian pounds or foreign currency, as far as the payer has it. The page now says so, and says only that MoneyGram's Syrian-pound payout on 26 October 2026 was about the official rate.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said MoneyGram UK's route to Syria was paused for part of October 2026. We have no primary source for a pause, so the page no longer says it. It still tells you to run the price check the day you send.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page did not say that from 18 October 2026 the Central Bank of Syria takes legal action against exchange and transfer operators with no licence, or that its statement of 19 October 2026 reports arrests and money held. The hawala section now says so and names it as a trade-off, and hawala is now the last option on the page.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said hawala often pays a better rate than the formal apps, sometimes close to the parallel rate, and that some UK businesses refuse to send to hawala firms, with no source for either. Both lines are cut. The page now says the rate is whatever the operator offers, and to ask for it before you hand over any money.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said most families hold the old Syrian national ID, that most counters accept it, that new documents were being issued in patches, and that some branches accept a UNHCR document or a temporary paper, with no source for any of this. The page now says UNHCR lists former-government ID cards as valid and issuing national ID cards as suspended, and it tells the family to ask the branch what ID it accepts before you send.
• 2026-11-04: An earlier version of this page said most transfers to Syria end in cash pickup, a lot of UK Syrian households use hawala, and more Syrian banks accept deposits every quarter, with no source for any of this. The page now says only that MoneyGram UK pays out as cash pickup, and what Western Union's Syria website lists.
• 2026-10-25: An earlier version of this page said a family that collects in dollars gets about 9 percent more "this week". That 9 percent was the July gap between the street rate and the official rate. On 25 October 2026 the gap was about 14 to 15 percent (about 140 new Syrian pounds to a dollar on the street against an official 122.50), and the page now gives that dated figure.
• 2026-10-25: An earlier version of this page said MoneyGram UK's route to Syria was paused and sent readers first to a Post Office Western Union counter or hawala. On 24 October 2026 MoneyGram's UK price check quoted Syria normally, for cash pickup paid by card. The page now leads with MoneyGram and keeps Western Union and hawala as the fallback. It also drops an estimate of a MoneyGram fee under £5 and a rate about 7 percent below the real rate, and the £300 dollar band built on it, which the 24 October quote did not support.
• 2026-10-12: An earlier version of this page used a GBP/USD real market rate of about 1.34, carried over from a July figure. On 12 October 2026 the real rate was about 1.32 (daily range 1.3219 to 1.3261). The £300 opener has been rebuilt from the correct rate: £300 is around $397, not $402; the Syrian-pound payout against the pound is about 162 to the pound, not 164; and the dollars-of-value band on £300 is about $339 to $370, not $343 to $373.
• 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page used a GBP/USD real market rate of about 1.28. On 14 July 2026 the real rate was 1.34. Every downstream figure in the £300 worked example (the pound-to-dollar conversion, the Syrian-pound payout at the counter, the dollar payout at the agent, and the dollars-after-changer) has been rebuilt from the correct rate.
• 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page said the parallel rate was running at around 144 new Syrian pounds to a dollar, about 18 percent above the official rate. sp-today.com's reading on the same day is closer to 133 new Syrian pounds to a dollar, a gap of about 9 percent, and the two-rate section has been restated to that figure.
• 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page listed Western Union alongside MoneyGram as a working online route from the UK. WU UK's online send flow does not offer Syria in July 2026. The section now flags WU as usable in person via the Post Office only if the counter accepts the send.
• 2026-07-14: An earlier version of this page said 348 individuals and entities remain on the UK Syria sanctions list. That figure came from a 2025 designations document and was not re-verified against the current list. It has been replaced with "several hundred" pending a fresh count against the live gov.uk designations page.