China Visa Free Countries 2026 — Skip the Visa for 30 Days

Not sure which rule covers your passport? Run the visa checker. Further down: what it returned for six passports on 29 September 2026, before and after we fixed it that day.

Which passports get into China without a visa in 2026?

On 29 September 2026, ordinary-passport holders from 50 countries can enter China without a visa for up to 30 days (NIA list, dated 17 February 2026), and 57 countries can use 240-hour transit with an onward ticket (NIA, dated 20 August 2026). From January to August 2026, 23.72 million foreigner entries were visa-free, 77.6% of all foreigner entries (NIA, 10 September 2026).

• UK, Canada, most of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea: 30 days, through any Shenzhen crossing open to foreigners. You still file an arrival card, online before the trip or on paper at the counter.
• US, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam and the other transit-only passports: 240 hours, only with a confirmed ticket onward to a third country or region, and only through a designated entry port. For Shenzhen that means Bao'an Airport, Shekou Port or West Kowloon Station in Hong Kong.
• Passports on neither list, India included: a visa before travel, or a Hong Kong or Macau registered tour group for up to 6 days. A 5-day Shenzhen port visa exists; no government page we found says which nationalities can get it.

The 50 countries, grouped as NIA groups them, with the end dates from the CVASC FAQ (Q2) and the MFA:

Separately, 29 countries have full mutual visa-exemption agreements with China (Legal Daily on the NIA site, 28 May 2026). Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Georgia are on the MFA agreement list (updated 23 October 2025) for ordinary passports.

---

What does our visa checker say for six passports? (run on 29 September 2026)

We ran the checker's rule function twice on 29 September 2026, for six passports, two ways of arriving and two trip types: once before the fixes listed below, once on the deployed checker after them. "Onward ticket" is the checker's transit answer; "no onward ticket" is its tourism answer. The last column is our check of each row against the primary sources linked on this page. To repeat a row, open the visa checker and pick the passport, "Flying in" or "From Hong Kong", and "Tourism / Business / Family" or "Transit to a third country".

Before the fix, run 29 September 2026:

This run already used the corrected 240-hour country list, which went live the same evening. The version live before it returned "visa required" for a Vietnamese passport flying in with an onward ticket, and the 5-day port visa for one arriving from Hong Kong (our rerun of that version, 29 September 2026).

After the fix: deployed checker, run 29 September 2026:

What the first run caught in our own tool, and what changed. The fixes went live on 29 September 2026:

1. Russia. The checker ended the Russian waiver on 14 September 2026 and described it as a bilateral arrangement. NIA lists Russia on its unilateral 30-day list, and the MFA moved the end date to 31 December 2027. Changed: the deployed checker returns 31 December 2027 (second table) and describes the waiver as "China's unilateral visa-free policy for Russian ordinary passports".
2. Where to get the 5-day port visa. The checker named "Luohu Port or Shenzhen Bay Port". Shenzhen police list port visas at Luohu, Huanggang, Shekou and the airport, with no Shenzhen Bay (Shenzhen government, 30 June 2025). Changed: the checker now reads "Luohu, Huanggang, Shekou or Bao'an Airport (not Shenzhen Bay; ask on arrival)", and the border picker no longer sends port-visa travellers to Shenzhen Bay.
3. The Hong Kong note. The checker said the MTR crossings were "not the simple path" for transit passengers. The rule is stricter: no Hong Kong–Shenzhen land crossing is a 240-hour entry port (list in the next section). Changed: the note now names Futian, Lo Wu, Shenzhen Bay, Huanggang and Liantang as not 240-hour entry ports and points to West Kowloon, Shekou and Bao'an; the border picker no longer sends 240-hour travellers to Shenzhen Bay.
4. Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan, added to 240-hour transit by NIA on 20 August 2026, got "visa required" when flying in with an onward ticket from the version live before the fix. Changed: both return 240 hours.

