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The transfer of money from migrants to their non-migrant relatives is a key, symbol of the quality and meaning of transnational kinship relations. This article analyses how people in Cape Verde view migrant family members’ economic obligations and it examines the concomitant moral discourse. Through a detailed ethnographic study the article explores how gender and kinship positions interplay with the moral obligation to send remittances, and it also inquires into the differences between rural and urban people’s attitudes towards monetary gifts. Moreover, the importance of the receiver’s status in the local society is discussed and the role of the personal relation between the sender and the receiver. Thus the analysis goes beyond an instrumental and rationalistic approach to remittances, which is common in much research, and explores the significance of this money for emotions and social relations.