Get a WISE card and use it as a debit card in another country

Why get a WISE card?

I currently live in New Zealand and am planning a trip to Japan. Of course, you can use your domestic credit card abroad, and these days there are many cards that automatically convert and pay when you use your domestic travel credit or debit card without the need to exchange currency.

However, I don't live in the country, so I don't have such a card. I may not be able to get one if I apply for one (I'm guessing), but I'm planning a trip to Japan and need a card that I can use like a debit card in Japan, so I'm going to apply for a WISE card.

The WISE card issuance process

1) Order a WISE card

To get a WISE card, you'll first need to enter the WISE website, of course. Select Card from the menu on the left and you'll see the picture and screen above.

From here, press the Order a debit card button to proceed to the next step.

2) Choose between physical and digital cards

There are two types of WISE cards. One is available digitally, and the other is the physical card we all know and love.

Digital cards are free to get, while physical cards have an issuance fee. In New Zealand dollars, that's about $14 ($11). I understand that this amount varies by country.

I'm going to apply for a physical card, just in case there are times when I don't have access to my phone. And then I'll try to apply for a digital card later.

By the way, if you use my link below, you can get a WISE card without the physical card issuance fee, if you're interested.

3) Apply for a WISE card

The issuance fee for a basic standard physical card is $14 in New Zealand dollars, and the time it takes for me to receive it is up to 16 days. It looks like it's going to come in the mail, and it talks a little bit about the features of the WISE card, including

4) Enter your residential address

After issuing the WISE card, you'll need to fill in the address where the physical card will be sent. You can skip the optional part. As long as you get the address, city, and zip code right, you're good to go. Note that the countries where WISE cards can be issued (and received) are specified.

Countries where WISE cards can be issued

While we wish you could get a WISE card in every country, that's not the case: you can only get a WISE card (both physical and digital) in the countries listed below.

New Zealand, where I'm based, is now able to issue WISE cards. I'm disappointed that my country is not yet on the list. There is a detailed list of countries for Switzerland and the UK, so please refer to the link below.

Please note that the list of countries above is a list of countries where WISE cards are currently issued, not a list of countries where the card cannot be used. You can get a WISE card from any of these countries and use it in South Korea.

WISE officially says that you can use the card in over 170 countries with your local currency account, but they also say that the card may not work in some cases. I've read reviews of the WISE card in Korea and they say that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

5) Choose a mail delivery method

Standard mail delivery, which takes up to 16 days, is free, but if you want it faster, you can request DHL mail. This will cost extra, of course. At this point, I'm looking at a 7-day delivery time.

Next, you'll be asked to choose the name that will appear on the card, which I chose First Name Last Name, and then you'll set your WISE card password and see a summary of your final entries.

6) How to pay the WISE card issuance fee

I had New Zealand dollars in my WISE account, so I paid with them. If you don't have a WISE account, I recommend creating one. However, it looks like you can pay with other methods under Choose another way to pay.

If you want to open a WISE account, put money in it, and pay fees, like I did, check out my post from opening a WISE account to sending money to Korea below. You can open a Korean account as well as Japanese and US accounts, so it's worth reading if you're interested.

7) Complete the WISE card issuance application

I see that WISE has prepared the card and will send it to me as soon as possible. The WISE card issuance is now complete.

Issue a WISE digital card

If you want to use your WISE card before it ships, you can issue a WISE digital card and add it to Apple Pay or Google Pay to use it first.

To issue a digital card, you can do the same as above in the Card menu. I don't know if it's because I entered my address when applying for a physical card or because it's a digital card, but I didn't have to enter my address and I was able to get it immediately. Let's go into my WISE mobile app.

If you don't have the WISE app, you can download it from the page below (both App Store and Google Play).

The picture above is from the WISE app. If you go to the Card menu at the bottom, you will see the WISE digital card that you installed on your PC. Since I have an Android phone, I can add the WISE digital card to Google Pay.

Click the Add to G pay button and you should see the steps above. Click Add to Wallet and you should now be able to see your WISE digital card in your wallet.

Also, if you're wondering which countries you can use your WISE card in, please see the page below. Since there are so many countries, it may be easier to understand if you look at the list of countries that are not accepted.

Activate the WISE card

Once you receive your WISE card, you'll need to activate it at least once. There are two ways to do this, which may vary slightly from country to country, so we recommend trying both.

For more information on activating your WISE card, please see the page below.

Additionally, please check out the page below for information on how to use your WISE card at ATM machines when traveling in different countries around the world. We realize that this can be a little confusing for users as it is not consistent and varies slightly from country to country.

Finalize

Today we've been talking about issuing a WISE card and using it as a debit card in other countries.

This means that you get a WISE card, open a currency account for the country in your WISE account, put money in it, and use the card to pay for it. Of course, if you try to pay when you don't have enough money in the country's currency, it will be automatically converted from the balance in your WISE account to pay for it.

I'll give it a try when I go to Korea and Japan and update my review. Thanks for reading this post.

[Updated]

I received my Wise physical card in the mail two weeks after I wrote this post, and I've made one payment. If you're curious about my experience with the Wise physical card, check out my post below.