Beijing News: WeChat Rolls Out New Services for Foreign Visitors

Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

Earlier this month, we told you about the introduction of online arrival cards for foreigners as part of a set of new National Immigration Administration “immigration and exit-entry management service policy initiatives implemented to ‘support and facilitate high-level opening-up and high-quality development.’”

The new online arrival platform, which launched Nov 20, can be accessed via, among other avenues, a WeChat mini program.

Recently, WeChat has also announced other features designed to facilitate the experience of foreign visitors to China. 

Foreign E-Wallets Can Be Used With WeChat Pay

A number of foreign and domestic e-wallets can now be used to pay merchants who support WeChat Pay transactions. Rather than worrying about paying by card or cash, or linking a foreign bank card to WeChat, those with supported e-wallets can now use those to scan or be scanned with WeChat Pay instead to complete their transactions.

The image below displays e-wallets currently supported for merchant transactions with WeChat Pay, as well as e-wallets, including PayPal and Venmo, soon to be supported.

Useful Mini Programs and Translation Information

WeChat has also published a graphic of useful mini programs for foreign visitors and a graphic explaining how to use the mini program translation feature. The graphics have instructions in English and can be sent to visitors from overseas. The QR codes on the “Easy Life with Weixin Mini Program” graphic can be scanned in WeChat. 

After using the mini program translation function, there is also an option to change the language of the mini program translation to one of the 18 supported languages. 

READ: Updated List of (Not Sold-Out) Christmas Markets

Images: Unsplash, Weixin Pai