To avoid unpleasant surprises, rules should be clarified in advance
A person adapts to everything — and the resourcefulness of the Russians, who over the past year and a half have learned to bypass the Western blocking of VISA and MasterCard cards, confirms this. If once “fur coat tours” to Turkey and Greece or “cheese tours” to Finland and Belarus were once popular, today “kart tours” are flourishing: Russians go abroad, mainly to the CIS countries, to issue bank cards. The MK correspondent went to Kyrgyzstan for a card and appreciated all the nuances of this adventure.
Photo: freepik
The statistics are relentless: in 2022, the number of bank cards issued in Kyrgyzstan increased by 37.4% – despite the fact that a year earlier the increase was only 1.1%. In Uzbekistan, the number of cards for 2022 increased by 26.2% (in 2021 it was 5.16%). In Armenia – by 18.7% (compared to 6.62% a year earlier). Belarus shows an increase of 14.9%. For such colossal jumps, the banks of the CIS countries should thank the Russians. More precisely, Western sanctions, as a result of which cards of international payment systems VISA and MasterCard issued in Russia were blocked everywhere.
Why would a Russian today need an «imported» card? To perform any financial transactions outside the territory of Russia. For example, to book a hotel room – not necessarily, by the way, in Europe: in the popular and accessible Turkey, Egypt or the United Arab Emirates, Russian cards today also turn into a useless piece of plastic. Or to buy a ticket online for some local train. Again, not necessarily in France or Germany, something like «Bukhara– Samarkand» is also relevant. Or to make a deposit for renting a car – well, to independently travel around the same Turkey. Or to make purchases on foreign sites. Well, the most banal – to calmly pay off abroad, and not carry a wad of cash with you.
Over the past almost a year and a half, the Russians have mastered the «card tours» almost all the republics of the former USSR, but everywhere – their pitfalls. Uzbekistan, for example, easily and simply issued cards to Russians until the fall of 2022, and then introduced a new rule – before going to the bank, you need to spend at least 15 days on the territory of Uzbekistan. Armenia requires documentary confirmation that you plan to live in the country at least for some time – rental agreement, certificate of employment, etc. Georgia will ask you to confirm the origin of the money on the account, so you will need to bring a 2-NDFL certificate from Russia with you. Kazakhstan is much more loyal, but most banks require a local SIM card, an account on the local analogue of Gosuslug and IIN (individual identification number). All this can be done, but it takes time. And, finally, Kyrgyzstan, against the general background, looks the most loyal – here you can find a bank that is ready to do with a minimum of formalities.
The first thing you need to know and understand is that not every bank in Kyrgyzstan is ready to welcome citizens of the Russian Federation with open arms. Some sufferers, I know, rely on the great Russian chance. They say, we will arrive, we will go to the bank – and there we will already figure out what's what… Studying someone else's experience, I stumbled upon the story of a friend in misfortune who went around 15 (!) Banks in Bishkek in a day and in each asked about the conditions for opening a card for a non-resident – this is a bad example in my opinion. However, other people's rake was created in order not to step on their own.
At least at any time the bank (or all banks in Kyrgyzstan at once) may decide to block all accounts of Russian citizens.
There are several banks loyal to non-residents – Commercial bank of Kyrgyzstan, Demir Bank (Turkish, but widely represented in Kyrgyzstan), BakaiBank. In every – its nuances, which are better to know in advance. In the modern world, the option to «call» considered incredibly outdated and almost indecent – well, very much in vain! You can and should call banks in Kyrgyzstan and ask managers, as the rules change quite often – and before you buy tickets to Bishkek, you need to figure out exactly what's what.
– To issue a card to a non-resident, you need your Russian passport, a foreign passport with a border crossing stamp and a registration card if you are going to stay in Kyrgyzstan for more than 30 days. The coupon can be obtained at public service centers, — the teller explained willingly.
– What if less than 30 days? – I inquire. I read in other people's stories that, they say, some banks still required temporary registration (for registration of which hotels, sensing easy money, fought at exorbitant prices!) And local SIM cards.
– If less than 30 days, then only a border crossing stamp.
In addition, the manager clarified that the standard term for issuing a – 5 working days, but there is an urgent release option (2 working days), you just need to pay an extra $12 for it. So – simple calculations – you need to book a hotel in Bishkek for two days, in order to be sure to be in time. Great, sort of figured it out!
