China applies three entry rules in 2026: 30-day unilateral visa-free entry for ordinary passport holders of 50 countries, 240-hour visa-free transit for 55 countries at 65 ports, and the L visa for everyone else. Which one you use depends on your passport and on whether your trip passes through China on the way to a third country.
- 50 countries can enter China without a visa for up to 30 days on ordinary passports, 48 of them until 31 December 2026.
- 240 hours (10 days) is the maximum stay under the visa-free transit rule, which covers 55 countries and 65 ports.
- US, Indian, Indonesian, Mexican and Philippine ordinary passports are not on the unilateral visa-free list.
- 30 days counts from 00:00 on the day after entry, with no published cap on the number of entries or total days.
- Everyone else needs an L visa, lodged in person at a Chinese Visa Application Service Center (CVASC) after an online form and appointment.
Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Sources: National Immigration Administration (NIA), Chinese embassy FAQ, CVASC
Which entry rule applies to you?
Start with your passport, not your itinerary. The rule is set by the nationality on the passport you will travel on, and a second passport can change the answer completely. The table below maps the three routes to the maximum stay each allows and whether you need an onward ticket to a third country.
| Your passport | Entry rule | Maximum stay | Onward ticket to a third country? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary passport from one of the 50 visa-free countries | Unilateral visa-free entry | 30 days | No, but carry your return ticket and hotel booking as proof of purpose |
| Ordinary passport from one of the 55 transit countries | 240-hour visa-free transit | 240 hours (10 days) | Yes, a confirmed onward ticket out of China to a third country |
| US, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines and other passports on neither list | L visa, or a regional scheme such as Hainan | As granted on the visa or entry permit | No, but the visa must be issued before you travel |
| Any passport, trip longer than 30 days | L visa | As granted | No |
Two details send readers to the wrong route. The visa-free rule is tied to the passport, not to where you live: a US citizen living in Berlin still needs a visa, while a German citizen flying out of New York does not. And the transit rule is not a short tourist visa, so a return trip that begins and ends in the same country does not qualify.
What does the 50-country visa-free rule allow?
Ordinary passport holders from 50 countries may enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits, exchange visits or transit. The 30 days count from 00:00 on the day after entry, and in 2026 there is no published cap on entries or total days.
The permitted purposes are wide but not unlimited. Business meetings, trade fairs, sports events and student exchange trips are covered. Work for a Chinese employer, study at a Chinese institution and news reporting are not. Your passport must be an ordinary passport valid for the whole period you intend to stay; emergency travel documents and temporary papers do not qualify.
“Visa-free entry is available to ordinary passport holders of the listed countries for business, tourism, family visits, exchange visits and transit for no more than 30 days. It does not cover work, study or news reporting.”
Chinese embassy visa FAQ, July 2026, close paraphrase.
The rule does not require an onward ticket to a third country, but it does expect you to show why you are there. Carry your return or onward booking, your first hotel reservation, and an invitation letter if you are visiting a company or a friend. In 2025, China recorded 30.08 million visa-free entries, 73.1% of all foreign entries that year (NIA, 27 January 2026), so the desk sees these documents constantly and checks them quickly.
Who is not on the visa-free list?
The list is a fixed set of 50 nationalities, and several large source markets are not on it. Ordinary passports from the United States, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore do not qualify for unilateral visa-free entry in 2026. Each of those passports has to use the transit rule, a regional scheme or an L visa.
This is the single most common error in English-language guides. A US passport holder who reads that “China is visa-free” and books a flight will be refused boarding at check-in, not at the Chinese border, because the airline is responsible for carrying a passenger without the right documents. The same trap catches Indian, Indonesian, Mexican and Philippine travellers, who are often told by a friend or a forum that the rule “changed”. It did, for 50 named countries, and these five are not among them.
- US passports: no visa-free entry, but the 240-hour transit rule and the Hainan 30-day scheme may apply. See China visa for US citizens.
- Indian, Indonesian, Mexican and Philippine passports: no unilateral visa-free entry. Check whether your trip fits the transit rule, an ASEAN group tour or a regional scheme before you apply for an L visa.
- Dual nationals: travel on the passport that gives you the easiest route, but enter and leave on the same one.
How does 240-hour visa-free transit work?
The 240-hour rule lets citizens of 55 countries pass through China for up to 10 days without a visa, but only if they are genuinely in transit to a third country. It requires an onward ticket, entry through one of 65 approved ports, and a stay inside the province or city that port governs.
There are five conditions, and missing any one of them means the rule does not apply to you:
- You hold a passport from one of the 55 countries covered by the policy.
- You hold a valid international travel document with at least three months of validity remaining.
- You hold a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region, with a date inside the 240-hour window.
- You enter through one of the 65 approved ports and complete the arrival card, online before travel or by QR code at the port.
- You stay inside the area attached to your port of entry: Beijing municipality for Beijing, Shanghai municipality for Shanghai, the whole province for Guangdong, 11 cities for Chengdu and 9 prefectures for Kunming. The Beijing destination guide shows which day trips fall inside the municipality and which do not.
The third-country test is where people fail. London to Shanghai to Tokyo is a transit. London to Shanghai to London is a round trip, not a transit, even though the passenger changes planes in China. The stay is counted from 00:00 on the day after entry, so a 240-hour permit gives you ten usable days, not eleven. Ports and permitted areas are set out on the 240-hour visa-free transit page.
