Overseas Issued UnionPay Cards can link to WeChat Pay and Alipay

UnionPay International (UPI), a subsidiary wholly controlled by China UnionPay, announced on November 6 that all the UnionPay cards issued overseas had achieved full recognition of Alipay as well as WeChat Pay supported by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. This means that expats now living or working in China can enjoy the same payment convenience as locals, starting on November 6, after they link Alipay and WeChat Pay with their UnionPay cards.

The new payment mode is expected to offer the following benefits for expats:
1. No service charge on payments during the marketing period;
2. Payments on all the scenarios of catering, accommodation, traffic, travel, shopping, medical care and schooling, with easy accessibility by scanning, being scanned, or In-App. 
3. Easy procedures to build the link, in which the user only needs to type in the relevant information of the card such as the number and the expiration date, and then receive the official confirmation to achieve the link.
It is reported that a total of 250 million overseas UnionPay cards have so far been issued in 83 countries and regions across the world, which are applicable to usage in 183 countries and regions.
Source: HomeinChengdu