How to add an international address to profile

[kmpres]

Hello,

I am currently residing in Japan.  I am not Japanese, nor do I read or speak the language.  However, due to US and Japanese travel restrictions put in place to limit the spread of Covid-19, I am trapped here and must stay where I am until the pandemic is over.  To gain access to my PayPal account I need to add an international address and phone number to my profile, but PayPal only accepts US addresses and numbers.  I can't change this information in my profile because PayPal tries to send me its security codes to the US number in my profile and I obviously can't receive them there.  This makes the account useless for sending and receiving money.  Surely there is a way around this problem.  Can you help?  

[kernowlass]

@kmpres 

Sadly not.

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 can however add a U.S bank account (not card) to 'most' other countries paypal accounts. This is because paypal is a U.S company and so allows this.

[kmpres]

Since you asked whether my problem was solved I will answer.  Obviously it was not.  Paypal is first and foremost, a profit-making enterprise and in order to make a profit in a challenging economy they must seek out customers no matter where they live and work.  Believe it or not, some Americans have American paying jobs but don't happen to live in America.  Paypal's products and services must therefore transcend international borders if it is to maintain a unified presence in the international community, particularly the eight-million strong expatriate community, who are heavy users of international commerce.  To do business with these people Paypal must become seamless and accept all addresses into its collective database.   Anything less than that just throws the business away to the competition who are more than happy to pick up where Paypal left off. 

Just so you know, I am not able to "open another paypal account in the country (I) reside in and add an address / phone number / bank accounts / cards from within that country" because I am not a citizen of that country, nor am I paid in that country's currency, nor can I easily obtain bank accounts and credit cards in that country because they generally require a local source of income.  Then there's the additional stumbling block for most expats in that we can't read and therefore can't understand the fine-print on the forms needed to obtain those items.  However, I have American versions of all those things so the challenge for you is to figure out how you can do business with me no matter where I am stationed, not for me to figure out how to do business with you.  

[kernowlass]

@kmpres 

Didn't ask you to say its solved, I just said kudos and solution appreciated.

And i put that to encourage users to leave it for each other, I don't need anymore so don't worry about it.

And for your information I do not do or want to do 'business' with you luckily.

As i said paypal is 'country specific' they are not a bank and have to abide by the rules of the banks and governments of each country that they offer their services in.

So each country varies a lot in what they can offer / what you can add to that account / whether you can withdraw funds or not or where you can withdraw those funds and the list goes on.

So if you are an ex-pat then you open an account in the country you are living in the same as everyone else that lives in a country or moves for work manages to do.

I can only give you the facts, if you don't like those facts then sadly that is your issue. If the only way to 'solve' things for you is to change paypal policy then thats not going to happen is it. Most folks consider someone giving up their time to help them and give them the information on how things work as 'solving their issue'.

If you are not one of them then no problem, I will just add you to the list I have of folks I won't bother giving up my time to help in the future.

Bye then.

[kmpres · Accepted solution]

No problem.  I'm aware of the restrictions we both work under. I've been an expat for 33 years and know all about how to be one, the advantages and limitations there of, etc.  However, I believe strongly that if management isn't made aware of the problems their customers face overseas then they can't possibly do anything to correct them.  It's only after we make enough noise do they suddenly perk up and listen.  So, you'll have to forgive my rant.  It's just my way of letting people know of the difficulties we're forced to work under overseas.  You could do us both a favor by passing along my comments to your management.  Maybe something will come of it.