Payment apps tourists can use

A prepaid card for visitors that pays like a Korean debit card and doubles as a T-money transit card.

Setup: 1) Download the WOWPASS app and sign up. 2) Issue the card at a WOWPASS kiosk (airports, stations and hotels). 3) Load it with foreign cash in 16 currencies at the kiosk, or with a Visa, Mastercard or JCB card or PayPal in the app. 4) Pay with it like a Korean card, and tap it at subway gates once its transit balance is topped up.

Fees and limits: No fee on card payments. Cash withdrawals cost ₩1,000 each, up to ₩100,000 per withdrawal. You can check and top up the transit balance in the app.

Scan or show a QR code to pay almost anywhere, including taxis, the metro and street food.

Setup: 1) Download Alipay at home and sign up with your own phone number. 2) Link your Visa or Mastercard. 3) Verify your passport in the app. 4) Show your payment QR code, or scan the shop's code. 5) For the metro, activate the ride code in the app; it is a separate one-off step. Do all of this before you fly, and if your card is declined, try another card or call your bank.

Fees and limits: Free up to ¥200 per payment, then 3% of the whole amount. You cannot top up a balance or send money to friends with a foreign card.

The other big QR wallet. Some small vendors only take one of the two, so it helps to have both.

Setup: Set up a WeChat account, open Wallet and link a Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, Discover, Diners or foreign UnionPay card.

Fees and limits: Free under ¥200 per payment, then 3%. New users get the fee waived on payments under ¥1,000 for their first 60 days (Beijing government notice, March 2026).

A digital Octopus card in Apple Wallet for the MTR, buses, trams, minibuses, the Star Ferry, convenience stores and many small shops.

Setup: On an iPhone, download the Octopus for Tourists app and top up with a non-Hong Kong Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay card, or Weixin Pay. The tourist app is iPhone only (Huawei Wallet Octopus can be topped up with a UnionPay card), so most Android users should buy a physical Octopus card at the airport or an MTR station and top it up with cash.

QR-code payments accepted by many small shops, cafes and market stalls.

Setup: Download SnapScan and add your Visa or Mastercard. Your card must have 3D Secure (the extra online-payment check from your bank) turned on.

Malaysia's biggest e-wallet. Pays DuitNow QR codes at hawker stalls, shops and restaurants.

Setup: Open to ASEAN passport holders (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) since May 2025; other nationalities were promised later, so check the app. Choose "Register as a Tourist", enter your passport (valid at least six months) and your home phone number; the code comes by WhatsApp. Top up with a foreign debit or credit card. No cash withdrawals.

Fees and limits: Up to 2.6% to top up with a non-Malaysian card.

A JR East app for visitors that puts a Suica transit card in Apple Wallet. It pays for trains, subways, buses, convenience stores and vending machines across Japan.

Setup: iPhone and Apple Watch only. 1) Add your own Visa or Mastercard to Apple Wallet. 2) Download the Welcome Suica Mobile app and issue the card in the app; it appears in Wallet. 3) Top up in the app through Apple Pay. 4) Tap your phone at gates and shop readers. Android phones sold outside Japan cannot hold a Suica, so Android users need a physical Suica or PASMO, topped up with cash at station machines.

Kenya's mobile money, used for almost everything from matatus and market stalls to park fees.

Setup: Buy a Safaricom SIM and register M-Pesa with your passport at a Safaricom shop, including the Safaricom desks at Nairobi JKIA airport (agents can only register Kenyan IDs). Top up with cash at any M-Pesa agent.

Fees and limits: Paying shops and businesses is free for you; sending money to people and withdrawing cash carry small fees.

Since August 2025, Alipay and 11 other Alipay+ wallets and bank apps can scan Kaspi QR codes, which reach even small shops in rural towns. You pay in your home currency.

Setup: Use the wallet you already have at home. Mainly for visitors from East and Southeast Asia.

A prepaid Visa card for tourists. Linked to the TAGTHAi app, it pays PromptPay QR codes at shops, markets and restaurants.

Setup: Apply at a Kasikornbank (KBank) exchange booth, including at the Bangkok airports, with your passport (age 20+). Load it by exchanging foreign cash at the booth; cards and Thai baht cannot be used to top up. Refund the balance at a KBank booth before you leave.

