Permanently blocked account, PayPal not giving me a fair option to withdraw balance

[GiselaP1]

PayPal permanently blocked my South African account which was connected to my South African business. The block happened because I moved to another country and was not informed that I was not allowed to use the account from abroad. 
I have tried to withdraw my money (the balance is high) for the past year but PayPal insists that I can only withdraw it to a U.S. bank account. This is completely unreasonable, as my business is in South Africa and I live in Europe. How on earth would I be able to get a U.S. account? And it would make no sense to open an account just for one single transaction. 

I am also a Journalist and will make this public if PayPal does not offer another solution. I just read that a class action lawsuit is active in the United States against PayPal for the same reason as PayPal blocks customer accounts without offering them a valid way to withdraw their money. 

I would appreciate any advice!

[kernowlass]

@GiselaP1 

Paypal is country specific so if you move countries you have to open another paypal account in the country you reside in and add an address / phone number / bank accounts / cards from within that country.

You should really withdraw any funds / resolve issues / remove cards and bank accounts / cancel any subscriptions and close the old Paypal account before you move countries. If you don't then you may have problems doing so once you have moved and may need to contact customer services for help to resolve things. Even then they may not be able to help you if you are in another country trying to use an international paypal account.

Doubt writing about it will help to inform others as most folks know that if they move countries they would need to close their old account first.

[GiselaP1]

Hi, I appreciate your reply but it is not quite that simple. I still run my South African online business (which is connected to my PayPal business account), but am personally primarily residing in Europe now. Nothing else has changed, it is therefore business as usual, just with me moving between two countries. I did not close my South African company but PayPal picked up that I am using a new non-South African phone number and decided to instantly permanently block my account, without even enquiring about why my number has changed.

I am looking for a solution whereby PayPal makes it possible for me to withdraw MY money in MY PayPal account, without using a U.S. bank account.

[kernowlass]

@GiselaP1 

As I said as paypal is country specific you are not supposed to use it internationally or add another countries phone number to that account.

So if you wanted to continue using your SA account that was fine but only when you were in that country.

You are allowed x2 paypal accounts as long as x1 is business and x1 is personal so you could have 2 paypal accounts one in each country.