One problem is still in the deployed checker:

The port visa as a catch-all. It offers the 5-day port visa to every passport arriving from Hong Kong that no other rule covers, India included. We found no primary list of eligible nationalities. The fee itself was stale before 3 October 2026: it quoted "¥130 RMB (as of December 2025)". The amount is right — flat ¥130 for every nationality by NIA notice (effective 2023-12-31; fee-exempt-agreement countries pay nothing and Serbia pays ¥14) — and the note now says so. The catch-all stays open until a primary source or a dated answer from Shenzhen border inspection settles it (see the last section).

---

Which entry route fits your passport?

Our read: if your passport is on the 30-day list, ignore the other three columns. A US or Indonesian passport holder doing Hong Kong → Shenzhen → Hong Kong has no transit option, so the choice is a visa, a registered tour group, or asking for the port visa at Luohu and accepting a possible refusal.

---

Which Shenzhen crossings work for 240-hour transit?

NIA's port table for Guangdong (NIA, page dated 20 August 2026) lists 10 entry ports. Three serve Shenzhen:

• Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.
• Shekou Port (Passenger), the Shekou Cruise Homeport ferry terminal. Shenzhen's government reported the terminal's first 240-hour entrant on 18 December 2024 (Shenzhen government).
• West Kowloon Station Port of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, a 240-hour entry port since 5 November 2025 (NIA Announcement 2025 No. 4, item 6). MTR lists West Kowloon among the ports that take on-site 240-hour applications and asks passengers to allow extra time for the approval so they board on time (MTR High Speed Rail).

The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge port joined the list on the same day, 5 November 2025 (NIA Announcement 2025 No. 4, item 6). It lands you in Zhuhai, across the Pearl River estuary from Shenzhen.

Not 240-hour entry ports: Shenzhen Bay, Futian, Luohu, Huanggang (Lok Ma Chau), Liantang (Heung Yuen Wai) and Wenjindu. None of them is in NIA's Guangdong rows. An American who walks up to Futian from the East Rail Line with an onward ticket to Bangkok is at the wrong door.

Leaving is looser. The same table says a Guangdong entrant may exit through any open port in the province, so a transit visitor can leave at Futian or Shenzhen Bay, as long as the next stop is a third country or region.

The third-destination test. The next destination must differ from the one you arrived from; Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as regions (MTR). Canada → Hong Kong → Shenzhen → Thailand qualifies (MTR's own example). Hong Kong → Shenzhen → Hong Kong does not.

Beyond Guangdong. Since 17 December 2024, transit visitors may cross provinces within the permitted areas of the 24 provinces (NIA). Enter at Bao'an, take the train to Beijing and fly out of Shanghai: legal, provided every stop sits inside a permitted area.

If you are entering from Hong Kong on a 30-day passport, the border crossing guide compares the land crossings.

---

Is it 144 hours or 240 hours?

On 17 December 2024 NIA extended both the 72-hour and the 144-hour transit policies to 240 hours and raised the number of ports from 39 to 60 (NIA). Five Guangdong ports took it to 65 on 5 November 2025. Any "144-hour transit" page dated before 17 December 2024 is out of date.

One 144-hour rule is still live, and it explains some of the leftover "144" pages: foreign tour groups organised by a Hong Kong or Macau registered agency can enter the nine mainland Greater Bay Area cities and Shantou for up to 6 days (NIA regional policies, 20 August 2026). It is a group-tour rule with its own conditions; transit rules do not apply to it.

The permit is issued only at the 65 listed ports. Futian, Luohu and Shenzhen Bay are large ports outside that list.

Carry the rule with you. Print the NIA 240-hour page and your onward booking, and confirm your documents with the airline before departure.

---

What do you need at the border?

The online arrival card

Since 20 November 2025 you can fill in the foreigner arrival card before you travel (NIA Announcement 2025 No. 4, item 10):

• Online: s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC
• The "移民局12367" (NIA 12367) app
• WeChat or Alipay mini-programs

The system gives you a QR code that the officer scans. NIA's own numbers: at Beijing's port a paper card cost each traveller about 5 to 8 minutes, and 15.55 million foreign travellers had used the online card by 28 May 2026 (NIA, via Legal Daily). Paper cards and on-site QR codes remain available at the port. Seven groups are exempt, including 24-hour direct transit passengers who stay in the restricted area.

