China has expanded its 30-day visa-free entry for even more countries – but not the UK or the US just yet.
The country already offers visa-free entry for 30 days to 47 countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay.
A further 27 countries have visa-free entry for between 30 and 90 days thanks to bilateral agreements – Albania (90), Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia (90), Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominica, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Grenada, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius (60), Qatar, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Singapore, Soloman Islands, Suriname, Thailand, Tonga, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Now, citizens from two more countries will get visa-free entry thanks to new bilateral agreements: Azerbaijan from 16 July, and Micronesia from 25 July.
If you’re a citizen from a country not on either list, not to worry, as the 240-hour visa-free transit visa is also available for 54 destinations, including the UK, the US, Canada, Sweden, Indonesia and Mexico. You can find the full list on the Visa for China website.
China reopened its border to foreigners after COVID in early 2023, and it expanded its visa-free policies in a bid to attract more tourists. So far, the country has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels – the latest numbers show that inbound arrivals in the first three quarters of 2024 were 9.6 million, around 90% of what they were in 2019.
More information: visaforchina.cn
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