Information has surfaced online that Visa has allegedly banned the issuance of bank cards to Russians abroad. As experts have confirmed, the document distributed by the payment system does not introduce a direct ban, but the issuance rules have indeed become stricter.
For example, it is stated that issuing banks cannot attract customers or issue Visa cards outside their country of licensing. In case of violation of this requirement, banking organizations face penalties in the form of a fine of up to $1 million.
In Visa's rules, Russia is mentioned as an exception country, since the payment system curtailed its operations in the Russian market in March 2022. At the same time, the Visa legal entity still exists in the Russian Federation, as confirmed by an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
A former employee of a large Russian bank, on condition of anonymity, stated that these are old Visa rules. However, even within these rules, Russians could obtain Visa cards abroad by providing a local address. It is possible that some banks in other countries may have violated the payment system's rules.
It is known that the issuance of Visa cards outside the country of licensing is possible for employees of international companies. It is also possible to issue prepaid cards for commercial organizations, in the Eurozone for citizens of countries within the European Economic Area, and in some other cases (travel cards and cards for making money transfers).
Earlier it was reported that the Cabinet of Ministers prepared a list of countries whose citizens will be able to open Russian accounts. This will resolve the issue of paying for goods and services in Russia, which was problematic due to the departure of Visa and Mastercard from the Russian Federation.