A phone that works everywhere at home can stop working abroad for reasons that have nothing to do with signal. Turkey and Pakistan count the days a foreign phone has been on their networks and block it when the count runs out. Egypt and Indonesia tax a phone that stays. Russia cuts every new foreign line off for a day. The UAE blocks WhatsApp and FaceTime calls, and China blocks WhatsApp, Google and Instagram altogether. Each rule is published by the country's regulator, each catches a different kind of traveller, and in most cases whether it catches you depends on one thing: whether the SIM in your phone is local or foreign. This page is the index to our country guides. It sets out the seven rules we have verified against an official source, side by side, with what each costs, how long you have, and whether a home SIM on roaming or a travel eSIM is affected, then the countries we are still checking.

Quick answer: On a travel eSIM or your home SIM on roaming, five of the seven rules do not apply to you: Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan only count phones on a local SIM, and the UAE and China blocks are lifted on a connection that exits the country before it reaches the internet, which is how Umi's eSIMs in both are set up today. The two that catch everyone are Turkey, which counts 120 days on any SIM including roaming, and Russia, where every foreign line is blocked for up to 24 hours on arrival. Umi's Universal eSIM covers all seven from $2.55/GB pay as you go, and the balance never expires.

The seven rules at a glance

Figures are as published by each regulator and read in October and November 2026; each guide links to its source and records the date.

Three kinds of rule

The seven look different but there are only three mechanisms, and knowing which one you are dealing with tells you whether a travel eSIM gets you round it.

Device registers. Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan each keep a national list of phone IMEIs and block any phone that is not on it. The lists exist to stop grey imports, and visitors are caught as a side effect, so each country gives a grace period (90 or 120 days) and then charges to register the phone permanently. The register is checked when a phone connects, so the question is which connections it checks. Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan check phones that connect with a local SIM and leave inbound roamers alone. Turkey checks every connection, which is why its 120 days run whatever SIM you use.

Content and call blocks. The UAE blocks VoIP calls and China blocks a long list of Western apps. Both are enforced where traffic leaves the mobile network for the internet, not on the phone or the SIM. A connection whose data exits inside the country, which includes every local SIM, all WiFi, and any travel eSIM with local breakout, is filtered. A connection whose data is routed out of the country first, which is how home SIMs roam and how Umi's UAE and China eSIMs are set up today, is not. Routing can change on either side without notice, so our guides give a one-minute check to tell which side you are on.

Arrival checks. Russia blocks every foreign line for up to 24 hours when it first connects, until the visitor clears a verification link. It catches everyone equally and costs nothing except the first day; the only mitigation is to know it is coming and to have an eSIM that receives the operator's SMS so you can clear it in minutes rather than wait.

Does a travel eSIM count?

The short version from the table: not in Egypt, Indonesia or Pakistan, where only a local SIM starts the clock; not in the UAE or China on an eSIM whose data exits elsewhere; yes in Turkey, where the handset is counted; and yes in Russia, where every line gets the 24-hour block. For a trip under three months the practical effect is that a travel eSIM removes the registration question in five countries, removes the call and app blocks in two, and changes nothing in Turkey (where under 120 days you need nothing anyway) or Russia (where the block is a day, not a barrier).

The one habit that matters is to check where the connection exits when a block is involved. Our guide to where your eSIM data really goes explains how to read the IP country in a minute; if it shows the country you are standing in, assume the local rule applies.

What to do before you fly

1. Dial *#06# and note your IMEI. Dual-SIM phones show two; the eSIM slot has its own.

2. Check the country's row above. If it has a device register and you want a local SIM, read the guide for the registration route and do it on day one; the clocks run from arrival or first connection, not from the day you apply.

3. If the country blocks calls or apps, install the licensed or offline alternatives at home: Botim for the UAE, offline maps and a translation pack for China, WeChat and Alipay with a foreign card linked.

4. Install your travel eSIM before you fly and confirm the plan is active, so the first connection on landing is on it and not on hotel WiFi.

5. For Russia, download offline maps and plan the first day around WiFi; clear the SMS verification as soon as it arrives.

6. Staying longer than the grace period on a local SIM? Budget for the registration fee or tax, or buy a phone locally, which is already registered.

Countries we are still checking

Several more countries run device registers or call blocks, but we only publish a country guide once we have read the rule from the regulator itself, and the figures below come from operator and traveller reports rather than an official page. Treat them as a warning to check, not as the rule.

Azerbaijan's CEIR register and Uzbekistan's UzIMEI system are both reported to give a foreign phone 30 days from its first connection to a local network before blocking it, with the count following the handset, and a registration fee that depends on the phone's value. Nepal's MDMS register is reported to give foreign phones 90 days. Saudi Arabia requires every local SIM and eSIM to be registered against a passport, and tourist SIMs expire with the visa, while home SIMs on roaming are reported exempt. Qatar and Oman block internet calls on the same licensed-apps model as the UAE. Kazakhstan, Chile and Colombia run IMEI registers aimed at phones used with local SIMs. We will add each as a full guide once the official source is in hand, and this page will be updated when we do.

Umi's eSIM covers every country on this page as one profile, with no registration in any of them and a balance that carries from one country to the next. Prices are per destination, from $2.55/GB in most, and are on each destination page. Our best travel eSIM guide covers how to choose, and eSIM data that never expires explains what happens to the data you do not use. Delayed on the way? What you're owed when a flight is delayed covers the thresholds, and Umi gives you 1GB free if an international flight is an hour late or cancelled.

Heading somewhere on this list? Install your Universal eSIM before you fly, and read the country guide for the one rule that still applies to you.