Guide To China’s 240 Hour Visa-Free Transit

If you’ve ever toyed with the idea with travelling to China, you’ll know that the People’s Republic does not kid around when it comes to their visas. Those who frequent the home of the Great Wall will tell you that you should always apply for an entry visa at least 3 weeks prior to your departure date.

The whole process involves booking an appointment at your nearest Chinese Visa Center, filling out online forms that includes bringing along visa photos with very specific dimensions, them taking your finger prints on-site, and waiting around 5 business days where you’ll then need to go back to the visa centre to pick up your passport with the newly minted visa. There are expedited/rush processing requests but even then, expect a 2 business day turnaround and extra fees.

In recent years, you can now apply for multiple entry visas for those of you who anticipate more than 1 trip in the lifespan of your passport (it just costs a little extra money) which has made the process a little less painful but what’s better is there’s now a new and improved 240 hour (expanded from the previous 144 hour) visa-free transit which travellers can apply for at the airport.

So how do you qualify for this mysterious in-transit visa?

How The 240 Hour Visa-Free Transit Works

For a long time, China offered a 144-hour visa-free transit. This means that if you were coming through China for a limited time and using the country as a transit point between two different places, you didn’t need to go through the arduous process of getting an official visa.

Starting on December 17, 2024, they announced they are extending their previous 144-hour visa-free transit to 240 hours. That’s 10 whole days instead of the previous 6.

In addition to this change, they’ve expanded the areas for transit, including 21 ports of entry and exit.

Shanghai specifically also has a handy English-based site that can be helpful for those lookign for more information.

The Primary Requirement

First off, exactly how many days is 240 hours?  It’s 10 days.

The key is that you must be leaving to a different country from which you arrived. (ie. USA to China to Canada is OK. But Canada to China to Canada is not).

The idea is you’re “in-transit” and just passing through China.  This is probably best explained through examples.

• In Mary’s case, she started in Tokyo -> transit through Shanghai -> onwards to Toronto
• More typical routes look like this:  Toronto -> Beijing -> Bangkok
• This also works on the return flight:  Hong Kong -> Shanghai -> Los Angeles

Note that Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan count as different countries from the PRC so Hong Kong to China to Canada is fine.

NOTE: Not only do both A and C need to be different cities but also different countries altogether.

Document Requirements

There are 3 pieces of documents required to apply for the 240-hour visa-free transit

1. Passport – The passport you enter in with must be at least 3 months old. In addition, it must meet the requirement for entering your third country.
2. Flight tickets – You must hold a valid ticket that has the onward travel from China to country C.
3. Arrival/Departure card – More on this later but this is the paper form that you need to fill out that’s handed out on the plane before landing in Chihna.

Ports Of Entry

In the past, they had 4 defined “zones” of entry. This meant that you could only travel within the zone in which you entered. From what we can tell, starting at the end of 2024, these zones no longer exist.

Now, with the 240-hour visa-free transit, you can make cross-province visits in all 24 provinces.

The image above also shows which areas of stay are covered by this visa-free transit. That said, pay attention to the Permitted Areas of Stay as it specifies whether it’s entire regions or only specific cities.

This opens up 60 ports available for entry which are listed in the table below. This includes airports but also sea and land ports

