There is information online suggesting that Visa has supposedly banned the issuance of bank cards for Russians abroad. Experts have confirmed that the document disseminated by the payment system does not introduce a direct ban, but the issuance rules have indeed been tightened.
For example, it is stated that issuing banks cannot attract customers or issue Visa cards outside their licensing country. If this requirement is violated, banking organizations may face penalties up to $1 million.
Russia is mentioned in Visa's rules as an exception country since the payment system stopped its operations in the Russian market from March 2022. However, Visa's legal entity still exists in Russia, which is confirmed by the EGRUL extract.
A former employee of a large Russian bank, on condition of anonymity, stated that these are old Visa rules. However, even under these rules, Russians could get Visa cards abroad by specifying a local address. It is possible that some banks in other countries could have violated the payment system's rules.
It is known that the issuance of Visa cards outside the licensing country is possible for employees of international companies. Prepaid cards can also be issued for commercial organizations, in the euro zone for citizens of countries in the European economic zone and in some other cases (travel cards and money transfer cards).
It was previously reported that the cabinet of ministers prepared a list of countries, citizens of which can open Russian accounts. This will solve the problem of paying for goods and services on the territory of the Russian Federation, which was problematic due to the departure of Visa and Mastercard from Russia.