Assessment of Payment Method and Region Change – US to Singapore

Please confirm whether I can continue these US subscriptions while making payments using a Singapore card without changing the Apple ID region.

You cannot. Unless possibly if the Singapore card is billed to you in the USA. Apple does not outright say you cannot use a card from another country, but the billing address likely has to correspond to the country to which your account is set.

Also, kindly advise what will happen to my existing US subscriptions, purchases, and content if the Apple ID region is changed from the United States to Singapore.

In order to change country settings you will have to cancel all your subscriptions. Any purchases will remain on your devices but you may not be able to redownload them should the need arise, or update apps. If you have a computer, make sure you download all your music, Mac applications and movies, plus make a backup. You will then have a copy you can take with you.

The support article Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support describes how to change your country setting on everything using your Apple Account, and the requirements and results of doing this.

"Redownload your apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books on any devices that you might use to play or read them in the future. Some types of content might not be available in your new country or region. (Learn what types of content and services are available in your new country or region. - Availability of Apple Media Services - Apple Support )"

If you are part of a Family Sharing group, everybody in the group must have the same country setting.

This forum is not official Apple Support. The people on this forum are users like yourself so we can only report what Apple does say and our observations. We do not work for Apple so we cannot speak for Apple. If you want to hear what Apple says, you will need to contact Apple:

Refer to this page for Apple Support features ➔ Contact - Official Apple Support

Select from the presented options until you find a solution for your issue, or see if there is a chat or phone call contact method offered lower on the page under “Get more help” (you sometimes have to narrow down the options multiple times before this is shown). If you do not see your issue, keep experimenting with any series of selections until you reach one that offers a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you. For chat, you can also try using the Apple Support App —> https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-support/id1130498044

This support article has various country telephone numbers for contacting Apple for support and service ➔ Contact Apple Support - Apple Support For some countries look under “Other” listing at the end of the list. Not every country has telephone support, and phone numbers may only work when calling from the same country.

For chat help with a USA Apple Account —>

https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=kbase&PGF=PGF63005&category_id=SC0998&symptom_id=20198

Why payments using cards from other countries are not accepted on my Apple ID?

Why international payment–enabled cards work everywhere else but not with Apple services?

What exactly is the restriction or technical reason behind this limitation?

Apple doesn't make a clear and simple statement. In If your payment method is declined in the App Store or iTunes Store - Apple Support Apple implies international payment types can be used when it says, "You might need to ask your financial institution to allow international purchases on your debit or credit card". Apple then counters this in Add a payment method to your Apple Account - Apple Support with, “If you're using an accepted payment method but your Apple Account is set to a different country or region, change your country or region.” From a practical perspective it is easiest to just use a card from the same country as your Apple Account setting. Your billing address country may need to be consistent with your card's address. Remember, the media and content Apple sells is regionally licensed and Apple won't sell something to you from the store in a country unless you are a true resident of that country. Card companies tend to not issue cards to people in another country so unless your Singapore card is billed to you in the USA, it is not proof that you are truly resident in the USA.

What will happen to my existing U.S. subscriptions?

• Will I lose access to my previous purchases, apps, music, and content?

• Will I still be able to re-download or update them in the future?

The support article Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support describes how to change your country setting on everything using your Apple Account, and the requirements and results of doing this.

• You will have to cancel all your USA subscriptions.
• You may lose access to previous purchases. You should have them backed up if you can. For example, if you have a song purchased in the USA, download it to your computer and make a backup. It will still play if you go to another country but you may find it is not available there should you need to redownload it. Apps may continue to work in the other country but you may not be able to update them or redownload them should that be necessary.

Is you later change back to the USA, those purchases should become accessible again. However, changing countries frequently is not practical.

Other companies can do as they wish. This is how Apple does things.

Read what I posted a month ago. Apple makes it very, very difficult for people to violate its terms and try to use a service in a country when they are not actually living in that country. In fact even if you could set up this payment method (which we have already discussed), it is quite possible you would be blocked from using a US streaming service while in another country. Even if you try using a VPN to get around that, many places are catching on to VPN usage and might block you simply if they see a VPN.

Change your account country to Singapore and subscribe to what you can from Apple Singapore. If some services are not available then start to enjoy Singapore culture. That is part of living in a different country.

Don't forget that if you actually buy items while in the USA and keep those items on your devices, you can still play them in Singapore. You just won't be able to use the USA store unless your account is set to the USA which will require an acceptable payment method.

The support article Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support describes how to change your country setting on everything using your Apple Account, and the requirements and results of doing this. "Some types of content might not be available in your new country or region." See: Availability of Apple Media Services - Apple Support

1. You can't. The USA system won't accept a different country's payment method.

2. You'll need to cancel the subscriptions and lose any rented movies that haven't expired. Other content that has been downloaded will remain on your units.

For reference, the people on these boards are mostly other customers, not Apple Support.

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