How to Get Your Wise Physical Visa Card: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you've been looking for a reliable way to handle cross-border payments, you've probably heard of Wise. This financial tool has become incredibly popular among freelancers, digital nomads, and anyone dealing with international transactions.

Wise isn't actually a bank—it's a fintech company founded in 2011 by Estonian entrepreneurs Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. Based in London and authorized by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution, Wise started life as TransferWise before rebranding in 2021 and going public on the London Stock Exchange.

The platform's core strength lies in cross-border payments and currency exchange. Once you register and verify your account, you get access to multi-currency accounts in US dollars, euros, British pounds, Canadian dollars, and more. These accounts work like local bank accounts, letting you receive and send money across different countries with ease.

Why You Might Want a Wise Visa Card

Today, I want to focus on something specific: getting a physical Wise Visa card, even if the standard application process doesn't work for your location.

People apply for Wise cards for different reasons. For me, the appeal is straightforward. This card allows ATM withdrawals in mainland China, which opens up another channel for accessing funds from forex trading. Since virtual card services like OnekeyCard shut down, I also needed a reliable way to pay for international subscriptions and services. The Wise Visa card covers both these needs perfectly.

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What You'll Need Before Starting

Before diving into the application process, gather these items:

1. A valid passport for identity verification

2. A foreign email address (Gmail or Outlook works fine)

3. A Canadian VPN node with a clean IP address

4. A Canadian address and postal code (you can Google a Canadian hotel address for reference)

The Registration Workaround

The basic account registration is straightforward—just visit the Wise homepage, click register, and follow the prompts. Fill in your actual Chinese address for your personal information. This part is important because you'll eventually want the card shipped to where you actually live.

After registration and verification, you'll notice something frustrating when you navigate to the Card section: accounts registered with Chinese addresses can't apply for physical Visa cards directly. The system simply won't let you proceed.

But here's the workaround.

Changing Your Residential Address

Click on your name in the top-right corner next to the notification bell. Select "Your Details" from the dropdown menu, then choose "Edit Details." You'll need to enter your login password to proceed.

Now change "Country/Region of Residence" to Canada. Update your address and postal code to a Canadian location as well, then save your changes.

Head back to the Card section, and you'll see something different: both physical and virtual card application options now appear.

The Application Strategy

Here's where it gets interesting, and this is the crucial part:

First, click to apply for the physical card. For the shipping address, enter your actual detailed address in mainland China. The card will be sent via regular mail. To improve delivery chances, use all three address lines—put your address in the first two lines, and add your Chinese phone number in the third line using this format: Tel:133xxxxxxx

When you reach the final step, the system will ask you to deposit funds to activate the card before completing the application. Don't do this yet. Instead, click the X in the top-right corner to cancel. You'll return to the homepage with an incomplete order sitting there—ignore it for now.

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Next, apply for a virtual card instead. Once that's approved, go back and delete your incomplete physical card order. Then reapply for the physical card, filling in the same shipping details. This time, you'll notice something different: the payment step gets skipped entirely, and you go straight to the card dispatch confirmation page.

That's it. Now you wait for the card to arrive.

I successfully used this exact method yesterday.

Important Things to Remember

The Canada choice is critical. You must select Canada as your residential country and use a Canadian VPN throughout the process. This helps you avoid Wise's risk controls.

Why Canada specifically? Because Canada is one of the few countries that allows direct shipping to China, and cards registered under Canadian addresses can be activated directly in China without travel.

If you choose the United States, United Kingdom, or other regions that support physical cards, you'll face a problem: you'll need to physically travel to that country for the first activation. Pick the UK, and you'll need to activate your card in the UK. That's obviously impractical for most people.

Canada sidesteps this entire hassle, making it the only realistic option for getting a working Wise card delivered to and activated in mainland China.

The whole process might seem like a workaround, but it's straightforward once you know the steps. Within a few weeks, you should have a functional Visa card that works for international payments, ATM withdrawals, and subscription services—all from the comfort of your Chinese address.