What does an L visa involve?
An L visa is China’s tourist visa. You apply online, book an appointment at a Chinese Visa Application Service Center (CVASC), lodge the application in person, and usually collect your passport about four working days later. Most applicants are not interviewed, and short-stay applicants are exempt from fingerprinting until 31 December 2026.
The routine is consistent across most countries, though the local center controls the details. You fill in the online visa form, print it, book an appointment slot, and attend with your passport, a recent photograph, your itinerary, hotel bookings and, where relevant, an invitation letter. US citizens pay USD 140 for an L visa, including the 10-year multiple-entry version, in 2026, but fees are set locally and should be confirmed on the CVASC page for your country of application. Processing is normally about four working days, with faster options that cost more. The full sequence is on the application steps page.
The 10-year multiple-entry visa that US citizens receive is a validity period, not a permission to stay. Each entry is admitted for a set number of days, recorded on the visa and stamped at the border, and that number is what matters on the ground.
When does the visa-free policy expire?
The 50-country policy is time-limited. For 48 of the 50 countries it runs to 31 December 2026; Russia’s arrangement runs to 31 December 2027; Brunei’s has no expiry date. As of 29 October 2026 no extension had been published, so do not book late-2027 travel on the assumption that these dates will roll over.
| Group | Visa-free entry valid until | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| 48 of the 50 countries | 31 December 2026 | Any renewal or extension announcement on the NIA list page |
| Russia | 31 December 2027 | Separate arrangement with a later end date |
| Brunei | No expiry date | Listed without an end date; confirm before travel |
The practical advice is to check the date, not the headline. A traveller entering on 20 December 2026 is inside the policy; one entering on 2 January 2027 is not, and would need an L visa unless an extension is announced and published in the meantime. The same applies to the 240-hour transit port list, which was expanded once in late 2025 and can expand again.
What changed between 2024 and 2026?
The rules moved several times in two years, mostly in the traveller’s favour. Port coverage widened, the arrival card moved online, fingerprinting was suspended for short stays, and accommodation registration became available online in seven provinces. The table lists only changes with a dated official or mainstream source; earlier expansions of the visa-free scheme predate this page’s verification window.
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 3 November 2025 | 240-hour transit ports increased from 60 to 65, effective 5 November 2025, adding Guangzhou Pazhou, Hengqin, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge port, Zhongshan and West Kowloon high-speed rail station | NIA announcement reported by Guangming, 3 November 2025 |
| 20 November 2025 | Foreign visitors can file the arrival card online before travel; ports offer a QR code for anyone without a phone | Chinese embassy notice, January 2026 |
| 19 December 2025 | Fingerprints waived for applicants for stays of 180 days or less, until 31 December 2026 | Chinese embassy notices, December 2025 and January 2026 |
| 17 February 2026 | NIA republishes the 50-country unilateral visa-free list | NIA list page |
| 20 March 2026 | Online accommodation registration piloted in Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan | gov.cn notice, 21 March 2026 |
| July 2026 | Embassy FAQ confirms how the 30 days are counted and the three expiry dates | Chinese embassy FAQ, July 2026 |
| 31 December 2026 | Current end date for the 48-country visa-free arrangement and the fingerprint waiver | NIA and embassy notices |
This page explains published entry rules; it is not legal advice, and visa and visa-free policies change, sometimes at short notice. Confirm the rule on the NIA list and the Chinese embassy or CVASC page for your country before you book flights. If a policy you plan to rely on carries an expiry date, treat that date as real until an official extension is published.
FAQ
Do I need a visa if I am only changing planes in China?
If you stay airside and do not pass through immigration, you are not entering China and no visa is needed. If you leave the airport, or if your connection requires you to clear immigration and re-check in, you are entering, and you need either the 240-hour transit eligibility or a visa.
Can I use the visa-free rule for a business trip?
Yes. Business meetings, trade fairs, conferences and sports events are permitted purposes within the 30 days. Employment, study and news reporting are excluded, and those trips need the appropriate visa.
Is there a limit on how often I can use visa-free entry?
In 2026 the published rule sets no cap on the number of entries or on total days in a year. The border can still ask about your plans, so keep your bookings consistent with what you tell the officer.
How much passport validity do I need?
For visa-free entry, the passport must be valid for the whole period you intend to stay. For 240-hour transit, the travel document needs at least three months of validity remaining. Airlines apply the stricter of the two rules at check-in.
Where can I see the full list of 50 countries?
The full list, grouped by continent, is on the China visa-free countries page. It is worth reading the country names rather than the headline number, because several large markets are not included.
Sources
- National Immigration Administration, List of countries covered by unilateral visa exemption policies (updated 17 February 2026)
- Chinese embassy, visa exemption FAQ (July 2026)
- Shaanxi Provincial Government English service, 240-hour visa-free transit conditions and port list (24 November 2025)
- China Visa Application Service Center (CVASC), official portal
- National Immigration Administration, 2025 entry and exit figures (27 January 2026)
- gov.cn, online accommodation registration pilot (21 March 2026)
Settle your own case first. The free China visa checker takes your nationality group and trip type and returns the rule, the maximum stay and the onward-ticket question in one line, then sends you to the page that explains it.