Fees and limits: 150 baht to apply and 20 baht per KBank ATM withdrawal (up to 10,000 baht a day), per KBank's product sheet; a free-card promotion ended in December 2025.

Scan any Indonesian QRIS code with an app from home. Bank Indonesia has linked QRIS with Thailand (since 2022), Malaysia (2023), Singapore (2023), Japan (2025), South Korea and China (Alipay, both 2026). Supported apps include DBS, OCBC, UOB and GrabPay (Singapore), Maybank, CIMB and Touch 'n Go (Malaysia), and Bangkok Bank, KBank and SCB (Thailand).

Setup: Nothing to set up: open your usual app and scan the QRIS code. The amount is converted from rupiah automatically.

A 30-day tourist version of GCash, the Philippines' biggest e-wallet. Pays merchant QR codes in shops and restaurants across the country, charged straight to your card.

Setup: Download GCash, sign up with your foreign mobile number (roaming on, for the text code), tap "For Visiting Foreigners" and enter your details as on your passport. Then link a Visa or Mastercard in your name; your card must allow online and international payments. Verify with your passport and a selfie to unlock sending money. Open to numbers from about 100 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, much of Europe, Japan, Korea and China. You can sign up before you fly, but it activates only in the Philippines and switches off after 30 days.

A prepaid UPI wallet for foreign visitors, so you can scan the same merchant UPI QR codes locals use, even at many street stalls.

Setup: Download Cheq or Mony before you fly and register with your foreign phone number; no Indian number or bank account is needed. Upload your passport and Indian visa. The ID check is finished in person: at counters in Delhi T3, Mumbai T2 and Bengaluru airports, or (with Mony) by an agent who meets you after you land, usually within 24-48 hours. Load it with a foreign debit or credit card. Leftover money can be sent back to your card when you leave.

Scan and pay LankaQR codes from your Wise balance.

Setup: Needs a Wise account. Not available to Wise customers registered in the US, Canada or Japan.

Fees and limits: 1.2-2% per payment, plus conversion if you do not hold rupees.

Alipay, AlipayHK, GCash, Touch 'n Go, TrueMoney, Naver Pay, Toss Pay and other home wallets scan LankaQR codes at over 400,000 merchants.

Setup: Use the wallet you already have at home. Mainly for visitors from East and Southeast Asia.

The National Bank of Cambodia's wallet for visitors. Scan any KHQR code to pay in dollars or riel.

Setup: Register with an email, your passport and a selfie, then top up with a Visa or Mastercard, or with cash at the airport or a partner hotel. Some travellers report their foreign cards being declined, so do not rely on it alone.

Fees and limits: Paying is free, but card top-ups are reported to cost about 3.5%, at least $2 (2026), so top up a larger amount once.

Scan and pay KHQR codes straight from your Wise balance.

Setup: Needs a Wise account. Not available to Wise customers registered in the US, Canada or Japan.

Fees and limits: 1.2-2% per payment, plus conversion if you do not hold dollars.

Tanzania's biggest mobile money service, used to pay shops, taxis and small businesses.

Setup: Buy a Vodacom SIM at a Vodacom shop or registration agent and register it with your passport and fingerprints. M-Pesa is activated with the line. Top up with cash at any M-Pesa agent.

Fonepay's app for visitors. It gives you a prepaid card that pays any Fonepay QR code, at more than 1.9 million merchants.

Setup: Download it in Nepal, register with your passport and Nepal tourist visa (age 18+), and load it with a foreign Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay card. Unused money can be refunded through the partner bank when you leave. Fees are not published; check them in the app before you load money.

Scan and pay NEPALPAY QR codes from your Wise balance.

Setup: Needs a Wise account. Not available to Wise customers registered in the US, Canada or Japan.

Fees and limits: 1.2-2% per payment, plus conversion.

Alipay, AlipayHK, Touch 'n Go, GCash, TrueMoney, Naver Pay, Toss Pay and other home wallets scan NEPALPAY and Fonepay QR codes. Since May 2026 UnionPay app users from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore can pay Fonepay codes too.

Setup: Use the wallet you already have at home. Mainly for visitors from East and Southeast Asia.