Short answer: ordinary passport holders from 57 countries can enter mainland China without a visa for up to 240 hours (10 days) when they are in transit to a third country or region. You need a passport valid for at least three months, a confirmed onward ticket with a date and a seat, and you must enter and leave through one of 65 open ports in 24 provinces. Tourism, business, visiting family and transit are allowed; work, study and journalism are not.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How long can I stay? | Up to 240 hours (10 days), counted from 00:00 on the day after you enter |
| Which nationalities qualify? | 57 countries - see the full list below |
| Do I need a ticket out of China? | Yes - booked before you arrive, with a confirmed date and seat, to a third country or region |
| Can I fly back home the same way? | No - departure and destination must be different countries or regions |
| Do I need to apply in advance? | No - the permit is issued at the border on arrival |
Which 57 countries qualify for 240-hour transit?
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.
Asia (9): Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.
Americas (6): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, United States.
Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand.
Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added on 20 August 2026, bringing the list from 55 to 57 countries. Check the list again close to departure: it has been revised several times a year.
The three conditions that decide it
Genuine transit. The country or region you depart from and the one you are heading to must be different. Los Angeles to Beijing to Tokyo qualifies; a Los Angeles to Beijing round trip does not. Hong Kong, China and Macao, China count as separate destinations from the mainland for this rule.
A passport valid for at least three months and not carrying a previous Chinese visa refusal stamp.
A confirmed onward ticket with a date and a seat, issued before you land. If you have not booked it, the border inspection cannot issue the temporary entry permit, even if everything else is in order.
Where you are allowed to travel
The 240 hours are valid across 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, and you may travel between them. Six of them have city-level limits, so check your route before you commit:
Shanxi: Taiyuan and Datong only
Heilongjiang: Harbin only
Jiangxi: Nanchang and Jingdezhen only
Guangxi: 12 cities including Nanning, Guilin, Liuzhou and Beihai
Sichuan: 11 cities including Chengdu, Leshan and Yibin
Yunnan: Kunming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Dali and Lijiang only
That last point catches people out. Shangri-La and the rest of Diqing Prefecture in Yunnan are not inside the permitted area, so a Kunming to Shangri-La extension is not possible on a transit permit. Practically speaking, a 10-day transit window suits one region well - Beijing with Xi'an, or Shanghai with Hangzhou and Suzhou, or a single Yunnan or Sichuan loop - rather than a five-city dash across the country.
What you cannot do on a transit permit
Work, study or carry out journalism - these require the correct visa before departure
Stay beyond 240 hours or travel outside the permitted provinces
Skip accommodation registration (see below)
What you must do after arrival
Foreign visitors must register their accommodation. If you stay in a hotel, the hotel does it for you. If you stay anywhere else - a friend's flat, a homestay, a private apartment - you or your host must report to the local police station within 24 hours of moving in. Overstaying the 240 hours, leaving the permitted area, or failing to register accommodation are all punishable under Chinese law.
Who is refused at the border
Border inspection will not issue a temporary entry permit if your passport has less than three months of validity left, if it carries a Chinese visa refusal stamp, or if you have a record of illegal entry, illegal residence or illegal employment in China within the past five years.
240-hour transit compared with the 30-day visa-free entry
These are two separate policies. If your passport is on the 30-day unilateral visa-free list (which currently runs to 31 December 2026 for most countries), you do not need the transit route at all - you simply enter, and your trip does not have to be a transit. The 240-hour permit matters most for US, Mexican, Brazilian, Chilean, Argentine and Canadian travellers connecting through China, since the first three groups are not on the 30-day list.
Planning a transit stopover
Ten days is enough for a genuinely good trip if the geography is kept tight. Send us your nationality, the date your onward flight leaves China and the cities you want to see, and we will confirm which of the two policies fits your trip and build an itinerary that stays inside the permitted area. Start planning your transit itinerary
Last updated: September 16, 2026. Source: National Immigration Administration of China. Visa-free policy is revised several times a year - confirm your entry route before booking flights.
