How do I open a Chinese bank account?
Short answer
Take your passport, residence permit, police registration slip, Chinese phone number and your school or employment letter to a large branch of Bank of China or ICBC, in the morning. Budget about two hours. Then bind the new card inside WeChat Pay and Alipay.
Before you go
Get everything into one folder. If a single document is missing you will be sent away and lose another two hours on the return trip.
- Passport, plus photocopies of the photo page, the visa and the entry stamp
- Residence permit
- Police registration slip
- Chinese phone number, registered in your own name
- Admission letter, or employment contract
- A little cash for the opening deposit
At the branch
Take a ticket from the machine by the door and wait for your number. Say 开户 (kāi hù), which means open an account. You will fill in forms, set a six-digit PIN, and be photographed.
Ask specifically for:
- Online banking and the mobile app enabled, because without them you cannot transfer money
- A UnionPay debit card rather than just a passbook
- SMS notifications switched on
Afterwards
Open WeChat and Alipay and bind the new card. From that point the small foreign-card fee on daily spending disappears and the limits go up. The part people forget is that other people can now send money to you as easily as you send it to them.
If you are refused
It happens, and the problem is usually the branch rather than the bank, since a small branch may have nobody trained on foreign accounts. Go to a larger one, ideally the district’s main branch, and take someone who speaks Mandarin with you. Ask in the NIS group as well, because someone there will know which branch near you opens accounts for foreigners.
Also asked
Can I open an account on a tourist visa?
Usually not, and where it is possible the account is heavily limited. Wait until you have the residence permit.
Which bank is best for foreigners?
Bank of China and ICBC have the most experience with foreign customers, and China Merchants Bank has the best app. Which branch you walk into matters more than which bank, so ask other members which one near them is used to the paperwork.