WeChat Pay for Foreigners || A Comprehensive Guide (for 2024)

32 comments

1. After I link my foreign bankcard and passport for identify verification, it says I still need to link a Chinese bank account to complete ID verification! Has anyone found a way around this?

   1. Hmm that’s odd, something we’ve not seen yet with our students. So you have been unable to fully attach your card?

      1. I also have the same issue as jessie

      2. I set up WeChat pay a few weeks ago and successfully link to my international Visa card. However I try to use WeChat Pay in Yue Hwa Products Emporium a department store in Hong Kong it doesn’t work. Is the reason I switch Hong Kong Tourist SIM card with a different phone number or Do I need to choose region to enable WeChat pay

         1. It won’t work in Hong Kong, only Mainland China. It doesn’t matter which SIM you use unfortunately. WeChat Pay only works for Chinese nationals in Hong Kong.

            We’ve tried as a team using Wechat Pay in foreign countries but it only works for Chinese nationals. Don’t ask us why!

2. As a foreigner living abroad, your information listed on the website is not very helpful.

   First, I tried linking my foreign bank card via your suggestion on the alipay page and it didn’t work.

   Now, my wechat app which I downloaded from google play doesn’t even have wechat pay as an option.

   Just a feedback because I feel like all the 30 mins or so I’ve spend reading and trying out the methods you suggested ended up failing.

3. After consulting my wife I’ve decided to leave another comment to apologize as she told me users will have to enable wechat pay before it appears under the ME page.

   So, apologies for my previous comment due to my slow and senile brain since there is no way to delete it.

   Hope it didn’t ruin anyone’s day.

   1. Of course not Ralph. These things are never as easy as they seem! Glad you found a way.

   2. I do the same step as a passport and a visa card. After verifying the card, it says check the phone number, but the code does not arrive

4. I think I linked it after many trial and errors… now I can’t wait to go back and try or do you think I should try abroad first where wechat pay is accepted?..

   1. Nice, well done Joy! It will likely only work in mainland China so you’ll have to wait! Good luck 🙂

5. Good article. I’ve linked my bank card. Is there a way that a Chinese person can pay me using this? And then I can put it in my bank account? I seem to be getting the message that I need a Chinese bank account.

   1. They won’t be able to send money to your bank. That is a drawback. You can send money, but you won’t be able to receive any.

6. I have been able to use WeChat Pay in China using Australian Visa and MasterCard debit bank cards, but sometimes it doesn’t work. At the dentist, hairdresser, a few restaurants, a chemist and a few shops, it did not work. Vending machines prefer the MasterCard account but all the others take from my Visa (Wise transfer). So always having cash is essential. At one hotel in Shanghai that had already taken in the Trip.com booking process, a pre-authorised full amount as a deposit, I used my Wise Visa card to pay using their EFTPOS machine (PIN).

   So now I am faced with a different issue, how to send money to a friend in China? WeChat says for the friend to set up a Wise transfer account. Any other options? No red envelopes or transfers or cash possible (they are too far away).

   1. Yes this is the problem and why we make it clear to have a number of different options available. There is no set method of spending money in China! You genuinely have to try as you go.

      For your question – I think Wise is probably the best option here. You can also send a bank transfer to their Chinese bank if you can get the details (you’ll need IBAN and BIC or SWIFT if they have them handy).

7. There seems to be a step missing? there is a wait time for Face ID recognition where the app asked to take my actual face to compare against my passport. and the app said verification wait times can be a day or longer.

   Is this normal

   1. This isn’t common but it could be a random spot check. From memory I think we’ve seen this a handful of times before with students but it’s typically different for every user.

      1. To me when I put my details it tells that Chinese mainland ID users are temporary unable to add international bank.please switch to Chinese mainland bank card . What can I do to link my WeChat wallet and my bank account I need your help please

8. I’m from Australia, using WeChat payment with my Australian visa. Works fine for small transactions, but when it’s larger than Rm500 payment always failed. And WeChat says it takes payments up to Rm6000. Any how to fix it?

   1. We’re not sure ourselves on the exact limits. It does vary annoyingly, so there are no set rules which makes things even harder for us to diagnose.

      1. This happens so many times to me as well whenever I am in China (I travel to China at least once a month), and it is so frustrating.

         I had my Wechat Pay linked to my credit cards as all foreign visitors do. No problem with small payments below RMB300. Anything above always get rejected, with a message telling me that the card is suspicious and may be a fraud.

         Once I contacted Tencent to report the issues and I have to say that it wasn’t very helpful and the problem persists till now.

9. hi, I’m a foreigner and tried creating wechat pay and verifying with my passport and bank card and it was approved. however when I try to use wechat pay in retail stores, it keep saying I’m not from China and hence transaction doesn’t get processed. I doubt I had any information entered wrongly, can someone help?

   1. That’s odd, if everything has been verified it should work with no problems. Best to contact Wechat support, or try using Alipay instead.

   2. hello,

      my credit card has zero dollar for foreign transaction fee. if I add my card to WeChat, will my card be still charged for 3% transaction? TIA.

10. Can you add a credit card to WEChat pay or does it have to be a debit card?

    1. You can add credit cards.

11. I verified successfully and linked both my debit card and credit card. My balance is 0.00 Yuan but I can’t top up with either of them. When I try to do so I get a message that says “Please add a debit card issued by a Chinese Mainland bank to use the top-up function”. Any ideas?

    1. Hmm, our guess is that you can make payments with your foreign cards but for whatever reason it will not let you top up. Why, we aren’t sure I’m afraid 😔

12. Hi! I plan to visit my relatives in Shanghai this year and my aunt wants to send me some money to my Wechat account to cover my daily expenses there. I have been using the app only for chat so far.
    My question is: can I receive the money from my aunt without linking my Wechat account to a bank account/card?
    If so, How do I set up the password, etc.
    Thank you in advance for your help!
    Best regards,

    1. Hi Bing. You’ll need some form of bank linked to receive money.

13. can I connect visa debitcards issued by santander, dkb and comdirect to wechatpay?

    1. Yes, you should be able to.