SIM Registration by Country

SIM registration by country

SIM registration duties differ by jurisdiction and stage; this matrix reports each accepted authority, identity, activation, retention, and source-scope requirement separately while leaving unsupported fields as typed gaps.

Read each jurisdiction requirement by requirement. An authority row identifies the cited rule source; identity, tourist, eSIM, biometric, purchase-versus-activation, retention, and source-scope rows answer different questions and cannot substitute for one another.

The accepted United Arab Emirates record illustrates the stage distinction. A licensee must complete registration before activating service for a new mobile consumer and notify the consumer of registration and activation success or failure within 48 hours. That answer belongs to the cited United Arab Emirates rule and is not generalized to another jurisdiction.

An answered row states only what its accepted government source supports. A typed gap remains unanswered, and a proposal, prospective provision, enacted rule, operative rule, and evidenced not-applicable result retain their separate source-bounded meanings.

1. Start with the authority and source-scope rows for the jurisdiction.
2. Read the identity and purchase-versus-activation rows as separate requirements.
3. Check retention independently; an activation rule does not supply a retention period.
4. Keep every typed gap unresolved unless the accepted cell supplies a publishable answer.

Source: 14 jurisdictions. Each source link opens the authority for its cell. The page source record lists the capture date and snapshot for every cell.

eSIM and tourist-SIM rules

Tourist treatment and eSIM scope are independent: Thailand's cited tourist-SIM rule sets a 60-day limit and renewed identity registration for continued use, while Georgia's cited portability rule places standard and electronic SIMs in the same identification framework.

Thailand's accepted rule states that a foreign tourist SIM is limited to 60 days and cannot be extended by top-up; continued use after 60 days requires renewed identity registration with the provider. Georgia's accepted portability rule requires the recipient operator to identify the person before handing over a standard or electronic SIM.

Each example stays inside its source. The Thailand visitor-duration rule does not answer whether another jurisdiction treats a tourist differently, and the Georgia portability rule does not establish a general eSIM purchase mandate. Where an accepted eSIM or tourist field is unknown or not applicable, that status remains visible instead of being rewritten as an exemption.

For carrier-versus-VoIP acceptance, use the acceptance-and-verification section of VoIP and Carrier Numbers. For issuance and use of local carrier numbers abroad, use the carrier-numbers-abroad section of VoIP and Carrier Numbers. For masking, retention, and verification-trigger capabilities, use the Private Phone-Number App Comparison; this page does not restate product-specific facts.

• Tourist duration and eligibility come only from the jurisdiction's accepted tourist-rule row.
• eSIM scope comes only from an accepted rule that expressly includes or addresses an electronic or virtual SIM.
• A general identity rule does not create an unstated tourist pathway or eSIM exemption.
• Carrier acceptance, carrier numbers abroad, and product capabilities remain with their linked owner pages.

Biometric registration

Thailand's cited rule expressly uses real-time liveness detection for covered registrations and replacements, while the cited United States SIM-change rule requires secure authentication without prescribing a biometric method.

From 18 August 2025, Thailand's accepted source applies real-time liveness detection to new prepaid and postpaid registrations and same-number SIM replacements. The cited face check rejects photographs, videos, and three-dimensional masks and operates alongside original valid identity documents.

The accepted United States record states a different rule. A provider must use secure methods reasonably designed to confirm identity before a covered SIM change, but the cited rule does not prescribe a biometric method. That performance-based authentication duty is not rewritten here as facial or fingerprint capture.

The distinction controls every row: an explicit biometric or liveness requirement may be stated as such; a document requirement remains a document requirement; a secure-authentication duty remains performance based; and a typed gap supplies no biometric answer.

• Explicit biometric or liveness rule: state only the method and transaction scope the accepted source names.
• Document rule: do not infer biometric collection from an identity-card, passport, or document-comparison requirement.
• Performance-based authentication: do not insert a biometric method the rule does not prescribe.
• Typed gap: leave the biometric question unanswered.

Related research

• Travel and MobilityThe traveler-scenario hub that routes country, border, communications, network, and carrier questions to their owners.
• VoIP and Carrier NumbersThe owner of carrier-versus-VoIP acceptance, number verification, and carrier-number questions outside this country-rule matrix.
• Private Phone-Number App ComparisonThe owner of product-specific masking, retention, and verification-trigger capabilities.
• Travel Records by JurisdictionThe government-source matrix of address-registration, lodging identity-record, and tax-record systems by jurisdiction.
• Border Device Search: Authority, Thresholds, and LimitsThe source-bounded reference to United States border-device policy, circuit records, access requests, and narrow European contexts.