Port #	Provinces	Eligible Port	Permitted Areas of Stay
1	Beijing	Beijing Capital International Airport	Beijing Municipality
2	Beijing	Beijing Daxing International Airport	Beijing Municipality
3	Tianjing	Tianjing Bin Hai International Airport	Tianjin Municipality
4	Tianjing	Tianjin Port (Passenger)	Tianjin Municipality
5	Hebei	Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport	Hebei Province
6	Hebei	Qihuangdao Port (Passenger)	Hebei Province
7	Liaoning	Shenyang Taoxian International Airport	Liaoning Province
8	Liaoning	Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport	Liaoning Province
9	Liaoning	Dalian Port (Passenger)	Liaoning Province
10	Shanghai	Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport	Shanghai Municipality
11	Shanghai	Shanghai Pudong International Airport	Shanghai Municipality
12	Shanghai	Shanghai Port (Passenger)	Shanghai Municipality
13	Jiangsu	Nanjing Lukou International Airport	Jiangsu Province
14	Jiangsu	Su’nan Shuofang International Airport	Jiangsu Province
15	Jiangsu	Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport	Jiangsu Province
16	Jiangsu	Lianyungang Port (Passenger)	Jiangsu Province
17	Zhejiang	Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport	Zhejiang Province
18	Zhejiang	Ningbo Lishe International Airport	Zhejiang Province
19	Zhejiang	Wenzhou Longwan International Airport	Zhejiang Province
20	Zhejiang	Yiwu Airport	Zhejiang Province
21	Zhejiang	Wenzhou Port (Passenger)	Zhejiang Province
22	Zhejiang	Zhoushan Port (Passenger)	Zhejiang Province
23	Anhui	Hefei Xinqiao International Airport	Anhui Province
24	Anhui	Huangshan Tunxi International Airport	Anhui Province
25	Fujian	Fuzhou Changle International Airport	Fujian Province
26	Fujian	Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport	Fujian Province
27	Fujian	Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport	Fujian Province
28	Fujian	Wuyishan Airport	Fujian Province
29	Fujian	Xiamen Port (Passenger)	Fujian Province
30	Shangdong	Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport	Shandong Province
31	Shangdong	Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport	Shandong Province
32	Shangdong	Yantai Penglai International Airport	Shandong Province
33	Shangdong	Weihai Dashuipo International Airport	Shandong Province
34	Shangdong	Qingdao Port (Passenger)	Shandong Province
35	Henan	Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport	Henan Province
36	Hubei	Wuhan Tianhe International Airport	Hubei Province
37	Hunan	Changsha Huanghua International Airport	Hunan Province
38	Hunan	Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport	Hunan Province
39	Guangdong	Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport	Guangdong Province (Exits available at all open ports across the province)
40	Guangdong	Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport	Guangdong Province (Exits available at all open ports across the province)
41	Guangdong	Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport	Guangdong Province (Exits available at all open ports across the province)
42	Guangdong	Nansha Port (Passenger)	Guangdong Province (Exits available at all open ports across the province)
43	Guangdong	Shekou Port (Passenger)	Guangdong Province (Exits available at all open ports across the province)
44	Hainan	Haikou Meilan International Airport	Hainan Province
45	Hainan	Sanya Phoenix International Airport	Hainan Province
46	Chongqing	Chongqing Jinagbei International Airport	Chongqing Municipality
47	Guizhou	Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport	Guizhou Province
48	Shaanxi	Xi’an Xianyang International Airport	Shaanxi Province
49	Shaanxi	Taiyuan Wusu International Airport	Taiyuan City and Datong City
50	Heilongjiang	Harbin Taiping International Airport	Harbin City
51	Jiangxi	Nanchang Changbei International Airport	Nanchang City and Jingdezhen City
52	Guangxi	Nanning Wuxu International Airport	A total of 12 cities: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin
53	Guangxi	Guilin Liangjiang International Airport	A total of 12 cities: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin
54	Guangxi	Beihai Fucheng Airport	A total of 12 cities: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin
55	Guangxi	Beihai Port (Passenger)	A total of 12 cities: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin
56	Sichuan	Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport	A total of 11 cities: Chengdu, Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Suining, Neijiang, Leshan, Yibin, Ya’an, Meishan, and Ziyang
57	Shichuan	Chengdu Tainfu International Airport	A total of 11 cities: Chengdu, Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Suining, Neijiang, Leshan, Yibin, Ya’an, Meishan, and Ziyang
58	Yunnan	Kunming Changshui International Airport	A total of 9 cities of autonomous prefectures: Kenming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu’er, Xishaungbanna, Dali, and Lijiang
59	Yunnan	Lijiang Sanyi International Airport	A total of 9 cities of autonomous prefectures: Kenming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu’er, Xishaungbanna, Dali, and Lijiang
60	Yunnan	Mohan Railway Port	A total of 9 cities of autonomous prefectures: Kenming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu’er, Xishaungbanna, Dali, and Lijiang

With this new list of ports and the abolition of zones, you can arrive in China at any one of these ports and bounce between the approved areas of stay, and leave from any one of these parts as well.

