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Comment by cik | Hacker News Reader

I'm living part of this dystopian nightmare. I moved from Canada to Israel, with an Android, and my wife an iPhone. She moved her phone's app store to Israel, I left mine as Canada. This means that she can't get updates to apps she's paid for. I'm now left with sideloading Israeli apps (like the gas station electronic pay app!) because of silly geo fences.

Paypal won't allow me to add my Israeli credit card, while keeping my Canadian credit card attached. Ummmwhy? Google Pay complains that my Israeli credit card can't be registered to my Israeli address since my Google Play account is in Canada.

The only companies I don't want to light on fire now are Amazon and Spotify. Everyone else just causes friction, which becomes the way I become a customer elsewhere. It's almost as if countries and companies are designed to ensure you stay in a specific geography. G-D forbid I use my Canadian credit card to pay for electronic services in Israel.

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Went through a similar thing in Germany. These are annoying details of an international move. I think the real solution that minimizes heartache is that you have to get local versions of all accounts - both banking and digital - including re-purchasing apps. One high-tech thing you can do is get a dual-sim smartphone (which excludes iPhone, naturally) so you can have both numbers on the same device. Although, honestly, I'd recommend just getting another device.

As for credit cards, definitely get a local one because most CC's will kill you on exchange rates and fees. Get a local bank account, a local credit card, and transfer funds with something like TransferWise [1]

Amazon works okay internationally, although again I'd recommend using two URLs (or containers) for each version. For example, you can access Canadian Amazon with "smile.amazon.com", and the Israeli one with just "amazon.com". But in general I think it's a good idea to use a container- (or browser-) per-country.

I'm not sure I entirely blame the digicorps on this one. Compliance with local law is difficult enough in isolation; these "dual digital citizen" cases are probably really complex. In fact, I'm surprised Spotify works seemlessly; it's probably an oversight by the music publishers.

This is all a corrallary, BTW, to the general truth that the only way to make money with digital goods is by creating artificial scarcity.

1 - https://wise.com/invite/u/joshuar301 - full disclosure, happy customer and this will generate 60 euros (under some circumstances) for me if you sign up.

> Get a local bank account,

Good luck with this in France. You have to show evidence of stay (a contact for utilities), for which you have to have an account.

There is a law that states that you can get an account without these requirements, and then there is the reality.

This reality also means that if you know someone who is a good client in a bank and go with them, there is a good chance they will open the account.

Banking in France is such a mess.

> for which you have to have an account.

That's not necessary. The landlord needs a bank account number, and some might ( of course, entirely depending on the person) accept a foreign one + the explanation that you're in the process of creating a French one. I've done it and know people who have done it, but of course it limits your options, especially in high in demand cities like Paris.

And there are always the neobanks - IIRC Aumax and Boursorama didn't ask for "justificatif de domicile" ( a utility bill or similar).

And there's another trick, you can get a phone contract online, with only a credit card; and this will get you a bill with any address you choose, but that's gaming the system.

> I've done it and know people who have done it,

This is good news, I know several people from the EU (and outside) that could not get a renting contract because of the lack of good ol' French IBAN

> Aumax and Boursorama didn't ask for "justificatif de domicile"

Boursorama does, I do not know for the max card.

> you can get a phone contract online, with only a credit card;

oh really? the telecom companies do not ask for your actual address? I thought that this was now impossible following the anti terrorist laws

Yes, it is the same in Germany. My employer rented an apartment for us, and to do this we assigned limited power of attorney (Vollmacht) to a consultant to registered for us.

So, with lots of money you can break the circular problem of: you need a residence to get a local account, and getting a residence requires a local account and physical presence in the town hall registration office.

There are probably (hopefully) more efficient ways to do this, but that's how we did it.

> get a dual-sim smartphone (which excludes iPhone, naturally)

Since the iPhone XS, they have double SIM. One of the 2 must be an eSIM, but otherwise it works fine.

Paypal is the worst with this. I struggle to understand why anybody uses them if they operate in a remotely inconsistent manner (i.e: move occasionally.)

I only recently re-opened an account due to local convenience, but would not trust them for moving serious cash around anywhere.

My (old) UK paypal account, even though i have the full credentials, doesn't allow me to sign in because it sends an SMS to a number i've long lost. I only wanted to sign in so i can close the account.

Worse is when you try sending them an E-Mail to resolve the issue but they send their response to your "Message Centre inbox" that you can't login to.

The main reason I use PayPal is because they provide detailed records and invoices of online purchases in a single easy to see place, with simple options for disputing charges or getting refunds if I don't get what was purchased. It would be a pain in the ass to do that all through my bank, but on Paypal I can just tap "Refund" and communicate directly over PayPal with the seller.

For google, you need to create a second account. There is no escape. At least it's free. I have an italian and a canadian account and that's the only way to make it work (I will have soon dual citizenship).

On the upside, all google apps do work with 2 accounts

i have this problem. especially annoying as some apps won't function unless you update. gotta keep switching app store region to update the apps.

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