Now it's up to the small – buy a ticket to Bishkek. Pricing for air tickets, as we know, is dynamic, here someone is as lucky. The average check for a round-trip flight without luggage today ranges from 15 to 20 thousand rubles. The optimal solution – night flight: bank branches open at 9 am, which means you can come straight from the ship to the ball… ugh, to the bank!
…I am not the only one who is so punctual: 5 minutes before the opening of the bank branch on Razzakova street, there were already eight of us standing. Two respectable Kyrgyz women – obviously on their Kyrgyz pension affairs, but the other six, including me, a man of Slavic appearance without words understood, looking at each other, how great it was that we all gathered here today … and, most importantly, for what purpose.
Employees show no signs of surprise.
– Hello, I am a citizen of the Russian Federation, a non-resident, I would like…
– Understood. Passports, please, – the employee nods.
A call to the bank, by the way, turned out to be not a 100% guarantee of the predictability of the process: two moments turned out to be surprises for me – both pleasant and not so pleasant. Firstly, when I found out that a minimum balance-deposit must be deposited on a dollar card – minimum 100 dollars. I nodded and deliberately set aside this hundred – but here no one spoke about any deposit. Secondly, it turned out that we need not only a passport with a stamp on crossing the border of Kyrgyzstan, but also a boarding pass. That was a surprise – And they didn't warn you about it! And I, in general, was just lucky that I put this same boarding pass in my jeans pocket and, having forgotten about it, did not have time to send it to the trash can. Although it could! .. I don’t know if it would have turned into a drama and a bummer, but the fact remains.
Then everything is prosaic – a simple questionnaire, installing a mobile application on a smartphone, queuing at the cashier to pay for services. In total, I paid about 2500 rubles. All non-residents are immediately offered to issue two – the national «Elkart», to which you can transfer money from the Russian «Mir», and a VISA dollar card. Accordingly, I paid about 1,000 Kyrgyz soms for the urgent issue and annual maintenance of Elkart, and another 22 dollars – for VISA.
Urgent release – within 2 working days. The standard one would take 5 days, so if you are in the mood and want to stay longer and see Kyrgyzstan, then you can save about half of this amount.
– Look: it turns out that we will have a triple conversion? – a serious-looking young man waiting in line asks, frowning. Obviously one of those who does not miss a single cashback and will certainly never overpay for a commission. – Well, if you convert rubles into soms, then soms into dollars, and then in Europe you generally pay in euros?
– What do you have options? – a middle-aged woman responds phlegmatically. She yawns: apparently, she also arrived on a night flight and immediately rushed to the bank.
A serious man frowns again and falls silent. Indeed – Russian citizens are now in no position to worry about interest on transfers from one currency to another.
People with red Russian passports around – many, very many. And everyone asks about the same questions:
– So, I can pay with this card anywhere?
– Will it be possible to make an account statement in the mobile application? For the visa center?
– Do you receive SMS and confirmation codes on a Russian phone without any problems?
– Do I understand correctly that it will be possible to withdraw cash from an ATM and pay in stores?
Employees only nod – yes, they say, that's right, yes, you get a completely normal dollar card that works everywhere. Everything is as you used to, everything is like everywhere… well, as everywhere until 2022.
All formalities in the bank branch take about an hour – after that you can go about your business… well, if you have other things to do in Bishkek. You can see the city (although there is absolutely nothing to see there). You can go out of town to admire the mountains in the national park. You can go to sleep.
The next morning I was in for a pleasant surprise – although they promised that the production of the card would take two working days, already at 9:30 (exactly one day later!) An SMS arrived: “Your card is ready.” Great!
The last stage – activate cards (important: both!) at an ATM and, if you wish, immediately deposit money into your account. While you are in Bishkek, there are two ways – deposit cash through a cash desk in a bank, or try to transfer money through a mobile application from a MIR card; to «ELKART». Since it is the second method that will have to be used in the future, I decide to try it out. Experiment successfully completed – and how pleasant it is to the standard question of a waitress in a cafe «How will you pay, in cash or by card?» triumphantly reply:
– Card!
Are there any risks? Yes, definitely – at least at any time, a bank (or all banks in Kyrgyzstan at once) may decide to block all accounts of Russian citizens. Unfortunately, there is no way to influence this, – but there is no need to be afraid of it. It's just that you probably shouldn't keep too much money on a foreign card (more than you are ready to lose in the event of an emergency).
The last step – notify the Russian tax authorities about opening an account abroad: article 28 of the Federal Law of December 10, 2003 No. 173-FZ «On currency regulation and currency control» orders to do this. You can do it online.