Who Qualifies for 240-Hour Transit, and Where You Can Go

China’s 240-hour visa-free transit lets citizens of 55 countries pass through China for up to 10 days without a visa, provided they hold a confirmed onward ticket to a third country and enter through one of 65 approved ports. It is a transit rule, not a tourist visa: a return trip that starts and ends in the same country does not qualify.

Last verified: 29 October 2026 · Sources: National Immigration Administration (NIA), Shaanxi government English service, Chinese embassy FAQ

Who qualifies for 240-hour visa-free transit?

You qualify if you meet five conditions at the same time: a passport from one of the 55 countries, a travel document with at least three months of validity left, a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region dated within 240 hours, entry through one of the 65 approved ports, and a stay inside the area attached to that port. Missing any one of them means the rule does not apply and you need a visa.

1. Nationality. Your passport must be from one of the 55 countries on the transit list. The list is not the same as the 30-day visa-free list, so check both if you hold a passport that is on neither.
2. Document validity. Your passport or international travel document needs at least three months of remaining validity. This is stricter than the visa-free rule, which asks only that the passport covers your stay.
3. Onward ticket. You need a confirmed booking to a third country or region, with a departure date inside the 240-hour window. A ticket back to the country you arrived from does not count.
4. Approved port. You must enter through one of the 65 listed ports and complete an arrival card, either online before travel or by scanning a QR code at the port.
5. Permitted area. You must stay inside the province or city your entry port governs. Leaving that area without permission breaks the terms of the entry.

“Foreign nationals from 55 countries who hold valid international travel documents and confirmed onward tickets to a third country or region within 240 hours may enter China without a visa through 65 open ports, and stay within the area specified for the port of entry.”

NIA announcement of 3 November 2025, as published by the Shaanxi Provincial Government English service on 24 November 2025, close paraphrase.

What counts as an onward ticket to a third country?

The ticket must take you out of China to a country or region that is not the one you arrived from. London to Shanghai to Tokyo qualifies; London to Shanghai to London does not, even if you change planes in China and never leave the terminal. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as third regions for this purpose, which makes a London-Shanghai-Hong Kong routing valid.

Worked examples of the third-country test. The deciding fact is where you go next, not where you stop.

Itinerary	Qualifies?	Why
London to Shanghai to Tokyo	Yes	Japan is a third country, and the onward flight is inside 240 hours
London to Shanghai to London	No	You return to the country you came from; this is a round trip, not a transit
New York to Beijing to Bangkok	Yes	Thailand is a third country; US passports are on the 55-country list
New York to Beijing to New York	No	Same country out and back; the 240-hour rule does not apply to US passports otherwise
Paris to Guangzhou to Hanoi	Yes	Vietnam is a third country, and Guangdong ports allow province-wide travel
Sydney to Shanghai to Hong Kong	Yes	Hong Kong counts as a third region under the rule
Tokyo to Shanghai to Tokyo	No	The return leg goes back to Japan, so there is no third country

The onward ticket is also where check-in staff focus. Airlines see a passenger flying to China with a return ticket to the same origin and, correctly, treat that as ineligible for visa-free transit. If your itinerary is a genuine transit, have the booking confirmation for the third-country leg ready before you reach the counter, with the departure date visible.

Which 55 countries are covered by the transit rule?

The policy covers 55 countries: 40 in Europe, 6 in the Americas, 2 in Oceania and 7 in Asia. The American group includes the United States and Mexico, and the Asian group includes Japan, South Korea, Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Australia and New Zealand make up the two Oceania entries.

Regional spread of the 55-country transit list (NIA, via Shaanxi Provincial Government English service, 24 November 2025).

Region	Countries covered	Notes
Europe	40	The largest group; the official port and country table lists every name
Americas	6	Includes the United States and Mexico, which are not on the 30-day visa-free list
Oceania	2	Australia and New Zealand
Asia	7	Japan, South Korea, Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia

Do not assume the transit list matches the visa-free list. It is larger, and the overlap matters: a German passport holder qualifies for both, while a US passport holder qualifies only for transit plus the regional Hainan scheme. The 50-country list is set out country by country on the China visa-free countries page, and the US case is covered in detail on the China visa for US citizens page, including how to use a short stopover as a trip in itself.

Which 65 ports can you use, and where can you travel?

There are 65 approved ports, and each is tied to a permitted area. Beijing and Shanghai ports cover their municipalities, Guangdong ports cover the whole province, Chengdu covers 11 cities, Kunming covers 9 prefectures, and the Guilin and Beihai ports cover 12 cities in Guangxi. The full port-by-port table is on the official page linked in the sources.

Representative ports and the area you may travel in. The official table lists all 65.

