In response to China's new policies to facilitate international visits, Ant Group is raising single-transaction limit for international travellers using its cross-border payment services from USD 1000 to USD 5000; and annual cumulative transaction limit up from USD 10,000 to USD 50,000.
The new policies apply to Ant's twin cross-border mobile payment solutions. International travelers may download the Alipay app and bind their international cards, or use their home wallets to pay like a local thanks to Alipay+, the cross-border payment solution offered by Ant International.
As of February 2024, users of 10 such wallets can enjoy seamless payment experience on the 80-million strong merchants network in China, including AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR, China), MPay (Macao SAR, China), Hipay (Mongolia), Changi Pay and OCBC Digital (Singapore), Touch ’n Go eWallet (Malaysia), Kakao Pay, Naver Pay and Toss Pay (South Korea), and TrueMoney (Thailand).
On March 7th, 2024, China’s State Council released a guideline to further optimize payment services and increase payment convenience for international travellers. The People’s Bank of China (PBC) has also recently announced that it will guide payment platforms to raise the single transaction limit for foreign nationals using mobile payment services from $1,000 to $5,000 and the annual transaction limit from $10,000 to $50,000.
For expats and other international visitors, Alipay has launched multi-language translation function for international visitors. Travel to China is expected to pick up in 2024 with new visa-free policies and efforts to increase the number of international flights. During Chinese New Year 2024, data from Alipay showed a 500% increase in spending via international card-enabled Alipay accounts at merchants in the Chinese mainland compared to 2023.