WeChat released new policy for overseas payment

On March 1, WeChat officially announced to optimize international cards authentication and provide no-verification small-payment limit.-verification small-payment limit.

Q: What if I find linking an international card and the verification process too cumbersome?

A: You will now experience a more streamlined registration process. Simply enter your card number, expiry date, and security code, bypassing the need for identity information to link your international card. Moreover, you can swiftly link your card through several access points, even during a transaction.

Q: What if I urgently need to use mobile payment but don't have the time to provide full details?

A: Besides simplifying the card-linking procedure, we're introducing a no-verification small-payment limit. By linking an international card, first-time users of WeChat Pay from abroad can try WeChat Pay within a certain amount without verification. You can submit verification details at your convenience to increase your transaction limit and access the full suite of WeChat Pay.

We've also refined numerous details in the registration, card linking, and activation steps and are committed to ongoing enhancements. WeChat Pay will also launch a new feature, which will allow foreign users to experience the convenient mobile payment function directly through various top-up methods, without the need to bind a card or go through authentication.

More Foreigner Payment News

On Feb 26, the topic "Foreigners have trouble spending money in China" became a hot search on Weibo, with 100 million views and 108,000 interactions.

On March 1, Zhang Qingsong, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, introduced that in response to foreign friends visiting China for tourism, business and other activities, and encountering difficulties with mobile payments, payment institutions will be guided to introduce a series of facilitation measures.

These convenience measures include optimizing business processes for foreign visitors to China, simplifying identity verification procedures, improving the efficiency of foreign card binding and making it more convenient for foreign visitors to handle a series of processes such as card binding; and instructing Alipay, Tenpay and other major payment institutions to increase the single transaction limit of mobile payment for foreigners in China from US$1000 to US$5000 and the annual cumulative transaction limit from US$10,000 to US$50,000.

The People's Bank of China, the central bank, demanded concerted efforts on Thursday to allow foreigners to make easier payments in the country.

At a conference on optimizing payment services, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng urged comprehensive and coordinated actions in a bid to achieve concrete results in the near future.

Alipay, one of China's major payment apps by Ant Group, has allowed foreigners in China to pay with their overseas bank cards via the app's international version or use their familiar home e-wallets by scanning Alipay QR codes.

Next, Ant Group will work to resolve difficulties regarding foreign visitors using Alipay to take subways and buses in major Chinese cities.

Meanwhile, Chinese banks are taking measures to expand the acceptance of overseas bank cards and facilitate their use of cash in the country.