Who requires a visa to enter China?
Contact Infomation
You would need to apply for a visa if you don’t belong to the following categories:
- According to bilateral agreements, citizens of some countries holding appropriate passports may enter China without a visa.
- Singapore, Brunei and Japan ordinary passport holders may enter China without a visa through the ports of entry open to foreigners providing that they come to China for a family visit, tourism, transit or business, and intend to stay in China for no more than 15 days. However they have to apply for a visa in advance if:
- They are holders of ordinary passports, coming to China for a family visit, tourism, transit or business, and intend to stay in China for more than 15 days;
- They are holders of ordinary passports, and come to China for employment, study, permanent residence or on a news reporting mission;
- They are holders of Japanese diplomatic and service (official) passports (according to the bilateral agreements, the diplomatic and service passport holders of Singapore, Brunei can stay in China for no more than 30 days without a Chinese visa).
- Foreigners holding an ordinary passport of the countries having diplomatic relations with China and on a tour to Hong Kong or Macao, and participating in a group tours to the Zhu Jiang River (Pearl River) Delta Area for a stay of less than six days organised by a travel agency legally registered in Hong Kong or Macao will not need to apply for a visa. The Zhu Jiang River (Pearl River) Delta Area refers to the administrative area of 9 following cities:
- Dongguan
- Foshan
- Guangzhou
- Huizhou
- Jiangmen
- Shenzhen
- Zhaoqing
- Zhongshan
- Zhuhai
For going on a tour to Shantou, the aforementioned group is required to stay within the administrative area of Shantou and leave China from there directly.
- Foreigners who hold a confirmed return ticket and seat on an international flight and directly transit through China and stay for no more than 24 hours within the airport transit area will not need to apply for a transit visa.
- Nationals from 51 countries under the 72-hour Transit Visa Exemption Program with valid international travel documents and a transit flight ticket with confirmed date of flight and seat for a third country (region) travelling within 72 hours can apply for the 72-hour transit visa exemption at the ports of entry of the airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou ,Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian and Xi’an:
Schengen countries in Europe:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Slovak
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
13 other European countries:
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Great Britain
- Ireland
- Macedonia
- Montenegro
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Ukraine
American countries:
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Mexico
- United States
Oceania countries:
- Australia
- New Zealand
Asian countries:
- Brunei
- Japan
- Qatar
- Republic of Korea
- Singapore
- United Arab Emirates
- Citizens holding an ordinary passport of the following 21 countries and going on the group tours (minimum of 5 people) to Hainan Province for a stay of no more than 15 days organised by an international travel agency approved by the National Tourism Administration of China and registered in Hainan Province shall not need to apply for a visa:
- Australia
- Austria
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Malaysia
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Philippines
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- UK
- Ukraine
- USA
- Citizens holding ordinary passports of the following three countries and on a group tour (minimum of two persons) to Hainan Province for a stay of no more than 21 days, organized by international travel services approved by the National Tourism Administration of China and registered in Hainan Province, do not need to apply for a visa: Republic of Korea, Germany and Russia.
- According to official agreements on mutual visa exemption, citizens of Seychelles, Mauritius,Bahamas, San Marino, Fiji, Grenada holding valid passports shall be exempted from visa requirement for entry into, exit from or transit through China with duration of stay no more than 30 days.
- Foreigners holding a valid Foreigner’s Permanent Residence Card of the PRC or Residence Permit for Foreigners in the PRC may enter China without a visa.
Except for the above mentioned foreign citizens, all other foreigners have to apply for a visa in advance.
For further information for each countries please visit:
Chinese Embassies and Chinese consulates world wide.
Source & Copyright: The source of the above visa and immigration information and copyright owner’s is the:
– Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China– URL: http://cs.mfa.gov.cn