Why is it so hard for EMIs and Banks to issue Visa/Mastercard outside EU?

[vipul]

I mean if they can provide personal IBAN, whats the point of restricting Debit cards.

 

[Sols]

Because they aren't allowed to by Visa and Mastercard.

Visa and Mastercard have decided that‌ because EMIs are licensed for the EU/EEA only, they cannot issue cards to customers resident‍ elsewhere.

In reality, it's because of loss of revenue. Due to EU regulations, it's enormously⁠ cheaper to process cards issued in EU/EEA than cards from most other regions, i.e. less⁤ revenue for Visa and Mastercard. So they don't want to flood the rest of the⁣ world with a bunch of EU/EEA cards.

 

[uplana]

What about the USA they have also EMI's, do you say they pay more for‌ the processing there?

 

[Sols]

Cards issued in the US are much more expensive to process, especially higher end credit‌ cards like Visa Infinite and Mastercard World Elite.

 

[nobel]

At WISE it is now possible to get cards outside of the EU/EEA, and also‌ Swissquote and Yuh. I don't understand why it's not possible with other banks.

 

[JosephLL]

Furthermore, why is it so hard to find the list of supported countries with many‌ of those services prior to giving them your personal data for verification? That's far more‍ annoying.

How do you know about wise? I'm not able to see⁣ anything on their website? Can you be more precise which countries are eligible?

 

[Sols]

Wise is licensed in more jurisdictions/regions than EU/EEA.

Swissquote and Yuh operate⁠ under Swiss (i.e. not EU/EEA) banking licenses and are given more leniency by Visa and⁤ Mastercard. Swiss cards aren't always subject to same low fees required by EU for cards⁣ issued in EU/EEA.

 

[rowena]

Visa/MC are USA-based companies. Try to find USA-based EMI. For ex, Payoneer can issue debit‌ cards anywhere. They can even issue virtual cards with very high limits($100.000 per day).

 

[nobel]

Many European non-EU/EEA countries are now possible such as: Andorra, Monaco, Gibraltar, San Marino, Vatican, Switzerland.‍ Check on the homepage which country you are looking for.

 

[Sols]

Visa and Mastercard have divided the world up into regions. The regions are similar between‌ the two but not always identical. Visa is generally more permissive than Mastercard. Territories like‍ Andorra, Monaco, and Switzerland are ones where they differ and Visa might lump them in⁠ with EU/EEA in some contexts, whereas Mastercard doesn't always.

Gibraltar (along with Isle of Man,⁤ Jersey, and Guernsey) falls under UK. Non-European territories of UK are not included in the⁣ UK region.

 

[JosephLL]

Wise doesn't have a list of supported countries anywhere. At least I'm not able too‌ find it.

Yuh case: First deposit has to come from either: Austria, France, Germany, Lichtenstein‍ or Switzerland.

I really don't know why I still bother to waste my time on⁠ threads like this, when it's more than obvious the wall is tightly sealed.

 

[vipul]

For Yuh, does one have to reside in those countries or just⁣ the first deposit has to come from those countries?