---

Can Americans use the 30-day visa-free policy?

No. The US is on the 240-hour transit list only. The trade: no application in advance, and in return you must enter at a designated port with a real onward ticket; in Guangdong you may exit through any open port.

The full US breakdown, including whether a regular tourist visa makes more sense if you visit more than once, is in China Visa Free for Americans — the 240-hour transit breakdown.

---

What catches visa-free visitors out?

1. The 30-day waiver has an end date

For 48 of the 50 countries it runs to 31 December 2026; Brunei has no end date, and Russia runs to 31 December 2027 (CVASC FAQ, Q2; MFA). If your trip runs into January 2027, recheck the NIA list before you buy non-refundable flights.

2. The clock starts the day after entry, wherever you entered

The 30 days run from 00:00 the day after entry, for 30 calendar days (CVASC FAQ, Q10). Fly into Shanghai on 1 March and take the train to Shenzhen on 3 March: your clock started at 00:00 on 2 March.

The 240-hour clock follows the same rule (NIA Announcement 2025 No. 4, attachment 1). Land at 18:00 on 1 July and the clock starts at 00:00 on 2 July, so you must leave by 23:59 on 11 July. That is 246 hours on the ground in this example (our arithmetic).

3. Overstaying a visa-free stay skips the warning

Article 78 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law allows a warning, or in serious cases 500 RMB per day capped at 10,000 RMB, or 5 to 15 days of detention. NIA's penalty guideline (3 August 2023) sets the brackets:

Our read: a visa-free visitor has no warning tier. The same guideline counts activity outside the permitted area as illegal stay, which matters for a 240-hour visitor who travels outside the permitted areas.

4. Accommodation registration, now online

Hotels register you. Staying with friends or in a private rental? You or your host must register with the local police within 24 hours of moving in (Exit and Entry Administration Law, Article 39). Since 21 September 2026 this can be done online nationwide, through the NIA government service website, the "移民局12367" app, or its WeChat or Alipay mini-program (NIA Announcement 2026 No. 7). The host does the first registration at each address (NIA interpretation), so sort it out with your host before you arrive. Missing it can mean a warning and a fine of up to 2,000 RMB (NIA). See also the NIA accommodation-registration guidance and our hotel registration guide.

5. Work, study and journalism need a visa

Both policies cover tourism, business, visits and family; work, study and news reporting still need prior approval and the matching visa (NIA). Working in China needs a work permit and a work-type residence permit (Exit and Entry Administration Law, Article 41), and Article 43 counts work without them as illegal employment.

6. Extensions need a reason

If you planned more than 30 days, you needed a visa before the trip. If something comes up after a visa-free entry, the local public security exit-entry office can issue a stay permit "for appropriate and sufficient reasons" (CVASC FAQ, Q11). For transit entrants NIA names sudden illness or force majeure (NIA).

---

FAQ: the questions people ask

Can I leave and re-enter China to reset the 30-day clock?

Yes. The waiver allows multiple entries, and "currently" there is no limit on the number of entries or total days (CVASC FAQ, Q12). Each entry is a separate border decision: officers refuse entry when the purpose of the trip does not match the policy (Q6).

I am flying Home → China → Home. Does the 240-hour transit apply?

No. You must travel on to a different country or region. London → Shanghai → London is a visit. Use 30-day entry if your passport is on that list; otherwise you need a visa for this itinerary.

I have a layover in China. Do I need to do anything?

If you stay in the airport's restricted area and leave within 24 hours on a confirmed onward ticket, no visa is needed, for all nationalities (NIA, section I). To leave the airport you need 30-day eligibility, a 240-hour permit, or a temporary entry permit from the border officers.

My passport expires in 4 months. Is that a problem?

