Hello,
I want to change my Apple ID country/region to Germany to redeem a gift card, but I have a remaining balance of 0.05 AED The App Store says I can’t change my region until my balance is zero
I tried making a purchase, but the minimum price is 0.99 AEDwhich is much higher than my balance I don’t want to pay anything extra
Is there a way to remove or use up this tiny balance so I can change my Apple ID region without making a purchase?
I want to change my Apple ID country/region to Germany to redeem a gift card
If that is the only reason for changing country settings and you are not truly relocating to Germany, you will find it a lot more challenging than simply emptying your balance.
The article Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support describes how to change your Apple ID country or region, and the requirements and results of doing this.
You may encounter various issues and here is how to deal with them:
● Subscriptions
Make sure you have canceled all your subscriptions (see: If you want to cancel a subscription from Apple - Apple Support ) and wait for any memberships, pre-orders, movie rentals, or season passes to fully expire. Items will still be active until their expiration date. You need to contact Apple and request any ongoing items you have be ended immediately if you do not want to wait until they expire naturally.
● Remove all your Apple Account balance using one of these ways:
- Add a credit or debt card as a payment method to your Apple ID and buy items just in excess of your remaining Apple ID balance. This will use up all the balance and any excess will get charged to the card, leaving nothing in your account.
- Use the link in this article --> Check your Apple Account balance - Apple Support to contact Apple about removing account balance. Apple will keep the balance.
● Payment Methods. In the first link above Apple says: "Make sure that you have a payment method for your new country or region." Refer to the list in: Payment methods that you can use with your Apple Account - Apple Support Note that some payment methods in that list may not be acceptable to set as a payment method for country change purposes.; for example, account balance.
Here is where I challenge declarations made by other forum contributors that the payment method must come from the new country. Apple does not say that. The statement from Apple, and Apple referring to the link, to me only says that the broad payment type must be valid in the new country (e.g., mobile billing is not valid in all countries). I do not see anywhere where it says the specific payment method (e.g., the bank issuing a credit card) must originate from the new country. Apple through the years appears to have deliberately avoided making a simple, clear statement about this, which suggests to me they have more complex criteria other than it must be a payment method from the same country (e.g., the billing address has to be in the new country even if the card is from a different country). Still, using one from a financial institution in your new country may be the easiest way to ensure you don’t run into problems.
● Pending purchases and refunds
If you have pending purchases, or refunds in the process of being returned to you, you will have to wait until these clear.
● Leave or disband any Family Sharing groups.
Refer to How to leave or remove a member from a Family Sharing group - Apple Support
● Read this support article If your Apple ID or other options are greyed out in Settings —> If your Apple Account is grayed out in Settings, or you can't sign out - Apple Support
For items where you need to contact Apple to resolve an issue:
Click here ➞ Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support
Select your country (if you do not see your country, also look for "other" regions; e.g., "Other Africa"), then "Choose a product". Click the "show" item under each category for more selections. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.
or:
See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world. Click here --> Contact Apple Support - Apple Support
I want to change my Apple ID country/region to Germany to redeem a gift card
If that is the only reason for changing country settings and you are not truly relocating to Germany, you will find it a lot more challenging than simply emptying your balance.
The article Change your Apple Account country or region - Apple Support describes how to change your Apple ID country or region, and the requirements and results of doing this.
You may encounter various issues and here is how to deal with them:
● Subscriptions
Make sure you have canceled all your subscriptions (see: If you want to cancel a subscription from Apple - Apple Support ) and wait for any memberships, pre-orders, movie rentals, or season passes to fully expire. Items will still be active until their expiration date. You need to contact Apple and request any ongoing items you have be ended immediately if you do not want to wait until they expire naturally.
● Remove all your Apple Account balance using one of these ways:
- Add a credit or debt card as a payment method to your Apple ID and buy items just in excess of your remaining Apple ID balance. This will use up all the balance and any excess will get charged to the card, leaving nothing in your account.
- Use the link in this article --> Check your Apple Account balance - Apple Support to contact Apple about removing account balance. Apple will keep the balance.
● Payment Methods. In the first link above Apple says: "Make sure that you have a payment method for your new country or region." Refer to the list in: Payment methods that you can use with your Apple Account - Apple Support Note that some payment methods in that list may not be acceptable to set as a payment method for country change purposes.; for example, account balance.
Here is where I challenge declarations made by other forum contributors that the payment method must come from the new country. Apple does not say that. The statement from Apple, and Apple referring to the link, to me only says that the broad payment type must be valid in the new country (e.g., mobile billing is not valid in all countries). I do not see anywhere where it says the specific payment method (e.g., the bank issuing a credit card) must originate from the new country. Apple through the years appears to have deliberately avoided making a simple, clear statement about this, which suggests to me they have more complex criteria other than it must be a payment method from the same country (e.g., the billing address has to be in the new country even if the card is from a different country). Still, using one from a financial institution in your new country may be the easiest way to ensure you don’t run into problems.
● Pending purchases and refunds
If you have pending purchases, or refunds in the process of being returned to you, you will have to wait until these clear.
● Leave or disband any Family Sharing groups.
Refer to How to leave or remove a member from a Family Sharing group - Apple Support
● Read this support article If your Apple ID or other options are greyed out in Settings —> If your Apple Account is grayed out in Settings, or you can't sign out - Apple Support
For items where you need to contact Apple to resolve an issue:
Click here ➞ Choose your country or region - Official Apple Support
Select your country (if you do not see your country, also look for "other" regions; e.g., "Other Africa"), then "Choose a product". Click the "show" item under each category for more selections. If you don't see one that handles your issue then keep experimenting with selections until you reach one that gets you a chat session or a telephone call and get the representative to redirect you.
or:
See a list of Apple phone numbers around the world. Click here --> Contact Apple Support - Apple Support
Then only other way is to contact Apple directly if support is available in your region where they can clear the balance.
Contact Apple Support - Apple Support
Beyond that you are left with adding a card to make a purchase where the amount will first be deducted from the Apple Account with the remainder being billed to the card. The more drastic measure is to abandon your current Apple Account and create a new one for the other region, but that will result in many more problems related to your current data linked to the Apple Account along with any previous downloaded apps that are still linked to the previous Apple Account.
Buy something more expensive than your balance and use a different payment method from the current region for the extra amount; if you can't, click here and ask the iTunes Store staff to zero it.
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Can’t change Apple ID country because of tiny balance