Entry port	Area you may travel in	What that allows in practice
Beijing (Capital and Daxing airports)	Beijing municipality	The city and the Great Wall sections inside Beijing, including Badaling and Mutianyu
Shanghai (Pudong and Hongqiao airports)	Shanghai municipality	The city only; Suzhou and Hangzhou are outside the permitted area
Guangdong ports, including Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao’an, Shekou, Hengqin and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge port	Guangdong province	Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan and the rest of the province
Chengdu Tianfu	11 cities	Chengdu and its surrounding cities, including the panda base in the city
Kunming Changshui	9 prefectures	Kunming and prefectures across Yunnan
Guilin Liangjiang and Beihai Fucheng	12 cities in Guangxi	Guilin, Yangshuo and the Li River area; Beihai on the coast

The port list grew on 5 November 2025, when five entries were added: Guangzhou Pazhou passenger ferry terminal, Hengqin port, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge port, Zhongshan port and West Kowloon high-speed rail station. The addition of West Kowloon is the practical change most travellers care about, because it makes a high-speed rail arrival from Hong Kong a valid transit entry rather than a crossing that needs a visa.

How are the 240 hours counted?

The 240 hours start at 00:00 on the day after entry, which gives you ten usable days. Arrive at 21:00 on a Monday and the clock starts at midnight on Tuesday, with your last permitted moment 240 hours later. The same counting rule applies to the 30-day visa-free scheme and to the regional policies.

Two details decide whether you actually get the full ten days. First, your onward flight must depart within the window, so a ticket dated on the eleventh day fails the test even if you planned to spend the last day at the airport. Second, you can exit from any open port inside the permitted area, not only the one you entered through, which is what makes a Guangdong entry and a Shenzhen exit workable. If your plan depends on the final day, book the onward flight for the ninth or tenth day and keep a buffer.

What do you show at the border?

At the border you show your passport with at least three months of validity, your confirmed onward ticket to a third country, the completed arrival card and your first night’s accommodation. The arrival card can be filed online before travel through the NIA channels, or by scanning a QR code at the port if you have no working phone.

Have the onward ticket open on your phone and printed, because the officer will want the flight number and date, and the port’s Wi-Fi may require a Chinese phone number to log in. If you are connecting the same day, keep the boarding pass for the onward leg accessible. The most common cause of a refused boarding is a passenger who cannot show a third-country ticket at the check-in counter; the most common cause of a problem at the border is an itinerary that stays outside the permitted area.

Why do transit entries get refused?

Refusals cluster around five mistakes: a return ticket to the origin country instead of a third country, a port that is not on the 65-port list, an onward flight outside the 240-hour window, a passport with less than three months of validity, and a plan to travel outside the permitted area. Each is detectable before you fly, which is why the rule rewards reading it once.

The area restriction is the one travellers underestimate. A Shanghai entry does not permit a side trip to Suzhou or Hangzhou, both of which sit outside Shanghai municipality, even though they are an hour away by train, so the Shanghai guide is the useful planning limit rather than a suggestion. A Beijing entry does not permit a trip to Xi’an. The permitted area is printed on the entry permit and checked at hotels, at train stations and on exit, so a spontaneous day trip is the most likely way to turn a legal entry into a problem.

How does 240-hour transit compare with visa-free entry and an L visa?

The three routes differ in who qualifies, how long you can stay, whether you need an onward ticket and where you can travel. Transit is the narrowest but the fastest to confirm; visa-free entry is broader but limited to 50 nationalities; the L visa is open to everyone but needs an appointment and about four working days of processing.

The three routes compared (2026 rules).

Rule	Who qualifies	Maximum stay	Onward ticket needed	Where you can travel
Unilateral visa-free entry	Ordinary passports of 50 countries	30 days	No, but carry return and hotel bookings	Anywhere in China
240-hour visa-free transit	55 countries, with a genuine third-country transit	240 hours (10 days)	Yes, to a third country or region	Only the area tied to the entry port
L visa	Any nationality	As granted on the visa	No	Anywhere, within the visa’s terms

For a short stopover the transit rule is the efficient choice, and it is the only one that opens China to US and Mexican passports without an application. A 7-day China itinerary fits inside the 240-hour window with a day to spare; for a ten-day trip that starts and ends in the same country, transit does not work and the L visa is the answer. The visa checker returns the route for your passport and trip type in one line, and the China visa hub explains how the three rules fit together.

FAQ

Can I leave the airport on 240-hour visa-free transit?

Yes. The permit is an entry permission, not an airside transit, so you can leave the airport and stay in a hotel inside the permitted area. You cannot travel beyond the area attached to your entry port.

Does a flight to Hong Kong count as a third country?

Yes. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as third regions for the third-country test, so a London-Shanghai-Hong Kong itinerary qualifies. A return to London does not.

Can I use 240-hour transit if I am also eligible for 30-day visa-free entry?

Yes, but you do not need to. Where a traveller qualifies under both rules, the more favourable one applies, so a German or Japanese passport holder would normally enter under the 30-day visa-free rule and keep the full country-wide travel rights.

What happens if my onward flight is cancelled?

Contact the airline and the local exit-entry administration immediately. The permit is tied to the onward booking, so a cancellation can affect your status; the official page explains the conditions but does not set out a procedure for every case.

Can I enter through Shanghai and leave from Beijing?

Not on a Shanghai entry. The area for a Shanghai port is Shanghai municipality, and Beijing is outside it. You can exit from any open port inside the permitted area, so a Shanghai hotel and a Shanghai departure work, but a Beijing departure does not.