Visa-Free Travel to China Just Got Even Easier... for Some

Hannah Feldshuh | Aug 16, 2019 11:56 am | Add a comment | 942 reads

Tired of the long processing times and endless documents required to get a tourist visa? Or, even worse, tired of coaching your relatives through this tedious process?

Weary travelers can take heart because Chinese regulators have just added new options for visa-free transit for those with layovers in China and for citizens of countries with reciprocal visa agreements. Think you can handle more excitement? Further policy changes include new photo requirements for longer-term residents (see more on that below).

The newly announced visa provisions were outlined in Article 22 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the PRC, and include exemptions for:

Citizens of countries with reciprocal visa-free travel agreements

As of May 2, 2019, citizens of the following countries no longer need to bother with applying for a visa, if they are staying in China for 30 days or less: the United Arab Emirates, Barbados, the Bahamas, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ecuador, Fiji, Grenada, Qatar, Mauritius, Serbia, Seychelles, San Marino, and Tonga.

Now, residents of these countries only need to present their passports in order to stay. For travel of longer than 30 days, they must apply for travel visas through existing channels.

APEC business travel cardholders

New exemptions make the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation business travel card effectively equivalent to a five-year multi-entry visa valid for 60 days per entry. This appears to be intended as a measure to improve the ease of doing business with China.

Travelers from 59 pre-approved countries who visit Hainan

To be eligible, the travelers must be visiting Hainan for no more than 30 days and hire a Hainan based travel agent.

These countries include: United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Belarus, Monaco, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

Tourist groups from certain ASEAN countries

Groups must travel with agencies certified by the Tourism Administration Department of Guilin, in Guangxi province, and enter or leave the country from the Guilin airport. They may stay in this administrative region for no more than six days without a visa.

These countries are Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Mystery travelers on China layovers

Travelers no longer have to apply for visas if they are in China for a layover that lasts no longer than 24 hours and do not leave their port of entry or a State Council-approved area. For now, however, details about which travelers this would apply to are scarce.

This new exemption fits trends from previous layover policy changes, which granted 72- and 144-hour visa-free entry for travelers from 53 visa-free approved countries (see below) who are flying into Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Shijiazhuang, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenyang, Chengdu, Kunming, Xiamen, and Wuhan.

For your reference, citizens from the following countries are eligible for the pre-existing 72- and 144-hour visa-free layover: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Belarus, Monaco, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

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If these exemptions weren't exciting enough for you, the National Immigration Administration recently announced that from Jun 1, 2019, the new version of Chinese visas and foreign residency permits will include color photos. In addition to these eye-catching changes, other adjustments will be adopted to safeguard against document falsification. Have a gander at what that should look like below: