Finally, you can sign up and verify an Alipay account without a Chinese bank account now!
It has always been very easy to sign up for Alipay, but it is very difficult to verify an Alipay account as a foreigner in the past. It requires you to have a Chinese bank card to complete the verification, which is a very high threshold.
But in the last 2 years, Alipay has changed its rules and now you only need a passport and face verification to have a verified Alipay.
In this article, I will explain step by step how to create and verify your Alipay account without using a Chinese bank card.
Note: The Alipay account I mentioned in this article refers to the Alipay personal account, which is different from the Alipay business account offered by Alipay for some foreign companies.
1. Why you should have a verified Alipay account
If you are planning to use Alipay regularly, I suggest you verify your Alipay. if you don’t verify your Alipay, you can still shop on Taobao. but if you have a verified Alipay, there are many benefits:
- Your Taobao and Alipay accounts are safer
Because your account has been verified by your real name, Alipay will trust you more and will not freeze or restrict your account unexpectedly anymore.
- Your tourpass money is more protected
To be honest, now your tourpass money is not safe and Alipay may freeze or stop you from using it anytime. With verified Alipay, your tourpass will be more secure.
- Verify your 1688.com account
If you are using a 1688 account, you can complete the verification of your 1688 account by linking to your verified Alipay. This will also greatly minimize the possibility of your 1688 account being restricted or unable to log in.
2. Create your Alipay Account
You can register on your computer or on your cell phone, but at the time of verification, Alipay will still ask you to download the app to complete the verification, so I suggest you download the Alipay app directly to register.
Step1. Download and install the Alipay app
You can download it directly from Google Play or Apple’s App Store by searching for Alipay(支付宝).
When installing, you should give Alipay permission to access your camera, we will need it to scan your passport and face recognition when verifying your Alipay later.
Step2. Enter your mobile number
Now open your Alipay app. if the page is in Chinese, you can set it to English by clicking on the “language(语言)” in the upper right corner.
We only need to do one thing on this page-enter your mobile number. the default country code 86 is for China, you have to change it to your own area code.
Then enter your mobile phone number next to it, remember, don’t add “0” in front of your mobile number.
Step3. Sign up
The Alipay system will detect that this is a new mobile number and then go to the sign-up page.
As in the above step, you need to select your area code and enter your mobile number again.
Step4. enter the verification code
Next, an agreement page will pop up, click agree to it.
on the verification code page, fill in the 4-digit verification code you received.
If everything goes well, you’ll be on the Alipay homepage, next we will proceed to verify the Alipay account.
Click “Me” on the bottom right corner of the user center page.
3. Verify your Alipay Account
Step 1. In the User Center, click the arrow in the upper right corner to go to the profile page.
Step 2. You can see on the profile page, the second column (Real-name verification) is grayed out(Unverified), we now click here to complete the verification.
Step 3. Now we come to the identity verification page, you can see that there are 3 options, which are
- Passport chip & face verification
- Verify face
- Mainland China bank card
Usually, we choose the easiest one – Verify face.
The best verification method is still the mainland China bank card verification, after completing the bank verification, you can use alipay balance, you can use alipay to receive and pay with more amount.
But it is not easy to register a Chinese bank account, you need to come to China to open an account in person. you can’t open an account remotely or in your country.
If you want to learn more, here is a guide on how to open China bank accounts as a foreigner.
Step 4. The first step is to scan your passport, preferably in a bright area.
Step 5. Then it will jump to the face recognition page, click “verify” to scan your face.
Step 6. If everything is OK, they will send you a short message to tell you that the verification is successful. you will also be at the certification center.
You can see that your personal information is “Incomplete”, you need to click here to update your personal information.
Step 7. In the personal information page, you can see that there are 2 fields that are not completed, “Occupation type” and “Address”.
Step 8. Click “Occupation type”, from the many occupation options that pop up, choose one according to your personal situation.
Step 9. Now click “Address”,
for “Location”, you can choose “海外(overseas)” for both state and city, then click “确认(confirm)”.
for “Address”, you can input your street address. then click “Save” to finish the whole process.
Step 10. After you have completed the above steps, you can see on your personal profile page that the second column (Real-name verification) is turned to blue(Verified).
You now have a verified Alipay personal account!
4. Set up alipay Login and payment password, Email, etc.
After registering and verifying your Alipay account, we need to set up your Alipay account in order to make it more convenient and secure for future use.
Step 1. Click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner of your user center.
Step 2. On the settings page, click the first option “Account and Security”.
Step 3. Now we are on the “Account and Security” page.
You can set up many things about your account here. I will introduce 3 main ones: Email Address, Alipay password, Login password.
You can add your email address so that you can log in directly with your email address in the future.
Alipay password here means Alipay payment password, it is a 6-digit number and it is very important.
You need to use it when you pay in Taobao, 1688, and even when you change some of your alipay information. So I suggest you write down this password on paper to avoid forgetting it.
Login password means your Alipay login password, it can be a combination of numbers and letters.
5. Final words
If you have done the above steps as I said, congratulations, you should have a full Alipay account now!
Next, you can shop on Taobao or top up tourpass to pay for your purchases.
If you have any problems or questions about the Alipay registration process, feel free to leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
342 thoughts on “How To Register And Verify Your Alipay Without Chinese Bank Account”
i am 12 years old who moved to Qingdao, China and even though my big brother, mom, and dad can do somethings that i cant do yet i have a verified Alipay account. the message Alipay gives me is “Sorry, the service only supports users in Chinese Mainland Verified”. my family have bank cards but i don’t and i’m 12 years old
View CommentI have verified my account. But can I receive money form a Chinese merchant?
View CommentI am living outside china and my account is not linked with a Chinese card.
If you read my post on instagram, you know that alipay has a limit on the amount of money you can receive and pay on an account, and even if you can receive money, the amount is very low.
View CommentHi, I’ve verified and added my tour card onto alipay but the payments get terminated due to suspicious activity. Any ways around this and what should I do?
View CommentHi I don’t know,maybe you can try to reach alipay customer service.
View CommentI’ve attempted to verify but my passport is very expired. Still possible, or am I out of luck for all the $$ I spent and items I have waiting for international shipment payment?
View Commentyou don’t have to verify your alipay,just add your bank card inside the taobao app.
View CommentHi, I signed up for an Alipay account many years ago and they didn’t require identity verification. Now they require me to verify before I can use the balance in my Alipay account to pay for items on taobao. But problem is last time when I sign up, the id number that I put is my IC number, which does not correspond to my passport number (I’m from Singapore by the way, our IC number and passport number is different) so now when I try to scan the passport, it gives me an error message that the number and name (when I signed up the other time, can only put Chinese name, but the name on my passport is in English) does not match so I can’t seem to verify my account and neither can I change my profile name and id number in the Alipay account to the same as the one in my passport. I tried contacting Alipay customer service but it isn’t really helping…
View Commentthen you have to register a new account using your passwort.
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