Transfer money from Europe to China VISA card (ICBC)

My French bank having big troubles in sending a new credit card to me, I decided to open a Chinese VISA card. Not as easy as it looks: I'm not Chinese and this is China. Here is how I succeed.

First, I already own a Chineses RMB account at ICBC bank, where my salary is monthly transferred. And I have an associated UnionPaid bank card to use it. On ICBC website it's presented like this: my bank account (names "E-Age"), with an attached "UnionPaid" bank card:

Seen like this, I though I would just have to request a VISA card that would get attached to my account and let me use it internationally. After all, my French VISA works like that: it's linked to an EURO account but I can get cash internationally. But in ICBC, it was different.

Creating the VISA card is easy provided 1) you are patient and 2) your girlfriend speaks Chinese. After 1 hours discussion and filling paper, I've got my VISA card. First surprise: it's not linked to my current account, it has its own money reserve I need to fill by e-tranfer. Ok. So on ICBC website it looks like that:

The VISA card doesn't have an account name, but hey. So I clicked the "Transfer" menu and in two minutes, I had transfered 2000 RMB to my VISA card. Trying the VISA card at my local ATM proved it was working as I got some RMB cash in my hands. "Cool", I said, "let's travel".

Bad idea. Once in Finland, my VISA card was refused everywhere despite the 2000 RMB on it. Why? I called the bank. They explain I cannot pay oversea using RMB: I must fill the card with US dollars (USD). Ok, how can I change RMB to USD? "You can't, sir". I can't because I haven't subscribed to the Internet service allowing to buy foreign currencies. That's the "Forex exchange market" feature, which is not enabled now. They can't enable it over the phone, and suggest I ask my parents to send some USD on my VISA card (yeah, they really said it).

Here I am: I can't use my RMB money with my VISA card. ICBC provided me a VISA card I can only use in China. Ok, facts are facts. Now, I decide to transfer some French money to my ICBC VISA to at least be able to use it. How to do?

I'll need to transfer USD to my VISA card. Fortunately, my French bank website allows me to make international transfer in USD. But how to fill transfer info? They ask me to fill that as destination account:
_ IBAN or BBAN: I just need to give my ICBC bank account number. Or, I can indicate my ICBC VISA card 16-digits number. Yes, I tested, it works as a IBAN/BBAN number: the money arrived!
_ BIC code: this is also called bank SWIFT code. A code identifying your bank, find it easily on Google. For ICBC Beijing, it is ICBKCNBJBJM.

Click click, the transfer is done. I was confused in filling IBAN/BBAN: my ICBC account doesn't support USD, and my VISA card... isn't an account, it's a card, so will its 16-digits number be accepted as such? As a test, I transferred a small amount of money (in USD) to both. Verdict: both methods work. I mean, you can:
_ Transfer USD to your ICBC "E-Age" account even if it doesn't claim to support USD.
_ Transfer USD to your ICBC VISA card directly!

As a result my ICBC account looked like this:



USD arrived directly on the VISA. If you transferred USD to your account, you need to transfer them using the "Forex" transfer option (ICBC website will give you a warning popup, don't worry).

After that the VISA card is accepted in my restaurant. When swiping the card, the waitress asked me whether to use "Visa" or "Visa Electron"... errh I don't know? It turned out only "Visa" works. Great anyway!

In China, things are not so difficult, they are different. And they don't speak English.