Call the US from Abroad: The Country-by-Country Dialing Guide

You're standing in another country with a US phone number in front of you and no clear idea what dialing it will cost. The dialing takes about ten seconds to learn. The three things around it are what catch people.

Start with your country's exit code

011 is the code you dial when you're already in the US. From India, and from most of Europe, it's 00. Japan uses 010. Nigeria uses 009, Kenya 000, Australia 0011, Russia 8 then 10. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, South Korea and Thailand make you pick a carrier prefix on top of that, so the first three digits you press decide who bills you.

On a mobile phone none of this matters. Hold the 0 key until it turns into +, dial +1, then the ten digits. Your carrier handles the routing.

US toll-free numbers aren't free from abroad

1-800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833 are a domestic arrangement. Foreign carriers either block them outright or connect them at full international rates, which is the opposite of what the number promises on the back of your card.

Mexico publishes conversion prefixes for this (001-880 replaces 1-800, 001-881 replaces 1-888, and so on down the list). Those calls still bill at international rates. The number you want is the company's regular ten-digit line, and every guide below lists the ones for banks and federal agencies.

Your carrier's rate is the real bill

Vodafone charges £3 a minute from the UK. Vi's standard prepaid ISD rate in India is ₹60. NTT Docomo bills ¥68 at peak. Etisalat charges AED 2.23. Globe, Smart and DITO in the Philippines all publish $0.40. Spend forty minutes on hold with a US bank on any of those and you'll remember the bill longer than the conversation.

Every carrier sells a pack or a bolt-on that fixes this. If you call the US every week, buy one. If you call three or four times a year (tax season, an insurance claim, a birthday), paying monthly for a service you use in April is a bad trade.

Where WorldDialer fits

WorldDialer is the pay-as-you-go option: $0.04 a minute to US landlines and mobiles, dialed from a browser tab, no app to install and no subscription required. Credits start at $5 and never expire, so whatever you don't spend this year is still sitting there next April. There's an optional Premium tier at $0.032 a minute for people who end up calling often.

Not sure which country page you need, or calling from somewhere not listed? Start with the general guide to calling the US from abroad. Otherwise, find your country below. Each guide carries the exit code, what your carrier charges, and the US numbers that route from your network.

The Americas

• Call the US from Canada: no exit code; plans without US long distance bill $0.20 to $1.00.
• Call the US from Mexico: +1 from mobiles, 00 1 from landlines; prepaid runs $1 to $3.
• Call the US from Guatemala: exit 00; +1 works straight through from any Claro or Tigo SIM.
• Call the US from El Salvador: exit 00; none of the three carriers publishes its US rate.
• Call the US from Colombia: 00 plus a carrier code; Claro bills $499 COP a minute.
• Call the US from Brazil: 00 plus a carrier code from landlines; Vivo prepaid R$2.39 to R$3.99.
• Call the US from Chile: carrier code first, 123 Entel, 188 Movistar, 171 Claro, then 0 1.
• Call the US from Argentina: exit 00; Movistar Argentina charges 446 ARS a minute.

Europe

• Call the US from the UK: exit 00; Vodafone charges £3 a minute as its standard rate.
• Call the US from Ireland: exit 00; Three charges 35.58c a minute, Vodafone pay-as-you-go 15c.
• Call the US from France: exit 00; Orange and SFR run €0.20 to €0.50 a minute.
• Call the US from Germany: exit 00; Telekom, Vodafone and O2 all want €1 to €2.
• Call the US from Spain: exit 00; Movistar, Vodafone and Orange run €0.20 to €0.80.
• Call the US from Portugal: exit 00; MEO's standard rate is about €0.50 a minute.
• Call the US from Italy: exit 00; Vodafone Italia wants €0.60, WindTre €0.50 plus a connection fee.
• Call the US from Greece: exit 00; Vodafone Greece lists €1.464 a minute, taxes included.
• Call the US from Poland: exit 00; Orange Polska reaches 8 PLN a minute on legacy tariffs.
• Call the US from Turkey: exit 00; Vodafone Türkiye charges 23 TL a minute.
• Call the US from Ukraine: exit 00; Kyivstar takes a 20 UAH fee, then 5 UAH.
• Call the US from Russia: exit 8 then 10; MTS charges roughly ₽40 to ₽50 a minute.

