UnionPay International announced today that the Chinese Embassy in South Africa and the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland started to accept the UnionPay card payment service, allowing Chinese citizens to pay for consular service charges such as passport application fee, travel permit processing fee, and document notarization fee via UnionPay products. So far, UnionPay payment services (cards or mobile application) are accepted at the Chinese embassies/consulates in 30 countries and regions, and will be rolled out at embassies/consulates in more countries and regions.

In response to the service concept proposed by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure safety, convenience and benefits of the Chinese citizens, UnionPay International has been actively improving its payment services at Chinese embassies and consulates since this year. Under the guidance of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese embassies/consulates in popular destinations such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, as well as countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” such as Russia, Thailand and Kenya have already accepted UnionPay payment services. In particular, Chinese embassies/consulates in the United States, Singapore, New Zealand, the Philippines and Japan accept the UnionPay app. 

Previously, Chinese citizens usually have to make payments at overseas Chinese embassies/consulates by means of cash or bank transfer. As an increasing number of Chinese embassies/consulates accept UnionPay cards and the UnionPay app, Chinese citizens are now able to make payments using the payment method that they prefer, eliminating the inconvenience in foreign currency conversion or transfer procedures.

Cai Lei, Head of Consular Protection and Overseas Chinese Affairs Group under Consular Office of the Chinese Embassy in Japan, said that there were often about 500 people queuing in the Chinese Embassy in Japan every day for consular services. Since accepting the UnionPay app, payments can be finished in a few seconds, greatly enhancing work efficiency. Head of Consular Office of the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand said that the cooperation with UnionPay International not only helped enhance service experience, but also demonstrated the progress and development of payment technologies of China to the local Chinese citizens living in New Zealand.

It is worth mentioning that since there is an increasing number of UnionPay cards issued overseas, the China Visa Application Service Centers in Australia, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia have begun to accept UnionPay cards issued overseas to bring convenience to overseas UnionPay cardholders applying for Chinese visas. In addition, visa centers in Australia and South Korea even provide exclusive services such as VIP window and priority in choosing queue number to local UnionPay cardholders.