Originally Posted by
percysmith
There are but you can't bill RMB with them through Visa.
You can use Visa mode on a PRC-issued Visa card in China, but you get billed in USD and translated back to RMB (by your Chinese issuer bank).
These cards are usually Unionpay-coded as well* so there's no reason whey Visa will be used domestically except on request.
* (I'm not sure all PRC-issued Visas have to have Unionpay coding, I just haven't seen a PRC Visa without Unionpay yet).
Sorry to drag up something this old, but I finally figured it out. I've occasionally seen BoC cards advertised in China with just Visa/MC. Turns out those are cross-border- BOC China handles approval (thus no HKID required- theoretically any foreign resident in the PRC with income can get one) but it's actually issued and serviced by BOCHK. And, I imagine, BOC China is the one that goes after you should you default. I do hope that others will be allowed to do this in the future, but knowing how the CBRC is, I'm not exactly holding my breath for SCB, HSBC, or anyone else to be doing this on a wide scale.
Thus, they're also subject to DCC where it happens.