China visa-free entry in 2026: who can go, and for how long

China now has several visa-free routes, and they do not work the same way. The two that matter most to tourists are 30-day unilateral visa-free entry and 240-hour visa-free transit. One depends on your passport. The other depends on your route, your port and your onward ticket.

Here is the short version, with the official sources and the mistakes that actually get people turned around at check-in.

Route 1: 30-day visa-free entry (50 passports)

As of 17 February 2026, ordinary passport holders from 50 countries can enter China without a visa for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits, exchanges or transit.

The list covers:

• Europe (35): Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
• Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand.
• Asia (7): Bahrain, Brunei, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, South Korea, Saudi Arabia.
• Americas (6): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Uruguay.

The 30 days are counted from 00:00 on the day after entry. You do not need an onward ticket for this route, and you are not restricted to a transit region. It is the simplest option if your passport is on the list.

Check the date. The Chinese government has extended this policy in rolling tranches, most recently through 31 December 2026 for more than 40 countries. Rules can change with little notice, so confirm the list on the NIA page before booking.

Route 2: 240-hour visa-free transit (57 passports)

The 240-hour (10-day) transit policy is for people passing through China to a third country or region. It is not a general visa waiver.

As of 20 August 2026, it applies to ordinary passport holders from 57 countries, entering through 65 ports in 24 provinces, and staying within the permitted area for up to 10 days.

The 57-country list overlaps with the 30-day list but is not identical. It adds the United States, Canada, Mexico, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and Ukraine, while leaving out some unilateral visa-free countries such as Peru and Uruguay. If your passport is on the 30-day list, you will usually use that route instead — it has fewer conditions.

To use the transit route you generally need:

1. An ordinary passport valid for the trip.
2. A confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region — not back to the country you came from — with a confirmed date and seat, leaving within 240 hours.
3. Entry through one of the designated ports.
4. Stay within the permitted area for that port and province.

A simple London → Shanghai → London trip does not qualify. London → Shanghai → Tokyo does. Hong Kong and Macau may count as a third region in some itineraries, but the rules are specific; confirm your exact route with the airline and immigration before relying on it.

The 24-hour rule is separate

All open ports allow a 24-hour visa-free transit for nationals of all countries, provided you hold a valid passport and a confirmed onward international flight, ship or train ticket and do not leave the port’s restricted area. If you need to leave the airport, you need a temporary entry permit.

This is useful for a long layover, not for a city break. Do not confuse it with the 240-hour policy.

What you can do on the 240-hour route

Travel, business meetings, visits and family reunions are allowed within the permitted area. Work, study and news reporting are not — those require a visa and prior approval.

The permitted area is not the whole country. The NIA publishes the port-by-port table, and it changes as new ports are added. Beijing’s transit area, for example, covers Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei; Shanghai’s covers Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Some provinces are fully covered; others are limited to specific cities.

Do not book a multi-province route until you have checked the current table. This is the single most common expensive mistake.

Documents to carry

• Passport with at least the validity required by your airline and Chinese immigration.
• Printed and offline copies of your onward ticket.
• Hotel bookings for the first nights.
• The address of your first hotel in Chinese.
• A screenshot of the NIA port list showing your entry port.

Airline staff sometimes deny boarding because they do not know the transit rules. Arrive early, carry the official page, and ask the supervisor if the gate agent is unsure. The NIA explicitly warns that this happens.

Arrival registration

Hotels register foreign guests automatically. If you stay in a private home or a non-hotel accommodation, you are generally responsible for registering with the local police within 24 hours. Ask your host; this is a real rule, not a formality.

When to get a visa instead

Get a tourist (L) visa if:

• Your passport is not on either list.
• Your itinerary does not fit the transit rules.
• You want to stay longer than 30 days, or longer than the transit area allows.
• You are entering for work, study, journalism or anything beyond tourism and business visits.
• You need multiple entries and cannot meet the transit conditions.

The visa application is slower and more expensive, but it removes the route-risk. For a two-week trip with multiple internal flights, the certainty is often worth it.

The 60-second check

1. Is my passport on the 30-day list? If yes, use that.
2. If not, am I transiting to a third country within 10 days, through a listed port, with a confirmed onward ticket?
3. Does my internal route stay inside the permitted area?
4. Do I have the onward ticket and hotel address offline?

If any answer is unclear, do not guess. Check the NIA page linked below or ask the airline in writing before you pay for anything non-refundable.