# Visa (فيزا)

> Visa is available in Syria with limited functionality, as of 2026-08-10.

- Status: limited
- Outreach: In Review
- Company: [Visa](https://unblocksyria.com/en/companies/visa.md)
- Categories: Card Networks, Payment Services
- Official site: https://www.visa.com
- Community votes: 371
- Last updated: 2026-08-10
- Page: https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/visa

## About

Global payment network enabling credit and debit card transactions worldwide

## Activity summary

Partially blocked in Syria. Community testing in February 2026 confirmed the Visa website loads from Syria, but the core payment network does not operate, so Syrian banks cannot issue Visa cards. A community volunteer contacted Visa in February 2026 and received only an automated acknowledgment. A May 2026 Visa announcement about engagement with the Central Bank of Syria was noted as context, but consumer card access remains unavailable.

## Community reports

- 2026-05-10 — Note. A community member surfaced a Visa announcement titled «Visa Advances Payments Modernization in Syria with Inaugural Conference and Central Bank Workshop», documenting Visa's engagement with the Central Bank of Syria on payments-network modernization. Despite this engagement, end-user Visa card issuance and international payment use from Syrian banks remain unavailable to consumers, so the underlying limited status has not changed. The announcement is captured here as context for renewed outreach to Visa's compliance and government-affairs teams. (evidence: https://api.unblocksyria.com/files/evidence/iiu1pek5vya1m8gwy9ptbvry/j2pwmo9jk02fnhc9r5rh9mor-visa.png)
- 2026-02-25 — Company Responded. Visa's Webmaster team responded via an automated email from askvisausa@visa.com stating "Your inquiry is being reviewed." The response did not reference Syria, sanctions, or any specifics from the original request. The response appears to be an automated acknowledgment rather than a human review.
- 2026-02-24 — Contacted Company. A community volunteer emailed Visa at askvisausa@visa.com requesting a compliance review to restore access for users in Syria. The email referenced the 2025 OFAC sanctions lift, EU sanctions removal, and included links to official U.S. Treasury documentation and unblocksyria.com/resources as supporting evidence.
- 2026-02-18 — Verified. Community member verified that the Visa website (visa.com) loads without issues from Syria via the Tarassul ISP without a VPN. However, the core Visa payment network is not operational in Syria — the submitter contacted several Syrian banks and confirmed that Visa cards cannot be issued. The website is accessible for informational purposes, but the actual payment service remains unavailable. (evidence: https://api.unblocksyria.com/files/evidence/xu09ld8q25ijer6obm9ys1du/kbv4srixh0wibsnfxqfytch0-img-9911.png)

## Context

These are geo-restrictions the companies applied themselves, not filtering by Syrian ISPs and not a legal requirement. US and EU sanctions on Syria were lifted in 2025. See https://unblocksyria.com/llms.txt for the regulatory summary and https://unblocksyria.com/en/about for citations to the specific orders and regulations.

## Machine-readable

- JSON: https://api.unblocksyria.com/services/visa?locale=en
- Timeline JSON: https://api.unblocksyria.com/services/visa/timeline?locale=en
- HTML: https://unblocksyria.com/en/services/visa
- Other languages: https://unblocksyria.com/ar/services/visa.md, https://unblocksyria.com/ku/services/visa.md