Where is PayPal banned
Countries where PayPal is banned or fully unavailable include North Korea, Syria, Iran, Cuba and Russia, mostly because of international sanctions, local financial rules or political instability.
No single public list of blocked countries is complete, and third-party lists do not always match. The service's own global coverage page lists the 200+ countries and regions where it operates, so that page is the place to confirm whether a specific country is supported.
- Sanctioned countries: North Korea, Syria, Iran and Cuba appear on lists of places with no service at all.
- Unstable or restricted markets: Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, South Sudan, Iraq, Myanmar and Belarus are also reported as unsupported.
- Pakistan: Pakistan is commonly listed among the countries where accounts cannot be used.
- Russia: Services have been suspended, and the platform is not accepted for payments in the Russian Federation.
- Turkey: The company pulled out of Turkey after running into local licensing requirements.
Some other countries allow accounts but limit what users can do with them.
- India: The domestic payments business was wound down, so Indian users cannot pay each other locally, but international and cross-border transactions for businesses still work.
- Vietnam and Oman: Withdrawing funds to a local bank account is restricted or limited.
If you live in or deal with one of these countries, check the official coverage page before opening an account or asking a client to pay you, because informal maps and forum lists sometimes contain errors.