What changed, and when
RSS feed — regulators publish without notice, and this is the one page that moves on its own.
Rules move; the articles ranking for them usually don’t. Every entry below carries the date of the regulator’s own document — so you can tell at a glance whether a guide you are reading elsewhere predates the rule it describes. 17 regulator changes, 11 of our own checks.
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Apple names the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and iPhone Duo in its eSIM documents
Apple’s eSIM pages, republished on 22 October 2026, now read: “In China mainland, only iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, iPhone Duo, iPhone 17e, and iPhone Air support eSIM.” In China mainland the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max take either an eSIM or a nano-SIM, while the Duo and the Air activate by eSIM only. Apple’s specs list two active eSIMs for both new models. A base iPhone 18 is still not named. Our iPhone pages quoted the earlier list of two China-mainland models.
Source: support.apple.com · the full breakdown
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Indonesia’s customs FAQ: no IMEI registration on a roaming SIM, and a 60-day deadline otherwise
We re-read the customs IMEI FAQ linked from beacukai.go.id/imei. It says no IMEI registration is needed while a phone keeps using its home SIM in roaming, citing Permenkominfo 1/2020, which exempts inbound roamers from IMEI verification (Article 3(5)). For a phone that will run on an Indonesian SIM, registration happens on arrival for the duty exemption, or within 60 days without it; after that it cannot be registered. The 90 days quoted online are the cap for a tourist SIM registered at an operator outlet (Article 6(2)(a)), not a grace period. Our earlier page said no deadline was published.
Source: beacukai.go.id; Permenkominfo 1/2020 · the full breakdown
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Pakistan’s PTA in writing: an international SIM may roam without registration
PTA’s temporary-registration FAQs (23 July 2025) answer the roaming question our page called open: “in case a person is holding an international SIM and wants to use the same on Pakistani mobile network then he/she is allowed to avail the service as a roamer in Pakistan without registration.” The DIRBS FAQ adds that the 60 days on a Pakistani SIM are not renewed on a later visit with the same handset.
Source: pta.gov.pk (latest archived copies) · the full breakdown
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Correction: South Africa’s RICA Section 40 binds the operator and exempts foreign roamers
Our South Africa page described Section 40 of RICA as gazetted in 2003. That text never took effect: Act 48 of 2008 replaced Section 40 before commencement, and the current version has applied since 1 July 2009. It bars a mobile operator from activating a SIM until the buyer’s details are recorded and verified, names a valid passport or travel document for a visitor, and in Section 40(1)(b) exempts a foreign operator’s customer who roams onto a South African network.
Source: justice.gov.za (consolidated RICA) · the full breakdown
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Egypt’s own phone portal: a tourist on a foreign SIM pays no device fee
We re-read Egypt’s phone-registration rules on telephony.gov.eg, the NTRA portal behind the Telephony app. Its FAQ answers the visitor’s question directly: a foreign tourist can use a phone with a foreign SIM normally, with no fees due; a tourist who uses an Egyptian SIM made for tourists gets a 90-day exemption on every visit. Phones are no longer registered at customs: any fee is paid later through the app, bank cards or e-wallets, within 90 days. A roaming eSIM is a foreign SIM in the portal’s sense.
Source: telephony.gov.eg (NTRA) · the full breakdown
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Nigeria’s phone checker starts — and leaves phones on a foreign SIM alone
Nigeria’s device management system, which reads the IMEI of every phone on a Nigerian network, took effect on 7 October 2026. The NCC’s own FAQ answers the visitor’s question: “If you are using international roaming with a foreign SIM, your phone is not affected.” A phone never used in Nigeria and put on a Nigerian SIM can run for up to 30 cumulative days a year without verification.
Source: ncc.gov.ng · the full breakdown
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Oman’s call block is a regulator’s decision, and it is written so no traveller can be on the right side of it
Oman sat on our list as reported and unsourced because the regulator’s site refuses automated readers. The decision itself is public elsewhere. TRA Decision 1152/2/3/2022/1, issued 5 September 2022 and published in Official Gazette No. 1458 on 11 September 2022, makes providing voice or video calls over IP without a permit unlawful (Art. 5). The permit exists only for education, work, medical fields or organisational use (Art. 2), and Art. 12(1) then bars the holder from providing the service to natural persons at all. So there is no lawful route by which consumer app calling reaches a private person in Oman. We read the Arabic text on the legal publisher qanoon.om because tra.gov.om blocks machine access; the regulator’s own pages confirm the permit type exists and that provision is approval-gated. Data works. Calls over WhatsApp and FaceTime do not, and now we can say why.
