UnionPay International announced a new partnership with WeChat Pay yesterday, enabling cross-border payments for international UnionPay wallet users through WeChat Pay’s payment system. The initial group of participating wallets includes Bank of China Hong Kong’s BoC Pay, Octopus, PayMe by HSBC, and Tap & Go in Hong Kong; Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking and K PLUS in Thailand; NAVER Pay in South Korea; and ICBC Mobile Banking (ICBC Pay) in Malaysia. Once the feature is live, users of these overseas wallets who have linked their UnionPay physical cards or activated UnionPay’s digital card services will be able to pay conveniently by scanning WeChat Pay QR codes within China. Payments will be automatically converted from local currencies to Chinese yuan. At the same time, National Immigration Administration of China announced an update to its visa-free transit policy. Effective immediately, foreign visitors transiting through China are eligible for a visa-free stay of up to 240 hours (10 days), an extension from the previous 72-hour and 144-hour limits. Additionally, 21 more ports of entry have been added to the list of locations where the visa-free policy applies, expanding the areas where travelers can stay during their transit. [UnionPay, in Chinese]
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