Illustration accompanying an overview of card scheme AID values

AID allows the terminal to be informed of which applications are present on the chip when a transaction is performed via POS/ATM.

AID provides the terminal with a method for determining whether it supports an application present on a chip.

It is a value of 5-16 digits in length, found in Tag 9F06. 

AID values by card scheme, along with their PIX (Proprietary Application Identifier Extension) and RID (Registered Application Provider Identifiers) values, are listed below:

Card SchemeRIDProductPIX     AID
VisaA000000003Visa credit or debit1010     A0000000031010
VisaA000000003Visa Electron2010     A0000000032010
VisaA000000003V Pay2020     A0000000032020
MasterCardA000000004MasterCard credit or debit1010     A0000000041010
MasterCardA000000004MasterCard[16]9999     A0000000049999
MasterCardA000000004Maestro (debit card)3060     A0000000043060
MasterCardA000000004Cirrus (interbank network) ATM card only6000     A0000000046000
MasterCardA000000004Maestro UK (formerly branded as Switch)1     A0000000050001
American ExpressA000000025American Express1     A00000002501
JCBA000000065Japan Credit Bureau1010     A0000000651010
Diners Club/DiscoverA000000152Diners Club/Discover3010     A0000001523010
Interac (Canada)A000000277Debit card1010     A0000002771010
DiscoverA000000324ZIP1010     A0000003241010
UnionPayA000000333Debit10101  A000000333010101
UnionPayA000000333Credit10102 A000000333010102
UnionPayA000000333Quasi Credit10103  A000000333010103
UnionPayA000000333Electronic Cash10106  A000000333010106
RuPay (India)A000000524RuPay1010     A0000005241010

How is AID selected?

The terminal selects an application in one of two ways: either it reads the card's PSE directory to produce a list of candidates, or it queries its own AID list against the card in sequence. If the card has multiple applications, priority order and the cardholder's preference are also taken into account.

If an AID is not supported on the terminal, that application cannot be selected, and the transaction may be routed to another application or declined. For this reason, terminal AID lists need to be updated whenever a new product is introduced.