Wise will close the cards of Russians and Belarusians without residence permits in the EU

Payment service Wise announced restrictions for Russians and Belarusians living in the EU. The company temporarily blocked accounts and cards for passport holders of these countries. To unblock accounts and cards, bank customers will have to confirm citizenship of the EU or Switzerland or permanent residence in them.

The company informs that it has notified clients to submit one of the following documents valid at the time of submission until January 30, 2026. It can be a passport or a national identity card confirming European citizenship. The company also promises to accept from Russians and Belarusians a residence permit or visa confirming the status of temporary or permanent residence in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. The term of consideration of the submitted documents will be 5 working days.

If the client fails to provide any of the above documents, he/she will permanently lose the ability to use the Wise card. In particular, to use the card for online and in-store purchases, to withdraw money from ATMs, and to pay for subscriptions. At the same time, Wise will retain a part of account operations for such clients: they will be able to send, store, receive and convert money.

The change in the compliance policy is related to the 19th package of EU sanctions. "The new provision explicitly prohibits the provision of payment services, directly or indirectly, to Russian and Belarusian citizens or individuals residing in Russia, as well as legal entities, organizations or bodies established in Russia," the company notes.

Oninvest has sent a request to Wise and the European Commission.

British neobank Wise is not the first European bank to block the accounts of Russians in fulfillment of the 19th package of sanctions. On the night of November 1, the neobank Revolut warned clients - Belarusians and Russians about unilateral account closure, if they do not upload a European residence permit to the system until December 31, 2025. However, the upload function itself was not available in the bank's app. Customers who were able to contact the support service were told by Revolut about temporary technical difficulties.

Most of the cases of Revolut cards and accounts blocked, which Oninvest has familiarized itself with, concerned those who lived in the EU on long-term national D visas (these include work visas, student visas, family reunification visas and so on) or on humanitarian grounds. The blocking also affected clients whose residence permits were about to expire. Including even those who renewed their residence permit, but did not have time to upload new data to the bank's system. The problem was also faced by those who are still waiting for the decision of the migration authorities on the extension of residence permits. Accounts were also blocked for citizens of Russia and Belarus who are married to Ukrainians and enjoy temporary protection status.

Several Revolut customers told Oninvest how they were able to regain access to the bank's cards and accounts.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor