Open a bank account in China with a foreign passport

Before you go

1. Choose a bank and a specific staffed branch. Do not assume an ATM lobby or every small outlet can complete a foreign-passport application.
2. Call the branch. Ask whether it handles personal debit-card applications for foreign customers and which documents it wants for your type of stay.
3. Take your original valid passport. Also take any extra document the branch names, not a guessed list from another bank or city.
4. Keep a working phone with you. Ask in advance which phone number the bank can register and whether it must receive SMS in China.

At the branch

1. Tell the lobby manager that you want a personal debit card, not a credit card or business account.
2. Complete the bank's identity and customer checks. Bank of China requires personal-account customers to sign a tax-residency declaration; answer it accurately and ask staff to explain any field you do not understand.
3. Before signing, ask about account fees, card limits, transfer limits, SMS notices and how to close the account later.
4. If the account is opened, activate the card and mobile banking with staff. Check that your name, passport number and phone number are correct, then test a balance enquiry or another simple function before leaving.

Set up everyday use

Bank of China says its mainland debit card can be used for merchant payments and linked to its mobile banking, UnionPay, WeChat or Alipay. Ask staff which services are available for your account; app identity checks and transaction limits can differ.

Keep the branch receipt and official service number. Bank staff conducting tax-residency checks should not ask for your account password, payment password, mobile-banking password or SMS verification code.

If the branch cannot open the account

1. Ask which check failed or which document is missing. Ask staff to write down the exact document name in Chinese.
2. Ask whether another branch of the same bank handles foreign-passport customers. Call that branch before travelling.
3. For Bank of China, call 95566 in mainland China or use its official Guangzhou outlet list. Give your district and ask for a staffed branch; the hotline can direct you but cannot promise approval.
4. Keep another payment route while you resolve it: a supported foreign card, mobile payment linked to that card and some RMB cash.