Source: Official Gazette 1458 via qanoon.om, confirmed on tra.gov.om · the full breakdown
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Nigeria registers foreign subscribers — except on roaming, in the text itself
We listed Nigeria as a confirmed trap and had never read the document. We have now. The regime is real and gazetted: the NCC (Registration of Communications Subscribers) Regulations 2022, S.I. No. 86, Official Gazette No. 147 of 15 August 2022. Regulation 13 takes roaming out by name: “A licensee providing Communication Services to a foreigner other than Roaming Services shall register such foreigner”. Regulation 3(b) still lists inbound roamers in scope, excused where their home registration is reachable by the NCC — we found no published list of those arrangements (added 20 October 2026). The Business Rules in force, amended August 2026, carry no registration procedure for a roaming subscriber at all. The trap flag came off Nigeria the day we read it.
Source: ncc.gov.ng · the full breakdown
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Qatar has no law against calls over messaging apps — its regulator says so in writing
Qatar sits on our list because calls over WhatsApp and FaceTime fail there. What we could not do was point at a rule. There is none. The only document Qatar’s regulator has ever published on the subject, the Qatar VoIP Policy of 20 July 2008, still in the CRA document library, states that no law or rule prohibits using the technology; what needs a licence is selling voice services to the public. So the block is a commercial decision by operators, not a legal ban. The consequence for your calls is the same. What changes is what we can tell you about it, and this page now says the difference out loud.
Source: cra.gov.qa · the full breakdown
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India dropped out of the manual-APN set
India used to be one of the countries where an Android phone needs the APN typed in by hand, and our device pages listed it among thirteen such countries. Both of its catalogue records now carry an automatic APN with no value to fall back on, which makes the count twelve. Checked 3 September 2026 against the same catalogue the price pages are built from.
Source: Airalo partner catalogue · the full breakdown
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The UK SIM-farm offence now has a start date: 29 October 2026
The Crime and Policing Act 2026 (Commencement No. 3 and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/960, made on 2 September 2026, bring sections 151 to 153 into force on 29 October 2026 (regulation 5). Possessing or supplying a SIM farm becomes an offence that day. The Act counts five or more removable physical SIMs in one device; the regulations designate nothing under section 153(3)(b), so an eSIM profile is still not a “SIM card” under the Act.
Source: legislation.gov.uk · the full breakdown
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Egypt moved off the installation clock, and the old advice became harmful
Until 12 August 2026 both of the Egypt operator records in the catalogue we sell from counted a plan's days from installation, so this site told readers to install at the last moment. A fresh pull on 3 September shows both records set to first use instead. The old advice would now strand someone installing at an airport with no wifi, so every page carrying it was corrected. Three countries still run an installation clock: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Suriname, and Mayotte — Mayotte on only one of its two records. The catalogue publishes no changelog, so we can date the change but not explain it.
Source: Airalo partner catalogue · the full breakdown
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India switches on biometric identification of mobile users
S.O. 4616(E) brought section 3(7) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 into force on 21 August 2026. The same day S.O. 4623(E) notified the services it covers — wireless access services and internet telephony through mobile user terminals — and G.S.R. 750(E), the Telecommunications (User Identification) Rules, 2026, set the method: e-KYC for Aadhaar holders, D-KYC with a live face capture for everyone else, before an Indian operator enrols a user. A foreign roaming profile involves no such enrolment.
Source: Gazette of India (egazette.gov.in) · the full breakdown
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Georgia does not run a confirmed device-registration regime
Georgia is widely listed as an IMEI-registration country. We checked: ComCom, the communications regulator, does not mention device registration, a registry or blocking anywhere. The domain usually cited as proof is a private checking service, not a state registry. No primary document could be found.
Source: comcom.ge · the full breakdown
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Turkey: text messages no longer keep a roaming phone out of the 90-in-120 block
Turkey’s device-registration regulation (Yönetmelik No. 19873) has classed a phone on a foreign SIM that uses the network for more than 90 days within any 120 consecutive days without voice calls as permanent roaming since 2021: its IMEI is black-listed and cut off within 30 days (Articles 4(1)(ö) and 10(2)(e)). The amendment in Resmî Gazete № 33298 of 2 July 2026 removed sending SMS from the activity that keeps a device out of that definition, and named e-Devlet as the only place to apply for IMEI registration. A data-only travel eSIM makes no calls, so every day of use counts.
Source: mevzuat.gov.tr; Resmî Gazete № 33298 · the full breakdown
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Turkey caps a passport-only foreigner at one mobile line per operator
BTK board decision 2026/İK-THD/125 of 11 May 2026, in force 25 June 2026, limits the individual lines one person may open with the same operator: 6 for Turkish citizens, 3 for foreigners with a foreign ID number, 1 for a foreigner registering on a passport. The cap is per operator, so a tourist can hold one line each at Türk Telekom, Turkcell and Vodafone. The Yönetmelik published on 11 June 2026 bars operators from exceeding it and has them re-check every subscription every three months. A roaming eSIM opens no Turkish line.
