Which cards support Apple Pay and is it possible to make the service work in Russia in 2023

Although MasterCard and Visa left Russia more than a year ago, having effectively closed access to payment for international services for Russians, attempts are being made every now and then to circumvent this restriction. With all the prohibitions from the outside, you and I still have several options for issuing bank cards that work abroad. And if so, then it is logical to assume that they are also Apple Pay support. After all, many of them have no connection with Russian institutions, so they are not subject to international sanctions either. Let’s see if this is actually the case.

Spoiler for those who read the captions to the pictures: making Apple Pay work in Russia will not work at all. But the article has a lot of interesting things, so read on

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Where to get a foreign bank card

Another hint for those who read signatures: in Bodrum, near the bus station, there is an Is Bank office, where Russians issue cards only by TIN and passport. No deposit or issue fee required. Checked on myself. enjoy

At present, there are at least four ways issue a bank card for Russianswho works abroad:

• Make an Oldubil virtual machine
• Issue a prepaid card of a foreign bank in one of the partner banks in Russia
• Issue a card in a country where Russians without a residence permit are guaranteed to open accounts (Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus)
• Issue a UnionPay card (In Russia, they issue Tinkoff Bank, Post Bank, MTS Bank, Russian Standard, Gazprombank, RSHB, Solidarity, RRDB, Solid Bank, Primsotsbank)

Perhaps the simplest option is Oldubil card design. It does not require any passport data and is freely registered to a Russian telephone number. That’s just with Apple Pay is not working and is suitable for a maximum of paying for some foreign services with a direct link. For this reason, by the way, go for a map to Turkey definitely not worth it. Even despite the fact that some Turkish banks are willing to meet our compatriots and open debit cards without any problems.

This clearly applies to IS Bank, where I was offered to issue a “plastic” without requiring either a residence permit, or a deposit, or a fee for the card itself. Just. They only asked Turkish TIN, which is issued in minutes. The only rule: fill out the form in Latin with caps-lock enabled and replace the Turkish letter i with the English letter I. This will have to be done manually. Otherwise, the bank will not be able to see your data in the finished document.

Does UnionPay from Tinkoff work with Apple Pay

The UnionPay payment system with Apple Pay does not work in any country in the world, so it is useless to try to marry them

Simplicity card processing in Turkey more than “compensated” by the fact that they do not work with Apple Pay. But Georgian, Armenian, Kazakh and Belarusian ones are working. But in these countries, you will almost always be asked to make a rather impressive deposit or pay for registration of 10,000 rubles or more. For some, this can become a serious barrier. But such cards allow pay with iPhone in any country of the world. Anywhere except Russia. But what about Russia, you ask?

In Russia you can issue a UnionPay card from Tinkoff Bankand she will work abroad. To make it easier than ever, and this pleasure costs only 1000 rubles, if you take the physical version and 0 for the virtual one. Just to decorate Union Pay virtual card, especially if you want to link it to Apple Pay, it makes absolutely no sense. There are two whole reasons for this:

• First, all payments through UnionPay cards of Russian banks go through the National Payment Card System, which services all transactions in the country. And she is at Apple, unfortunately, in the bath.
• Secondly, Apple Pay basically does not support the UnionPay payment system, regardless of the country of issue of the card and the region of its application. Therefore, even in China, “plastic” from UnionPay cannot be linked to iPhone.

Will Apple Pay work in Russia

Visa prepaid cards, which are offered today in some Russian banks, also do not make sense in the context of using Apple Pay. Despite the fact that their issuer is actually a foreign bank, their cannot be linked to Wallet, and in Russia it will be impossible to pay them. The thing is that here such a card will not be accepted from you at all.

Want to pay with your smartphone in Russia? Use Android or SberPay. Not a single card, even a foreign one, activates NFC payment in iPhone here.

The problem also lies in the NSPK plane. Because of Visa and MasterCard no longer work in Russia, Russian terminals do not consider such a card in principle. They will invariably throw an error. And this applies not only to Apple Pay, but also to Samsung Pay, which still works in Russia, as well as to online payment for Russian services. They will not be able to debit the payment, since the card is not associated with the NSPK, therefore it is only suitable for foreign payments.

No matter how regrettable it may sound, but today in Russia there is not a single How to get Apple Pay to work. The Apple payment service in our country will not turn on, regardless of the card you use. The only way to start again pay with iPhone via NFC – go abroad with a card that supports Apple Pay, or use SBPey. Russian developers were still able to force the near-field module in the iPhone to transmit payment information, but this is not very convenient to do. It’s better to use SberPay, which, despite all the shortcomings, is much more versatile.