For 240-hour transit, 4 months clears NIA's 3-month floor. For 30-day entry, China asks for validity covering your stay (CVASC FAQ, Q7); your airline or your own government may ask for more: Canada's advice says 6 months (travel.gc.ca).

Can I enter via a land border from Vietnam, Laos, or Myanmar?

For 30-day entry, yes, at any port open to foreigners (CVASC FAQ, Q9). For 240-hour transit, the only crossing on those three borders in NIA's 65-port table is Mohan Railway Port, on the China–Laos railway (NIA table, row 65, read on 29 September 2026). No road crossing from Vietnam, Laos or Myanmar is on it.

---

What to sort out before you cross

1. Set up payments: Alipay and WeChat Pay
2. Install a VPN before you land
3. Pick your border crossing if you enter from Hong Kong on a 30-day passport
4. Check hotel registration
5. Open the arrival checklist for the first-day sequence

---

Sources we re-read on 29 September 2026

• NIA unilateral 30-day list, dated 17 February 2026: 50 countries (35 Europe, 2 Oceania, 7 Asia, 6 Americas). Czech Republic and Lithuania are the two EU members missing; both are on the 240-hour list.
• NIA visa-free transit policies (English) and 过境免签政策 (Chinese, with the port table), both dated 20 August 2026: 57 countries, 65 ports, 24 provinces.
• NIA Announcement 2025 No. 4, 3 November 2025: item 6 adds five Guangdong entry ports, West Kowloon and the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge among them, from 5 November 2025; attachment 1 sets the 3-month passport floor and the day-after clock; item 10 starts the online arrival card on 20 November 2025. Shenzhen Bay appears in it only for the face-scan lanes used by mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents.
• NIA Announcement 2026 No. 4, 20 August 2026: Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam added, 57 countries.
• MFA spokesperson, 15 February 2026: Canada and the UK added from 17 February 2026, effective until 31 December 2026.
• MFA press conference, 20 May 2026: Russia to 31 December 2027.
• CVASC visa-free FAQ: end dates, passport validity, stay permits, multiple entries. Another CVASC copy (Brussels) still showed the old 14 September 2026 date for Russia on 29 September 2026; the MFA statement is the later primary source.
• NIA Announcement 2026 No. 7, 21 September 2026: online accommodation registration nationwide.
• Exit and Entry Administration Law and NIA penalty guideline: overstay penalties; Articles 41 and 43 of the law on work permits.
• GOV.UK and travel.gc.ca: the UK and Canadian end dates of 31 December 2026.

---

What we have not verified yet

• The 5-day Shenzhen port visa. No primary page lists the eligible nationalities; the fee is ¥130 for everyone by NIA (effective 2023-12-31), free for fee-exempt-agreement countries and ¥14 for Serbia. Two secondary travel guides, China Discovery and Travel with Kaede (both read on 29 September 2026), say Indian passports are ineligible or refused; we have no first-hand case. Next step: ask Shenzhen border inspection or the 12367 hotline and publish the answer with its date.
• Life after 31 December 2026. The 30-day waiver for 48 countries ends then unless the MFA extends it. Revisit on the MFA announcement or on 1 December 2026, whichever comes first.
• Port changes after 20 August 2026. NIA's port table is an image; we read all 65 rows of the English version on 29 September 2026. NIA's announcement index loads by script, so "no later change" rests on the two policy pages dated 20 August 2026 and on no newer announcement turning up in our searches. Revisit on any NIA announcement that names 240-hour ports.
• Our own checker. The Russia date, the port-visa points, the Hong Kong note and the stale "as of December 2025" note on the fee were wrong before 3 October 2026; the deployed checker has the corrected versions (second table above). One problem is still in it: the 5-day port visa offered to every passport from Hong Kong that no other rule covers. Revisit both when Shenzhen border inspection or the 12367 hotline answers the port-visa question above, or when NIA or Shenzhen police publish a port-visa fee table or eligibility list; rerun the six-passport table after every change to the checker's rules.