Source: btk.gov.tr; Resmî Gazete № 33277 · the full breakdown
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One line per operator for tourists comes into force
The Yönetmelik package published in Resmî Gazete on 11 June 2026 took effect. A visitor without residency may hold one line per operator — the blogger rule of thumb about 90 days describes something else entirely.
Source: Resmî Gazete · the full breakdown
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Thailand: a foreigner now registers a SIM in person, and a new 60-day activation clock
NBTC’s second notification on technology-crime measures (Royal Gazette vol. 143, special part 120 ง, 15 May 2026, in force the next day) rewrites clause 7: still three numbers per person per operator, a passport for a foreigner who has one, and registration in person at a branch or dealer only. New clause 14 requires a registered SIM to be activated within 60 days of registration, or identity is verified again. Clause 8, the 60-day Tourist SIM limit, is unchanged. A roaming profile is never registered with a Thai operator.
Source: Royal Gazette (ratchakitcha.soc.go.th) · the full breakdown
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Sweden blocks phones that cannot call 112 over 4G — roaming phones included
After switching off 2G and 3G, PTS ordered Tele2, Telenor and Tre to block phones that cannot route an emergency call to 112 over VoLTE, from 2 February 2026. Its orders of 27 March 2026 keep the block and spell out that it covers other providers’ customers on the network, “inklusive inroamande mobiltelefoner” — including phones roaming in. PTS expects travellers to check before they come that their phone works in Sweden. Sweden’s prepaid registration, by contrast, binds Swedish providers and leaves foreign prepaid cards alone.
Source: pts.se · the full breakdown
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Egypt ended the customs exemption on phones carried by passengers
Effective 12:00 noon. Tourists and Egyptians living abroad keep a 90-day exemption, counted from the date the device was activated. Taxes are paid through the Telephony app. NTRA does not publish a rate — figures circulating elsewhere have no primary source.
Source: tra.gov.eg · the full breakdown
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North Macedonia amended its new electronic communications law within six months
Official Gazette No. 269 of 31 December 2025 amended the law adopted in July. The consolidated text still carries the prepaid record-keeping duty in Article 121(8), on operators and for their own users.
Source: mdt.gov.mk · the full breakdown
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Mexico links every mobile line to an ID again, without biometrics — roaming left for later
PANAUT, the 2021 registry, stays void. The telecommunications law of 16 July 2025 (article 103) brought back line identification; a foreigner gives name, country of origin and passport number. The regulator’s Lineamientos of 9 December 2025 bind Mexican concessionaires and resellers, forbid keeping biometrics or ID copies (article 44), and an amendment of 30 June 2026 cuts off unlinked lines by last digit between 15 August and 31 December 2026. Transitory NOVENO leaves lines on international roaming to a mechanism the regulator is to define after the 2026 World Cup; none was published as of 20 October 2026.
Source: Diario Oficial de la Federación (sidof.segob.gob.mx) · the full breakdown
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DIRBS FAQ restated the 60-day limit from first connectivity
A device works 60 days from first connectivity without registration, then stops receiving service. This is the clock most travellers meet — and it is not the same clock as the 120-day temporary registration.
Source: pta.gov.pk · the full breakdown
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BTK blocklist reached roughly 52 eSIM sellers across three decisions
Three decisions between July and September 2025 blocked the websites and apps of around 52 providers. The block hits the storefront, not a profile already installed on a phone.
Source: BTK · the full breakdown
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Pakistan published the SOP for 120-day temporary registration
Free of duty and tax, counted from the date of arrival, available on each visit. It extends the device beyond the 60-day default — but only if you actually register.
Source: pta.gov.pk · the full breakdown
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North Macedonia replaced its 2014 electronic communications law
Official Gazette No. 135 of 4 July 2025 published a new Law on Electronic Communications. Article 121(8) keeps the old duty: operators record every prepaid and postpaid user by name, address and personal or travel document number. Most travel guides still cite the 2014 law (No. 39/2014).
Source: mdt.gov.mk · the full breakdown
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Kenya replaced its SIM registration regulations
Legal Notice 90 of 2025 puts every registration duty on operators and their agents. The one offence written for an individual is knowingly giving false information on a registration form, which a roaming profile never involves.
Source: kenyalaw.org · the full breakdown
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Nepal brought MDMS into force
Devices arriving after this date are subject to registration. Phones cleared through customs register automatically. NTA states no tourist exemption — the 15-day threshold that circulates online predates the notice itself.
Source: nta.gov.np · the full breakdown
This page lists what we read at the regulator ourselves. It is not a complete record of every change in every country — eSIM Rules covers the countries it has published, and says so where it has not checked.