13 hours ago
5 ways to enter mainland China without a visa
Visiting China used to be a costly, time-consuming process. Obtaining a Chinese visa often requires filling out pages of paperwork, paying more than US$100, and waiting for days for the documents to be processed.
But things have changed rapidly over the past few years, as Beijing has introduced a slew of new visa-free entry policies in a bid to attract more foreign visitors and boost the country's tourism sector.
Most famously, the country now allows travellers from certain countries that are transiting through China to stay in the country without a visa for up to 10 days. The scheme currently covers passport holders from 55 nations, with Indonesia
becoming the latest country to be included in June.
There are also several other visa-free policies in effect, each of which has different rules and eligibility criteria. Here are five different options for travellers planning to enter the mainland without a Chinese visa.
1. Transit through Chinese cities (10 days)
Passport holders from 55 nations – including Australia, Russia, the United States and countries throughout Europe – can enjoy an extended stay in much of mainland China when transiting through one of its international airports.
Travellers can enter China via 60 ports of entry across 24 provincial-level regions under the scheme, including airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guilin, Kunming, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuhan, Xiamen, Guangdong province and the Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang cluster.