Middle East and North Africa

• Call the US from the UAE: exit 00; Etisalat charges AED 2.23, and WhatsApp calling is blocked.
• Call the US from Saudi Arabia: exit 00; Mobily publishes SAR 2.05 peak, SAR 1.85 off-peak.
• Call the US from Israel: exit 00; Cellcom and Pelephone sit near ₪1.00 to ₪1.50 a minute.
• Call the US from Egypt: exit 00; Vodafone Egypt wants 8 EGP a minute, Orange 10.
• Call the US from Iran: exit 00; MCI runs 15,000 to 25,000 IRR a minute.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Call the US from Nigeria: exit 009; MTN and Glo default to about ₦30 a minute.
• Call the US from Kenya: exit 000; Safaricom runs KSh 20 to 50 without a bundle.
• Call the US from South Africa: exit 00; Vodacom is R0.89 a minute, MTN around R1.99.

Asia and the Pacific

• Call the US from India: exit 00; Vi's standard prepaid ISD rate is ₹60 a minute.
• Call the US from Pakistan: exit 00; Jazz's standard ISD rate bills Rs. 8 a minute.
• Call the US from Bangladesh: exit 00; Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink run 6 to 9 Tk.
• Call the US from the Philippines: exit 00; Globe, Smart and DITO all publish $0.40 a minute.
• Call the US from Vietnam: exit 00; Viettel charges 3,600₫ a minute, Mobifone 4,114₫.
• Call the US from Thailand: dial 001 1; AIS, DTAC and TrueMove H charge about 3 baht.
• Call the US from Indonesia: exit 00; Telkomsel's SLI 001 costs Rp 5,750, 01017 costs Rp 360.
• Call the US from Japan: exit 010; NTT Docomo bills ¥68 at peak, SoftBank ¥78.
• Call the US from South Korea: landline prefixes 001 KT, 002 LG U+, 00700 SK Telink.
• Call the US from Australia: exit 0011; mobile carriers charge $1 to $2 a minute.

When the carrier rate is the whole problem

These six go deeper on the money: what each network charges in local currency, which pack changes it, and what the same call costs through a browser.

• Cheap calls to the USA from India: ₹7 to ₹15 on most ISD plans, ₹60 on Vi standard.
• Cheap calls to the USA from Mexico: free on most Sin Frontera postpaid tiers, MXN $7 on Amigo prepaid.
• Cheap calls to the USA from the Philippines: ₱24 a minute, published as $0.40 so it reads American.
• Cheap calls to the USA from Vietnam: 3,600₫ Viettel, 4,114₫ Mobifone, 36,500₫ first minute on Vinaphone.
• Cheap calls to the USA from Nigeria: ₦9 on a migrated MTN plan, ₦30 on the default tariff.
• Cheap calls to the USA from Pakistan: Rs. 0.33 on Telenor's 999 prefix, Rs. 8 at Jazz standard.

Calling a specific US agency, bank or company?

The country guides cover the dialing. If you know who you need to reach and you're hunting for a number that connects, the companion hub sorts it by organization: call US agencies, banks and companies from abroad.

Frequently asked questions

What is the exit code to call the US from my country?

Most of the world uses 00, then 1, then the ten-digit US number. The exceptions worth memorizing: Japan 010, Australia 0011, Nigeria 009, Kenya 000, Russia 8 then 10, Thailand 001 (or 003 on AIS, 004 on DTAC, 006 on TrueMove H), and South Korea's carrier prefixes (001 for KT, 002 for LG U+, 00700 for SK Telink). Brazil, Chile and Colombia insert a carrier selection code between the exit code and the country code. From any mobile phone you can skip all of it and dial +1 followed by the ten digits.

Why won't my call to a 1-800 number connect?

US toll-free numbers are paid for by the US company receiving the call, and that billing arrangement stops at the border. Foreign carriers either block the call or route it and charge you international rates for it. Look for the company's ten-digit direct-dial number instead, usually printed on the back of a card or filed under "calling from outside the US" on their contact page.

How much does WorldDialer charge to call the US?

$0.04 a minute to US landlines and mobiles, billed by the minute from credits you buy in advance. Credits start at $5 and never expire. There's no app and no subscription required for standard calling. An optional Premium tier drops the rate to $0.032 a minute and adds a dedicated US number with inbound calling.

Do I need a VPN to call the US from a country that blocks VoIP?

We don't recommend routing around a national restriction. In countries where carriers block app-based calling (the UAE and Saudi Arabia enforce this at the network level), check what your carrier's international rate is and compare it against a browser dialer before assuming an app is the answer.

Can I call other countries, or only the US?

WorldDialer dials more than 200 countries. US numbers are $0.04 a minute; everywhere else is priced per destination, and the current table lives on the rates page. Mexico, the UK, Ireland, Greece, France, Germany and Spain are also $0.04.

What happens to credit I don't use?

It stays on your account. WorldDialer credits don't expire, which is the point for someone who calls the IRS in March and their insurer in November and nothing in between.