These are example routes that are now allowed:

• New York City -> Shanghai -> tour around areas approved in China -> Beijing -> Hong Kong
• Vancouver -> Hong Kong -> Chengdu -> Xi’an -> Shanghai -> Tokyo
• London -> Beijing -> Kunming -> Shenzhen -> Taipei

This allows for much more freedom to explore China in those 240 hours (10 days) than ever before.

What is not clear is which land ad rail-based entries are available as it does not mention any notable ones between Hong Kong and China.

Countries That Are Eligible

Currently, 54 countries are eligible for the 240 hour visa-free transit. It’s best to check this list to make sure you’re safe.

• American countries: USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.
• European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Belarus, and Norway.
• Asian countries: Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
• Pacific countries: Australia and New Zealand.

How the application process works

If you’ve made it through all the requirements, the actual application is really easy and took Mary through a much shorter line at customs:

1. Inform the carrier (airline) when boarding and also ideally beforehand to make sure they won’t cause any problems for you – This is not an official step but we’ve found that some airlines and more specifically, ground staff can get nervous about this so it’s best to get written approval from the airline ahead of time if possible.
2. Fill an Arrival/Departure Card when you land
3. If you are between 14-70, you will need to do a fingerprint scan at the kiosk before customs
4. Fill out a separate “Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners”
5. Apply for the 240-hour visa-free stay permit upon arrival at customs – It’s the one with the shortest line and off to one side.
6. Claim your luggage
7. Leave the airport

It’s as easy as that!

The Arrival/Departure Card

This is the standard card everyone fills out when you arrive in China.

The blue “Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners” is a new card that was introduced to streamline the 240 hour transit visas.  You’ll notice that many of the questions are the same which leads us to believe that the original yellow Arrival/Departure card is not necessary.

Pay attention to the back of the card as well which we’ve included.

Applying For The 240-Hour Visa At Airport Customs

When you get into the special line at customs, you present your flight itinerary (including your onward ticket out of China), your passport, and the Arrival/Departure Card + Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners.

Yes this means that you must have a confirmed ticket to your next destination.  You can’t book it while you’re in China.

There are a few things they’ll be concerned with and ask you about:

• Are you only in China for the maximum allowed 240 hours?
• What are you going to be doing in China?
• Where will you be staying in China?

Regarding the last point, they will actually be paying close attention to the address and contact information that you fill out on the Arrival/Departure Card.

In my case, since Mary was staying with my grandmother in Shanghai, she provided the residential address and phone number.  What she experienced this time is that they actually followed up with her by contacting her cell phone while she was in Shanghai.  She also had to go to the local police office to report my presence as part of the visa.

That sounds a little scary but for regular travellers who will be staying at the hotel, what we’ve read is that they will contact the hotel to confirm your stay at the hotel.  In this situation, you do not need to report to the police station.

What does it look like when you land in PVG Shanghai?

I had a chance to take a few photos so you know what to look for when you first land and what direction to walk towards.

What does it look like when you land in PEK Beijing?

When arrive, look out for this sign to help direct you to where you need to go for the 144-hour transit visa.  As a foreigner you’ll have two steps:  1) Do your fingerprint scan and 2) Head to the temporary entry permit application area.

Sorry for the blurry photo of the fingerprint scan stations.

Then head to the transit visa desk which is a separate area and line from everyone else.

If you look at the right side, there’s a specific form you need to fill out the “Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners” form.  I’d have this and the standard yellow Departure/Arrival card ready as well.

Online Applications For Shanghai Entry

For Shanghai specifically, the government created an online way of applying for the 144 hour in-transit visa for the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2018.  Note that this is for Shanghai port of entry ONLY.

The only thing is that we believe this site is defunct but we’ll leave it here for now.

