Overseas users can now use WeChat Pay in Mainland China

WeChat Pay announced today (November 8, 2019) that it is collaborating with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover Global Network (including Diners Club) and JCB to enable overseas users to link their credit cards to WeChat Pay and use it for payment transactions and services in China. With this collaboration, overseas users will now be able to use WeChat Pay across multiple payments including shopping, restaurants, transportation and accommodation. As an example, overseas users can use WeChat Pay to purchase railway tickets.

With growing numbers of  overseas visitors travelling to mainland China some have chosen to stay and work there. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of inbound tourists reached 141.2 million in 2018, an increase of 1.2% over the same period of the previous year. According to the Minister of Science and Technology, China is also attracting talent globally for startups and  other businesses. Currently, there are more than 950,000 foreigners working in China. China has issued 336,000 overseas talent work permits in 2018. A major pain point for them living there as well as international visitors visiting, has been the invonvenience of being unable to use local mobile payments.

The Chinese government has introduced a variety of policies to bring convenience to expatriate daily lives. WeChat Pay is already supporting overseas users with mainland bank cards, savings cards and credit cards from 128 available banks registered with their passports. Users simply enter their bank card number, name, ID number and the mobile phone number for binding their bank cards in a few easy steps to enjoy the convenience of WeChat Pay.

With overseas visitors tending to use more international credit cards, the collaboration between WeChat Pay and global card associations will provide more convenience for overseas users both traveling and living in mainland China.

Source: WeChat Pay