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I've got a bunch of Iranian Rials left over from a recent trip because I assumed, stupidly, that like other airports there'd be an exchange place after passport control. Sadly, that was not the case.

As a result, I'm stuck with a bit of IRR left over. Travelex won't take it, and the couple of banks I've tried won't either.

I asked a similar question about London a few years back, with some success, so I'm hoping for similar results with Sydney...

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  • 1
    Due to the sanctions against Iran you will find IRR difficult to exchange anywhere outside Iran. Aug 12, 2015 at 3:45
  • @MichaelHampton I'm hopeful with the recent treaty being signed that it might be feasible soon...
    – Mark Mayo
    Aug 12, 2015 at 5:15
  • 2
    Find an Iranian restaurant, and see if they'll take them / one of their staff will change them?
    – Gagravarr
    Aug 13, 2015 at 6:28
  • 1
    @hippietrail There are UN sanctions, and separate US and EU sanctions. The effect of these is that Iranian banks are not connected to global banking networks such as SWIFT, and foreign banks in Iran are rare, so it's quite difficult for foreign banks to repatriate Iranian currency. I'm not going to say it's completely impossible; you might try your luck in Venezuela. Dec 19, 2015 at 23:52
  • 2
    Would you accept Melbourne instead of Sydney? Or Victoria?
    – Gayot Fow
    Dec 26, 2015 at 6:10

1 Answer 1

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It depends what you mean by unusual. If you specifically mean Iranian Rials, I think you're out of luck. There doesn't appear to be any reputable money changers that will change them in Sydney, though I'm not excluding the prospect of finding some small and/or under the table money exchange business handling them in some areas of Sydney with an Iranian ex pat population, e.g. Fairfield or elsewhere in western Sydney.

If you mean more generally, here's a quick list of currencies that are exchanged by at least one provider, noting I only reviewed the major providers. I'd consider plenty of these unusual but YMMV:

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bahamas
  • Bahrain
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Bermuda
  • Brazil
  • Brunei
  • Canada
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Croatia
  • Czech
  • Denmark
  • Domincan Republic
  • Egypt
  • Euro
  • Fiji
  • French Africa
  • French Polynesia
  • HK
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Israel
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kenya
  • Kuwait
  • Madagascar
  • Malaysia
  • Mauritius
  • Mexico
  • Morocco
  • Norway
  • NZ
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Peru
  • Phillipines
  • PNG
  • Poland
  • Qatar
  • Russia
  • Samoa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Seychelles
  • Singapore
  • Solomon Islands
  • South Africa
  • South Korea
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
  • Tonga
  • Trinidad
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • UAE
  • United Kingdom
  • US
  • Vanuatu
  • Vietnam
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  • Downvoted because MMDV greatly. Dec 19, 2015 at 23:46

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