😂 Everyone says Wise takes 30 days to review applications for a Hong Kong account. I submitted my application just last night, and it was approved within a few hours. I’ve already got my Hong Kong account details.
Here’s how opening my account went, plus a little tip.
1/ Applying for a Hong Kong account with Wise seems to be different now than it used to be.
Last night, since my X metrics were about to qualify, I specifically asked Nika what I should do about Wise. He said to just apply and fill in the application honestly. So I found the Hong Kong account application page, submitted my KYC documents, and waited for the review.
They said it would take about 15–30 days.
But after I finished KYC and submitted my Hong Kong account application, Wise kept telling me I had to add money first to activate the account.
Either $20 or HK$200.
From what I could tell, lots of people said that with the current account-opening process, you have to add some money to your Wise account after completing KYC before you can activate it.
But to add money, Wise requires a transfer from an overseas bank card in your own name. But damn, I’m applying for a Wise Hong Kong account precisely because I don’t have a Hong Kong bank card. 😂
That basically leaves you stuck in a vicious cycle.
Another option is to have another Wise user transfer $20 directly into your account, which can also activate it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
2/ Then this morning, I suddenly thought of our all-purpose Xianyu.
I searched there and found tons of people offering Wise top-up services.
I picked one at random and gave them my Wise user number. After I paid, they transferred the money to my Wise account within seconds.
As soon as the money arrived, my Wise Hong Kong account was activated, and I could see my account details. 😂
I’d actually prepared myself to wait a whole month, so I didn’t expect it to be sorted out so quickly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
So if you’re also planning to apply for a Wise Hong Kong account soon and happen to get stuck at the initial deposit step, you can use my experience as a reference.
Of course, I’d also recommend applying early. This whole process seems to change every day.
Here’s how opening my account went, plus a little tip.
1/ Applying for a Hong Kong account with Wise seems to be different now than it used to be.
Last night, since my X metrics were about to qualify, I specifically asked Nika what I should do about Wise. He said to just apply and fill in the application honestly. So I found the Hong Kong account application page, submitted my KYC documents, and waited for the review.
They said it would take about 15–30 days.
But after I finished KYC and submitted my Hong Kong account application, Wise kept telling me I had to add money first to activate the account.
Either $20 or HK$200.
From what I could tell, lots of people said that with the current account-opening process, you have to add some money to your Wise account after completing KYC before you can activate it.
But to add money, Wise requires a transfer from an overseas bank card in your own name. But damn, I’m applying for a Wise Hong Kong account precisely because I don’t have a Hong Kong bank card. 😂
That basically leaves you stuck in a vicious cycle.
Another option is to have another Wise user transfer $20 directly into your account, which can also activate it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
2/ Then this morning, I suddenly thought of our all-purpose Xianyu.
I searched there and found tons of people offering Wise top-up services.
I picked one at random and gave them my Wise user number. After I paid, they transferred the money to my Wise account within seconds.
As soon as the money arrived, my Wise Hong Kong account was activated, and I could see my account details. 😂
I’d actually prepared myself to wait a whole month, so I didn’t expect it to be sorted out so quickly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━
So if you’re also planning to apply for a Wise Hong Kong account soon and happen to get stuck at the initial deposit step, you can use my experience as a reference.
Of course, I’d also recommend applying early. This whole process seems to change every day.