Opening Bank Account on Tourist Visa: For WeChat Pay
 

Hi all,

Will be going to Shenzhen (I have a foreign passport no HK/China with a HKID (not permanent)) this weekend to attempt to open a local bank account. I've done quite a bit of research on this and found that rules tightened significantly earlier this year and I'm afraid I might have missed the boat on this one.

I will come in on a 15-day L-visa (am holding a passport for one of the few visa-free countries to enter China) - any chance some branches in Shenzhen will still work for opening a bank account? Would appreciate any very recent insight (i.e. within last 3 or so months) from others who might have tried the same. Specific branch locations would also be appreciated via PM where available

Should also mention that I am OK to try several different branches (and will get a local SIM card on arrival) as long as there is eventually one that will take me as a customer - and that the new regulation is not uniformly enforced strictly nationally

Main and probably only purpose is to use WeChat pay - incredibly frustrating to use cash in China as many here have realised.

Cheers!

I simply don't believe a visa is sufficient for opening an account.

Nevertheless, your best chance, IMHO, is the BOC Futian Port Branch, as it is the branch frequently handle accounts for HKSAR residents. If you can't even get that one to say yes, don't bother to try others.

I've opened bank accounts using many types of visas, and the 15 day visa free entry deal is arguably just as good as having a visa (e.g. I know many people who split time between Japan and China with them that have bank accounts).

But, the two most important items I'm asked for when applying for bank accounts are residence permit (temporary and full both okay) and phone number (foreign numbers might be okay, but can cause data entry issues in some systems).

Following is the relevant thread on this topic, which I expect this post to join shortly:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chin...-shanghai.html

Just to avoid confusion, "Futian Port" is the Chinese side of the Lok Ma Chau border crossing, accessible by MTR. Not to be confused with the Futian shopping district or train station quite a distance away.

Thanks - this is valuable - glad to know the length of the visa will probably not be an additional factor complicating what is already an arbitrary process. Phone number is not an issue, as I plan to get a local SIM card any way. A residence permit I understand I can get from my hotel - am happy to spend this money if neccessary so hopefully these two aren't limiting factors. Biggest concern for me is if the recent tightening of regulations make it impossible to open on L tourist visas nowadays.

Thanks - the exact location si helpful - will definitely check it out as one of my first port-of-calls moment I arrive in Shenzhen.

Just to clarify, you won't have a visa at all, but just a stamp in your passport with a "leave by" date, correct?

Actually just checked my previous entry to Shenzhen, the entry stamp is just a circular red stamp with date of entry - no ‘leave by date’ - does this affect anything?

This may be a naive question, but will Hong Kong branches of mainland Chinese banks work? Can you open an account there in Chinese yuan?

Did they put any sort of sticker in your passport also? How are you expected to know when your departure deadline is?

Don’t have a permanent sticker of any sort - the red stamp with the date of entry is all I have. I might or might not have received a separate piece of paper with my departure date, but this isn’t something I recall clearly. Regardless, definitely nothing permanent in my passport.

The general rule is that you need to open an account on the Mainland, but I seem to recall that in the past year or two some sort of option of opening an account with a cooperating Mainland bank in HK was announced. This is why I usually flag a possible HK exception to the Mainland bank rule. But I don't know the details. And I do know that often grand and helpful schemes are loudly announced but never implemented.

As for the 15-day visa free permits given to Japanese etc on arrival, I will guess that if there's no "exit before" date, then there's a statement it's valid for a 15-day stay from entry.

Okay. This might actually work in your favor.

With respect to the residence requirement (for banks), it might be possible to use a foreign address, but using a (Shenzhen) hotel address would be my solution if I was in your shoes.

The computer will decide what a Chinese bank accepts, and in my experience the computer wants a Chinese mobile and Chinese address in Chinese with Chinese postcode. For some purposes not necessarily banks the official but never used Mainland postcode of 999077 will work when trying to input a HK address in Chinese on Mainland forms.

There is no "exit by" date in the Chinese stamps. I am not aware if they look for the actual visa in your passport if you just go in, hand your passport, provide them with a mainland address (nothing will be mailed; you will get the card on the spot) & phone number. You certainly want to have a Chinese phone number, because AFAIK it will be matched when you register for Alipay/WeChat Pay, but things may have changed.

As for HK branches of mainland Chinese banks, I think BOC / ICBC can open CNY accounts but it won't be used for transactions. It's like a forex account, all transactions on your card still go through HKD (and possibly incur foreign transaction fees).

Maybe stamps with dates are no longer in use at all or only some checkpoints have them, but I've definitely seen them in Japan, Singapore, etc passports. The two versions I recall are:
-"permitted to remain for [99] days"
and
-"permitted to stay until [date]" where date is handwritten or stamped separately in the empty space