Online application for Shanghai

The following are the first few steps for applying online.

Beyond this, we’d love to hear from those that have actually gone through this process.  It looks easy enough to get pre-approval but if the website design is any indication, it’s hard to tell how well it actually works.

Counting Your 240 Hours

This isn’t as intuitive as you think.  The 240 hours starts from 00:00 or midnight of the day following your arrival.

For example, if you arrive at 6AM on May 1, the clock starts running once midnight hits to start May 2.  As a result, you need to make sure you have a flight that leaves China in the same zone before 23:59 on May 11.  If you do the math, that’s actually 258 hours in the country.

If you’re looking to truly maximize this visa-free entry, you could in theory arrive at 00:01 on Day 1, not have the 240 hour clock start until 00:00 on Day 2 and have your in-transit visa valid until Day 12 at 00:00, meaning you have to leave at some point on Day 11.

A New Chinese Government Tool

The Chinese government has created a new tool to check whether you’re eligible for the visa-free transit and it looks to have been updated for the new 240 hour in-transit visa.

The site is poorly designed but at least it’s simple and gets to the point.  Put in what country you’re from and where you intend to land.  If you don’t see the port that you want to enter in then you know immediately that the visa won’t work for you.

Once you’ve selected a valid port of entry, it does a pretty good job at providing the transit requirements, special notes, and a good Q&A.

HEADS UP: Where the tool fails is that it doesn’t factor in the new rules that allow you to enter in China from one port, and exit from a different port.

Is This Allowed For Business Travelers?

This is another question we’ve seen asked here quite a number of times. 

HavingAagone through all the documentation, we don’t see any mention anywhere about the “Purpose of Visit”.  It’s one of those things where if there are no specific rules against it, we believe you are okay.

If you want to be 100% sure, since we haven’t done it before, call the embassy in your country and find out.

Informing Your airline

If you take a look at some of the comments below from our readers, you’ll see that some have had unfortunate issues with their airline. 

The truth of the matter is that many/most airlines are not educated on how the in-transit visa works.  They are informed to make sure you have a valid China Visa in order to check-in or board your flight.  When you don’t have it, they may reject you.  That is why it is extremely prudent and recommended to talk to your airline ahead of time to make sure that they understand your situation.

Some airlines will totally get it which means you’re in the clear.  If you’re coming from a country and airline that has no idea about the process, then you’ll want to do everything to make sure you don’t have any hiccups on the day that you fly.

What About Hong Kong, Macau, And Taiwan?

This seems like a tricky question at first but transit to that third country or region allows Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.  As an example.  You can do Canada -> Beijing -> Taiwan.  This is allowed as part of the 240-hour transit visa in Shanghai.

The only caveat is that for the third country/region you’re going to, you need to make sure you can prove that you’re allowed to enter that country via a visa.  As an example, an e-visa to Taiwan may not be enough.

Clear No-No’s

If you take a look at the comments at the bottom, you’ll see that there are many common questions that come up time and time again so here are a summarized list of what is not allowed for those that are trying to find an itinerary that works:

• You cannot you use this visa to do a clear return trip even if you’re transiting through the city on the way in or out.  Customs will see the same city FROM and TO and you’ll be denied.
• Avoid departing and returning to the same country. As an example, China will not accept trips such as Sydney -> Shanghai -> Melbourne. Instead, you will need to do Sydney -> Shanghai -> Singapore -> Melbourne.
• Any minute you’re over the 240 hours and you’ll be denied even if check-in time puts you under 240.  It’s the official take-off time that they look at.

How do you leverage the 240-hour visa?

There are many travel companies that actually now offer 10 day tours designed for travellers who qualify for these visas and take you to see sites specific to each zone.

So beyond using this visa in a bind to get to China, like it was in Mary’s case, you can leverage the 240 hours to see the country in a quick 10 days before moving onto another country in Asia.

Did this help? Do you have other unanswered question about the 144 hour visa-free transit? Just drop a comment below and I’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as I can!