If you hold a passport from the United States, Canada, the UK, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan or South Korea, you can very likely visit China in 2026 without applying for a visa. Two separate schemes make that possible, and they are easy to mix up:
- 30-day visa-free entry for nationals of 50 countries (plus a separate set of countries with mutual agreements). You fly in, you fly home, no onward ticket needed.
- 240-hour visa-free transit for nationals of 57 countries. You enter from one country and leave for a different country or region within 10 days. This is the route for US passport holders, who are not on the 30-day list.
This guide covers both, with the emphasis on the 240-hour transit because it is the one with rules people trip over. Everything below was checked against the National Immigration Administration's English policy pages as published on 20 August 2026 and 17 February 2026. Policies change; the NIA site is the final word on the day you fly.
First, which scheme are you on?
| Your passport | What you get | Onward ticket? |
|---|---|---|
| Most EU and Schengen countries, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Canada, Gulf states | 30 days, visa-free entry | No |
| United States, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus, and everyone above who wants to route through China to a third country | 240 hours (10 days), visa-free transit | Yes, to a third country or region |
| Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, Qatar and other mutual-agreement countries | Typically 30 days under a bilateral agreement | No |
| Everyone else | 24-hour direct transit (airside only), or apply for a visa | Not applicable |
If you qualify for the 30-day entry, use it. It is simpler, longer, and unrestricted in where you go. The rest of this article is for the transit route.
The 240-hour visa-free transit, in plain terms
You may enter China without a visa and stay up to 240 hours if you:
- Hold an ordinary passport from one of the 57 eligible countries (full list below).
- Are transiting to a third country or region. Your inbound and outbound destinations must be different. New York → Shanghai → New York does not qualify. New York → Shanghai → Tokyo does. Hong Kong and Macao count as separate regions, so Bangkok → Beijing → Hong Kong qualifies.
- Hold a confirmed onward ticket with a date and seat that leaves China within the 240 hours.
- Enter through one of the 65 designated ports and stay inside the permitted area of the province or city group you entered.
The purpose can be tourism, business, visiting family or friends. It cannot be work, study, or journalism, which still need the relevant visa.
How the 240 hours are counted
The clock does not start when you land. After border inspection issues your temporary entry permit, the 240 hours run from 00:00 on the day after entry. Land at 09:00 on a Monday and you have until 23:59 on the following Wednesday, ten full days later. In practice you get a little more than 240 hours; do not plan around that margin, but it does mean an evening arrival costs you nothing.
At the airport
There is no application in advance. Tell the airline at check-in that you are using the transit exemption and show your onward ticket; airlines verify eligibility before boarding, so have the confirmation ready as a printout or on your phone. On arrival, follow the signs for visa-free transit or the dedicated counter, hand over your passport and onward booking, and complete the arrival card. Border inspection issues a temporary entry permit stamped or slipped into the passport. Keep it; hotels will ask for it at check-in alongside your passport.
The 57 eligible countries (as of 20 August 2026)
Europe (40): Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Americas (6): United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico.
Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand.
Asia (9): Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.
Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were the most recent additions, effective 20 August 2026. If your country is not here, check whether it is on the 30-day list further down, or whether a mutual exemption applies.
Where you can go: ports and permitted areas
The scheme covers 24 provinces, regions and municipalities. In most of them you may travel anywhere in the province once you have entered through a designated port. A handful restrict you to named cities. You may also move between permitted areas, so a Shanghai-in, Beijing-out trip is fine as long as both ends are covered and you leave for a third country.
| Region | Entry ports | Where you may stay |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing | Capital, Daxing airports | Whole municipality |
| Tianjin | Binhai airport, seaport | Whole municipality |
| Hebei | Shijiazhuang Zhengding airport, Qinhuangdao seaport | Whole province |
| Shanghai | Pudong, Hongqiao airports, seaport | Whole municipality |
| Jiangsu | Nanjing, Wuxi, Yangzhou-Taizhou airports, Lianyungang seaport | Whole province |
| Zhejiang | Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Yiwu airports, Wenzhou and Zhoushan seaports | Whole province |
| Anhui | Hefei, Huangshan airports | Whole province |
| Fujian | Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Wuyishan airports, Xiamen seaport | Whole province |
| Shandong | Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai airports, Qingdao seaport | Whole province |
| Henan | Zhengzhou airport | Whole province |
| Hubei | Wuhan airport | Whole province |
| Hunan | Changsha, Zhangjiajie airports | Whole province |
| Guangdong | Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jieyang airports, Nansha and Shekou seaports, Guangzhou Pazhou port, Hengqin, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Zhongshan port, West Kowloon Station | Whole province |
| Hainan | Haikou, Sanya airports | Whole province |
| Chongqing | Jiangbei airport | Whole municipality |
| Guizhou | Guiyang airport | Whole province |
| Shaanxi | Xi'an Xianyang airport | Whole province |
| Liaoning | Shenyang, Dalian airports, Dalian seaport | Whole province |
| Shanxi | Taiyuan airport | Taiyuan and Datong only |
| Heilongjiang | Harbin airport | Harbin only |
| Jiangxi | Nanchang, Jingdezhen airports | Nanchang and Jingdezhen only |
| Guangxi | Nanning, Guilin, Beihai airports, Beihai seaport | 12 cities incl. Nanning, Guilin, Liuzhou, Beihai |
| Sichuan | Chengdu Shuangliu, Chengdu Tianfu airports | 11 cities incl. Chengdu, Leshan, Yibin, Meishan |
| Yunnan | Kunming, Lijiang airports, Mohan rail port | 9 cities incl. Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna |
Two things people miss. First, the West Kowloon high-speed rail station in Hong Kong is a designated port, so you can arrive in Guangdong by train from Hong Kong. Second, Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Gansu are not on the list at all; a Silk Road or Lhasa trip needs a visa.
What the 240 hours buy you: three routes that work
Ten days is enough for one region done properly, or two big cities linked by high-speed rail. These are the combinations we plan most often, all inside the permitted areas and all ending at an airport with plenty of third-country departures.
- Beijing, then Shanghai (or the reverse). Four days in the capital, a 4.5-hour train, four days on the coast. The classic first trip. Start with our Beijing 240-hour itinerary or the Shanghai 240-hour itinerary and join them.
- Shanghai and the water towns. Shanghai plus Suzhou, Hangzhou and one canal town, all within Jiangsu and Zhejiang, all under two hours by rail.
- Chengdu and the west of Sichuan. Pandas, Leshan's giant Buddha, Emei Shan, hotpot, then fly out. Stay inside the 11-city Sichuan zone; Jiuzhaigou is outside it.
Whichever you pick, the exit flight is the fixed point. Book it first and work the days backwards from it. If you would rather not do that by hand, plan a route with your entry point, exit airport and dates and you get a day-by-day route between them with the train times already checked. It takes about a minute.
The 30-day visa-free entry (for the 50 countries)
If your passport is on this list you do not need the transit scheme at all. You may enter for up to 30 days for business, tourism, visiting relatives or friends, exchange visits, or transit, with no onward-ticket requirement and no regional restriction. The 30 days count from 00:00 on the day after entry.
Europe (35): Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, 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, Saudi Arabia, South Korea. Americas (6): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Uruguay.
Most of these arrangements are currently announced through 31 December 2026; the UK and Canada joined the list on 17 February 2026. Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the UAE, Qatar and several other countries have mutual visa-exemption agreements with China instead, which work much the same way for tourists. Check the NIA's unilateral list and the mutual-agreement table if you are unsure.
Hainan and the other regional schemes
Separate from both of the above, Hainan Island admits ordinary-passport holders from 61 countries for up to 30 days, restricted to the island. Guangxi (Guilin) and Yunnan (Xishuangbanna) admit ASEAN tour groups for six days, and Guangdong admits tour groups arriving from Hong Kong and Macao for six days. These are niche; for most readers the 30-day and 240-hour schemes are the ones that matter.
Before you fly: the short checklist
- Passport valid for the trip and with a blank page. Ordinary passports only.
- Onward ticket to a third country or region, confirmed, departing within 240 hours (transit scheme only).
- Hotel bookings for the first nights; you register your address with the hotel, and it is the first thing border staff ask about after the ticket.
- Payments sorted before you land: see how to pay in China as a foreigner.
- Maps, translation and a travel eSIM set up: see the apps to install before you fly.
- A day-by-day plan that respects the permitted area. If you want one built in a minute, start here.
FAQ
Do US citizens need a visa for China in 2026?
For a normal round trip, yes. The United States is not on the 30-day visa-free list. But US passport holders are eligible for the 240-hour visa-free transit, so a trip that enters China from one country and leaves for a different country or region within 10 days needs no visa. Many travellers use Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong or Bangkok as the third stop.
Does going home count as a third country?
No. The transit exemption requires that your departure destination differs from where you arrived from. Flying in from Los Angeles and back to Los Angeles does not qualify. Flying in from Los Angeles and out to Seoul, then Seoul to Los Angeles, does.
Do Hong Kong and Macao count as a third region?
Yes. The policy wording is "third country or region", and Hong Kong and Macao are treated as separate regions for this purpose. Arriving in Shanghai from Singapore and leaving for Hong Kong qualifies.
When does the 240 hours start?
At 00:00 on the day after you enter, once border inspection has issued the temporary entry permit. It does not start at the moment you land.
Can I visit two cities on the transit exemption?
Yes, as long as both are inside permitted areas. Beijing plus Shanghai is the most common pairing; both municipalities are fully covered and you can travel between them by high-speed rail. Entering through one port and leaving through another is allowed.
Can I go to Tibet, Xinjiang or Gansu on visa-free transit?
No. Those regions are not in the scheme. The western provinces that are covered are Sichuan (11 cities around Chengdu), Yunnan (9 cities including Kunming, Dali and Lijiang), Shaanxi and Guizhou. Anywhere else needs a visa.
Do I need to apply in advance or register online?
No application in advance. You present your passport and onward ticket at check-in and again at Chinese border inspection, complete an arrival card, and receive the temporary entry permit on the spot.
What if my onward flight is changed or cancelled?
You must still leave within the 240 hours. If the delay pushes you over, contact the local exit-entry administration (the immigration office) before the deadline; overstaying carries fines and can affect future entry. Keep a screenshot of the original booking.
Is the 30-day visa-free entry restricted to certain provinces?
No. Unlike the transit scheme, the 30-day unilateral entry has no port or regional restrictions. You may enter at any open port and travel anywhere foreigners are normally allowed.
How long will these policies last?
The unilateral 30-day arrangements for most countries are announced through 31 December 2026. The 240-hour transit scheme has no announced end date and has only expanded since it started. Check the NIA site shortly before you travel.
Can I work or attend a conference on visa-free entry?
Business activities such as meetings, negotiations and trade fairs are permitted. Taking up employment, studying, and journalism are not, and require the appropriate visa.
Where do I check the official current rules?
The National Immigration Administration's English site publishes the policy pages this article is based on: the visa-free transit page and the unilateral exemption list. Airlines and Chinese embassies apply the same rules.
Last updated 22 September 2026, against the National Immigration Administration's policy pages dated 20 August 2026 (transit) and 17 February 2026 (unilateral list). Visa rules change; confirm on the NIA site before you book.