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Most U.S. WeChat users are verified with a Chinese ID card, but if someone’s ID card expires, they can no longer keep using WeChat Pay. So here’s how to switch a WeChat account to passport verification. In fact, you can register a separate WeChat account and verify it with a passport without canceling the previous account’s verification.

If you are in Mainland China and your main account has reached the foreign card limit on WeChat Pay, you can also register a separate sub-account to get around the cap.

Process

Note: After switching identities, all past transaction records associated with cards are removed, so using a sub-account is the easiest.

1. If your WeChat account had been restricted, you need to remove the restriction before you can switch to a U.S. phone number.

2. On another phone, I changed the phone number bound to my existing WeChat sub-account to a U.S. number (Google Voice). It then prompted that I needed to switch from 微信 to WeChat; just confirm and proceed. No need to download the app again—looks like it switches internally. Remember to log out and sign in again; only then will WeChat ID show up.

3. Unlink the previously verified identity from the old WeChat account. You need to enter the name and ID number that were previously linked. Once unlinked, you can use the new identity.

4. Then enter the new identity info. Using your name in Chinese is fine. Choose passport as the verification document and set nationality to China. I used a U.S. address, the same as my credit card. After filling it in, the app automatically prompts you to upload a passport photo; just take it and upload.

5. Then verification starts, and it says it could take a day.

6. In reality, I got the approval notification in just a few minutes—about 8 minutes.

7. Then just add your U.S. credit card.

8. After that, you can use it for payment. I tested it twice for 100+ and it was super smooth.

Key Points

1. The sub-account seems to have a separate spending limit. My main account hit the limit, but the sub-account could still use a foreign card. According to online DP, this limit follows the document, and each document has a set quota.

2. The sub-account was registered entirely with a China IP, without opening V, and it did not cause any impact.

3. You can use WeChat + Apple Pay + US Bank Altitude to earn all WeChat Pay 3x points.

Questions

1. I tried it once, but the Apple Pay option did not appear. Not sure why.