Every week someone arrives at a check-in desk in London or Los Angeles with a one-way ticket to Shanghai, having read that China dropped visas. Some of them fly. Others are turned away, because the scheme they qualified for required an onward ticket to a third country — and they did not have one.
This page exists to stop that. Below are the four routes, in the order you should check them.
Route 1 — Unilateral visa-free entry (30 days)
China has unilaterally waived visas for ordinary passport holders from roughly 50 countries, most of Europe plus the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. You fly in, you stay up to 30 days, you need no onward ticket and no registration beyond the normal hotel check-in.
This is the route most leisure travellers use, and it is the simplest. The catch is that the list changes — countries get added and trial periods get extended — so check your nationality against the current list the week you book, not the week you first heard about it.
Route 2 — Mutual treaty exemption
Around 25 countries have reciprocal agreements with China — Thailand, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and others. Functionally this behaves like Route 1: 30 days, no onward ticket. If your country has one of these treaties, you are covered and you can stop reading.
Route 3 — 240-hour (10-day) transit
This is the one that causes trouble. It is open to nationals of 57 countries — a wider list than Route 1, and it includes the United States — arriving at one of 65 approved ports. You get ten days, and you can move across 24 provincial-level regions.
- You must be in transit. Your onward flight, train or ferry has to go to a different country or region than the one you arrived from. London → Shanghai → London does not qualify. London → Shanghai → Tokyo does.
- Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as third destinations. Mainland → Hong Kong → home is a valid use of the scheme, and the high-speed rail into Hong Kong is the easiest exit to arrange.
- The clock starts the day after you land. Your arrival day is a bonus, so a “10-day” transit is effectively eleven days on the ground if you land in the morning.
- Some regions are excluded. Tibet needs a separate permit regardless. Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Jilin sit outside the scheme, so Silk Road routes are out on transit entry.
| Your situation | Which route | Onward ticket? |
|---|---|---|
| German passport, 2-week holiday | Unilateral 30-day | No |
| US passport, 8 days, flying home via Seoul | 240-hour transit | Yes — to Korea |
| US passport, 8 days, round trip to Shanghai | Visa required | — |
| Australian passport, business meetings in Shenzhen | Unilateral 30-day | No |
| UK passport, 3 days in Beijing then Bangkok | Unilateral 30-day (or transit) | No |
| Indian passport, 5 days in Guangzhou then Singapore | 240-hour transit | Yes — to Singapore |
Route 4 — Regional schemes
Three narrower schemes still matter if your itinerary happens to fit them:
- Hainan Island — 30 days visa-free for nationals of 59 countries, including the US, provided you fly directly into Haikou or Sanya and stay on the island.
- Greater Bay Area — a short visa-free window for tour groups moving between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
- Cruise entry — visa-free landing for cruise passengers arriving at listed ports, typically limited to the port city and its surroundings.
What immigration actually asks for
At the desk, the officer will want four things and will not smile while asking: passport, a completed arrival card, the address where you are staying (a hotel name is enough), and — if you are on transit — your onward booking. Have the onward booking on your phone and printed. Airport Wi-Fi needs a Chinese phone number to activate, which you will not have yet.
A hotel booking is also the practical answer to the registration question. Hotels register foreign guests automatically. If you stay in a private apartment, you are legally required to register at a police station within 24 hours — most hosts will do it for you, but ask, do not assume.
The three things that actually get people refused
- 1Transit without an onward ticket
The single most common failure. No onward booking to a third country means no transit entry, and the airline is liable for flying you, so they check hard.
- 2Wrong passport, right assumption
Travellers from visa-required countries assume “visa-free” applies to everyone. The airline’s Timatic system knows better.
- 3Overstaying by one day
Chinese exit immigration fines overstays per day and records them. If your flight is cancelled and you cannot leave, go to the local entry-exit administration before your permitted stay ends and get an extension stamp.
If you do need a visa
Apply through the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre for your jurisdiction, not the embassy directly. The tourist visa (L) needs an appointment, fingerprints for first-time applicants, a photo that meets the 33×48 mm spec with a light background, and proof of flights and accommodation. Standard processing is four working days; express is two to three, at roughly double the fee.
US citizens should note the ten-year multiple-entry L visa is still issued, and it is by far the best value if you expect to return — the consular fee is fixed, and it removes this entire page from your future planning.