Chinese Transit Visa

The 72-hour visa-free transit policy applies to passport holders of the following countries:

All applicants between the ages of 14 and 70 must now give their fingerprints when applying for a China visa in the UK.

Please go to this page to see how the process works and where you need to go to give your fingerprints and follow our Facebook and Twitter here for more updates as we receive them.

This policy only applies to foreign nationals who meet all the following requirements:

• Hold a valid passport issued by one of the above-mentioned countries.

• Have a valid visa for the onward/ third country (if required).

• Have booked an onward flight to the third country with a confirmed seat showing that they will leave China within 72 hours of their arrival. The flight must be purchased before they enter China. Please note that Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are regarded as international destinations and not considered to be a part of China.

• When transiting to a third country they are passing through Beijing Capital International Airport, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guilin Liangjiang International Airport, Kunming Changshui International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Shenyang Taoxian International Airport or Xi'an Xianyang International Airport . Please note that the destination and start point cannot be the same. (e.g. London – Beijing – London).

• The 72-hour visa-free transit policy does not apply to passengers who are travelling by train, ship or other transportation.

Once landed, the visitors must obtain a visa-free transit stay permit at an exit-entry frontier inspection organisation (immigration inspection) at the relevant airport.

This policy only applies to foreign nationals who meet all following requirements:

• Hold a valid passport issued by one of the above-mentioned countries.
• Have a valid visa for the onward/ third country (if a visa is required for that country).
• Have booked an onward ticket to the third country with a confirmed seat and date showing that they will leave China within 144 hours of their arrival. The ticket must be purchased before they enter China. Please note that Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are regarded as international destinations and not considered to be a part of China.
• When transiting to a third country they are passing through Nanjing Lukou Airport of Jiangsu, Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport of Zhejiang and all air, sea and railway ports of Shanghai, including Pudong Airport, Hongqiao Airport, Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, Wusong Passenger Transport Center and all railway stations in Shanghai.
• Passengers are required to enter and leave from the eligible transit ports only.

• The 72 hours will be counted from the time when the transit permit is granted, not from the time when the flight landed at the airport.

• Unless staying in a hotel, tourists must register their transit permit at a police station within 24 hours.

• The 144-hour free stay period does not start until 00:00 of the day following the passenger’s arrival.

• Travellers must notify their airline companies/carrier about their travel plans before they arrive. The airline companies/carrier then report the visitors to the Chinese Frontier Inspection Organisation to ensure that they can go through the immigration formalities successfully.
• During the 72-hour period, travellers are not allowed to leave the city where they got their visa-free transit stay permit. Consequently, they must depart from the same airport as they arrived (for example, if they arrived in Beijing they cannot leave from Shanghai even if Shanghai has the same policy).
• During the 144-hour period, foreign visitors can travel within the administrative regions of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but cannot leave for other cities.
• Passengers must carry their valid passports and certificates during their stay in China.

• Under Chinese law, tourists who need to leave Beijing/ Chengdu/ Chongqing/ Dalian/ Guanghzou/ Guilin/ Kunming/ Shanghai/ Shenyang/ Xi’an for another Chinese city must apply for visas at the local Public Security Bureau.

• Visitors who do not exit China after 72 hours from their arrival due to unavoidable reasons, such as treatment of sudden disease or flight cancellation, must apply for visas at the local Public security bureau. Otherwise, they cannot apply for an extension of stay in China.

Currently Beijing, Chengdu, Guanghzou and Shanghai airports have already optimized the transit formalities with Customs, Entry-Exit Inspection, Quarantine Bureau and Frontier Inspection Stations. The airport terminals have installed free-visa stay tourist exclusive service areas for offering foreign currency exchange, mobile phone or car rental, luggage deposit and other services for free-visa stay travellers.

• If your planned journey does not fit any of the visa-free criteria described above, we recommend that you purchase a Chinese Tourist Visa, since these currently cost the same as a Chinese Transit Visa whilst giving you greater flexibility (such as longer validity dates) than a Chinese Transit Visa. All relevant information, such as prices and links to order your Chinese Tourist Visa, can be found here.
• If you would still like to order a Chinese Transit Visa, please contact us. Our highly experienced, multi-lingual visa specialists will be happy to help