China Visa Requirements

China’s unilateral visa waiver started with six European countries in December 2023 and has grown to 50. It covers holders of ordinary passports (not emergency or temporary travel documents) arriving at any port open to foreigners, by air, sea or road, from any country. You can stay up to 30 days per entry, counted from the day after arrival, so landing on 1 May lets you stay until 31 May.

The UK and Canada joined on 17 February 2026, Sweden in November 2025. Brunei’s waiver has no end date and Russia’s runs to the end of 2027; all the others expire at 24:00 on 31 December 2026 unless renewed, which China has done every year so far. Note the gaps: the US, Czech Republic, Lithuania and India are not on this list, though the first three can use 240-hour transit.

Separate mutual visa-exemption treaties give 30 days to citizens of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Georgia and the Maldives, among others; these have no expiry date but some cap total days per 180-day period.

The waiver cannot be extended inside China, there is currently no limit on how many times you re-enter, and it does not cover work, study or journalism. Bring evidence of your plans (hotel bookings, an onward ticket): officers rarely ask, but they can.

Since December 2024 the transit scheme gives up to 240 hours (10 days) to nationals of 57 countries, rising from 55 when Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added on 20 August 2026. It is how most Americans now visit without a visa. The list includes the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and almost all of Europe (including the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Albania, which lack the 30-day waiver), Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Qatar and the UAE.

The conditions, enforced at check-in as well as at the border:

• Third-country rule: you must be travelling from one country or region to a different one. US to Shanghai to Tokyo works; US to Shanghai to US does not. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate regions, so a London to Beijing to Hong Kong itinerary qualifies.
• Confirmed onward ticket: a booked seat with a fixed date leaving within 240 hours. Open tickets are refused.
• Designated ports: you must arrive and leave through one of 65 open ports in 24 provincial-level areas, including all the main airports (Beijing Capital and Daxing, Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Xi’an, Hangzhou), several rail and sea ports, and the land crossings from Hong Kong and Macau.
• Permitted areas: you may travel between any of the 24 covered provinces, for example from Beijing to Xi’an to Guilin, but not outside them. Tibet is not covered.

The clock starts at 00:00 the day after arrival. Tell the airline at check-in that you are using visa-free transit and show your onward booking, and queue at the transit desk on arrival, where you fill in a temporary entry card. Overstaying by hours is still overstaying.

If your nationality is on neither list, if you want more than 30 days, or if you cannot meet the transit rules (an American flying round trip from the US, for example), you need an L visa before you fly. Since September 2025 most applicants start on the China Online Visa Application system, then submit their passport and fingerprints at a Chinese Visa Application Service Centre or the embassy; some centres now exempt certain applicants from fingerprinting.

What you typically need:

• Passport valid at least six months with two blank pages, plus a recent photo meeting the size rules.
• The completed online form and a printed confirmation.
• Proof of travel: return flights and hotel bookings, or an invitation letter if visiting someone.

Standard processing takes about four working days, with express and rush options for extra fees. US citizens are normally issued 10-year multiple-entry L visas allowing stays of 60 days per entry; the standard visa fee for Americans is US$140 plus the service centre’s own charge, while fees for other nationalities are lower and vary. Most other nationalities get single or double entry with 30 or 60 days per stay. If you plan to go from the mainland to Hong Kong and back, ask for a double- or multiple-entry visa: leaving to Hong Kong ends a single-entry visa.

Hong Kong and Macau run their own immigration systems, so a mainland visa does not cover them and they do not count against your 30 visa-free days. Most Western passport holders get 90 days visa-free in Hong Kong (British citizens 180) and 30 to 180 days in Macau depending on nationality. Crossing from either into the mainland is a fresh entry: you get a new 30 days if you are visa-exempt, or you need a valid multiple-entry visa or a qualifying 240-hour transit itinerary.

This makes Hong Kong the classic way to stretch a trip: 30 days on the mainland, a few days in Hong Kong, then another 30 days back across the border at Shenzhen’s Futian or Lo Wu checkpoints or on the high-speed train from West Kowloon, where mainland immigration sits inside the Hong Kong station. Our Hong Kong getting-around guide covers the crossings. From Macau, the Gongbei border leads straight into Zhuhai.

Arrival card: foreigners must give their entry details to immigration. As of October 2026 you can do it in advance online at s.nia.gov.cn, in the NIA 12367 app, or in the NIA mini programs inside WeChat or Alipay; otherwise scan a QR code or fill in a paper card on arrival. It is free. Travellers using e-gates and 24-hour direct-transit passengers who stay airside are exempt.

Registration of stay: every foreigner must register their address with the local police within 24 hours of arrival (72 hours in rural areas). Hotels do this for you when they scan your passport at check-in, which is why every hotel asks for it. If you stay in an Airbnb-style flat or with friends, you or your host must register at the local police station or, in many cities, online; skipping it can mean a fine.

Passport: carry the original at all times. You need it to board trains, check in, buy a SIM card, enter many museums and pass random police checks, and photocopies are not accepted.

Tibet needs a Tibet Travel Permit on top of your visa or visa-free entry, and it can only be obtained through a licensed Tibetan tour agency, which also has to provide a guide for the whole trip and a private vehicle outside Lhasa. You cannot buy a train ticket or board a flight to Lhasa without it, and the permit is checked again at the Potala Palace and the Jokhang. Agencies usually need two to four weeks and scans of your passport and visa or entry stamp. Trips to Everest Base Camp, Mount Kailash and other border areas need an additional Alien’s Travel Permit and military permits, which the same agency arranges.

Tibet routinely closes to foreign tourists for several weeks around February and March and can close at short notice around political anniversaries, so book flexible flights. Holding 240-hour transit status does not let you enter Tibet. Elsewhere, parts of western Sichuan and Qinghai occasionally restrict foreign visitors, and in Xinjiang there are frequent police checkpoints where you show your passport.

Overstaying is treated seriously. The fine is 500 yuan (about US$75) per day, up to 10,000 yuan, and longer overstays can bring detention, deportation and a ban on returning. If something forces you to stay longer, such as illness or a cancelled flight, go to the local Public Security Bureau exit-entry office before your time runs out and apply for a stay permit.

Children follow the same rules as adults and need their own passports. Your passport needs at least six months’ validity on arrival for a visa application, and for visa-free entry it must at least cover your whole stay; most airlines insist on six months anyway. China does not recognise dual nationality: if you were born in China or to Chinese parents, take advice from an embassy before travelling on a foreign passport.

Long-stay and remote-work options are limited: there is no digital nomad visa, and working on a tourist visa or visa-free entry is illegal. Long stays mean a Z work visa, X student visa or Q family visa, with a residence permit issued after arrival.