Still can't change Google Play country

Question

I've tried:

• updating my Google wallet (UK credit card & billing/home address).
• setting default home address.
• changing postal code on Gmail.
• forcing stop and clearing cache on Google Play app.
• clearing the browser cache (both on the phone and on the PC).
• using a GPS spoofer + setting localisation to GPS only.

I live in the UK, but I bought my new phone back home (in the Faroe Islands). This is my first Android device, so I'm new to the https://play.google.com.

The only thing I can think of that is causing it not to work, is the fact that I cannot purchase things in the Faroe Islands (in Google Play as well as https://play.google.com) Since all suggestions online say that I have to "buy" an app, then clear the cache, etc.

Any suggestions? My device is not rooted and I'm running Marshmallow.

Answer 1

Method 1 (Requires 2 Phones signed in with same google account):

1. Phone 1:

   • Open Google Play Store and Download HotSpot Shield or Zenmate. Once you have downloaded.
   • Clear cache and data of Google Play Store by going into Settings -> Apps -> Google Play Store.
   • Now open VPN app (Zenmate) and Change your location to UK and connect the VPN. Open Google Play Store and Accepts the terms.
   • Accept the terms.
   • Now Move out of Google Play Store.
   • Do not exit the app from the background.

2. Phone 2:

   • Now perform the following steps on Phone 2.
   • Clear cache and data of Google Play Store on Android Phone.
   • Open Google Play Store. You don’t need VPN on this phone.
   • This time, accept the terms and rules. It will take you to UK’s Google Play Store.

3. Phone 1: Disconnect from VPN and Head back to Google Play Store.

Method 2: (Same thing on a single phone, but you will need VPN everytime you use Play)

1. Install the VPN app provided by your VPN provider on your Android device.
2. Choose a VPN server belonging to UK.
3. Establish a VPN connection.
4. On your Android device, go to Settings -> Apps.
5. Under “Downloaded”, search for the Google Play Store app.
6. Click on it.
7. Press “Clear Data” and “Force Stop.”
8. Exit settings.
9. Relaunch the Google Play Store App.

I have tried Method 2, it worked for me. For both methods, you need a VPN which provides a UK server(free/paid depending on you).

Set server locations where you want your Google Play location to be, most of the VPN's provide free access to US servers.

Answer 2

I had a similar issue moving from Germany to the UK and spent over an hour on the phone with Google support.

In addition to what others already wrote above, I had to do two things:

• Cancel any Google subscriptions you have on your old profile (I had to cancel my Google Play Music Family Plan)
• Make sure you not only add a new country profile on pay.google.com, but also add a payment method from the new country

It takes between 24-48 hours for the Google system to process the new profile and to authorize the new payment method.

Only after waiting that long could I do what the others described: cleared cache and storage of the Google Play app (under Apps & Permissions on Android 9) and the new profile finally appeared under Accounts. It is crucial that at this point you need to have an IP address locating you in the country of the new profile, so you might need to use a VPN.

If none of this helps, the support also recommended to sign out of the Google account on your phone and sign in again.

Answer 3

I had the same problem when I moved from the US to India a week back. Here are the steps I used to resolve this issue.

Go to Google Payments and create a new profile for the UK

• Go to https://payments.google.com, click on your current profile, and click on the edit option (symbol of a pen) available next to your listed country.
• Now you will get an option to add a new profile for a different country

Go to Google Play Store and change the profile

• Click on Settings and select the Country and Profiles option.
• Here you will be shown both the countries corresponding to your profiles which were created in Google Payments
• Select UK and start using Google Payments. Do remember that you can only change the country once every year.

I also had more than 20 dollars in my US profile, so I first spent the money on some useful apps to bring it below 10 dollars and then switched the profile. You need not do this if you don't have money in the old profile. Also, you don't need to buy anything from Google Store, just to change countries.

Answer 4

1. Go to Google Payments and create a new profile. Enter new country and other details. (you can go to Google Payments by clicking payment methods in the menu in the Play Store. Then choose more payment settings)

2. Force close Google Play Store and 2 other Google Play services in apps in your phone settings.

3. Open Google Play Store. Go to account. You'll find countries and profiles.

Answer 5

Google is making it easier, as reported today, to change the country to a different one. From Android Police on 2018/03/20:

Now, Google appears to be taking one teeny tiny step toward making the switch easier for some people. If your Play Store country is set to country A (whether you lived there or, uhm, fooled Google into thinking you did because you made a purchase with a valid payment method and to a valid shipping address in that country), and the Play Store detects that you've moved to country B (likely based on your IP address), you'll get a new option in the Account settings: Country and profiles. There you'll see which country your Store account is on and an option to quickly switch to the new country - provided you have a valid payment method there.

There are some caveats to this:

Keep in mind that this Country and profiles option won't be there for everyone and won't let you switch to any country you want. It appears to only show up when it detects a discrepancy between your setting and your IP address.

Answer 6

1. First, log in to the browser by the URL https://payments.google.com
2. Select the menu, create a new payment method, fill in details in the fields, save it, and log out of your Google account.
3. Open Google Play Store, go to the menu, account, and select your newly added country.

Answer 7

I had the same issue and the easy answer was that I had to change the country in my https://pay.google.com, that is where it was taking the wrong country from. After I changed the address associated with my payments, the change country option became available in the Google Play profile, and I could change from Hungary to Spain.