Entry rules · 2026–2027
China is more open than it has been in decades: fifty nationalities now get 30 days visa-free — including the UK, Australia and Canada — and eligible US travellers can use ten-day transit with a qualifying onward journey. Start with your passport and travel year below.
Find your entry route
Unilateral entry, mutual agreements and transit have different conditions. This comparison uses the policy position recorded on 24 September 2026.
Find your passport group, then compare the 2026 and 2027 conditions.
| Passport group | Route & stay | 2026 position | 2027 position | Official basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK, Canada, Australia, Japan & others 48 countries; full list below, excluding Brunei and Russia | Unilateral visa-free entry Up to 30 days | Valid through 31 December 2026. | Extension not confirmed. Plan a visa fallback unless a new notice covers your dates. | |
| Brunei | Unilateral visa-free entry Up to 30 days | No end date set. | No published expiry; recheck before travel. | |
| Russia | Unilateral visa-free entry Up to 30 days | Covered by the current policy. | Valid through 31 December 2027. | |
| Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, UAE, Qatar & other agreement partners | Mutual visa exemption Stay depends on the agreement | Check the passport category, permitted stay and any cumulative limit. | Follows each agreement; the unilateral scheme’s 2026 deadline does not apply. | |
| US, Mexico & other eligible passports 57 nationalities in total | Visa-free transit Up to 240 hours / 10 days | Conditional on routing, designated ports and permitted areas. | No published expiry; unchanged rules are not guaranteed. |
US passport? A return ticket alone is not enough. Check the third-country routing and transit conditions. For mutual exemptions, an agreement covering diplomatic passports does not automatically cover ordinary passports.
The short version
One gives fifty nationalities a full month without a visa application; the entry-card rule still applies. The other gives US travellers ten days with a designated port and onward ticket.
30-day visa-free entry
For passport holders from the UK, almost all of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and more — fifty countries on the unilateral list, plus around twenty-nine with mutual agreements. It covers tourism, business meetings, family visits and transit; the scheme currently runs to 31 December 2026 for all but two of those fifty. What that date means for a 2027 trip is set out below.
240-hour visa-free transit
For the United States, Mexico and 57 nationalities in total, at 65 designated ports — Chengdu qualifies. Hold a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region. Hong Kong counts.
In practice: a British family can fly into Chengdu and travel China for a month without a visa application. An American couple can fly in, spend ten full days exploring, then fly out via Hong Kong, Tokyo or Seoul — no visa, no embassy visit, no fees.
30-day entry
No application and no fee — eligible passport holders simply arrive, with a passport valid through the planned stay; six months is a cautious buffer.
Europe
Asia-Pacific
Americas & Middle East
Also covered, under mutual agreements: Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia and around twenty more countries enter under separate mutual agreements — most also for 30 days.
The lists are periodically extended by the Chinese government — the UK and Canada joined as recently as February 2026. Not sure about your passport? Ask us — we check the current route and point you to the official rule before you book anything.
240-hour transit
The US isn’t on the 30-day list, but the 240-hour transit policy comes close — ten days is enough for most first trips, buffer days included.
Planning for 2027
A private China trip usually takes three to six months to shape, so most people writing to us now are planning for 2027. The two policies sit differently on that horizon. It is worth separating them.
240-hour transit
The current official guidance publishes no expiry for transit. It expanded from 72 and 144 hours to 240 in December 2024, then to 57 nationalities and 65 ports by August 2026. That history does not guarantee unchanged rules in 2027. US passport holders must still satisfy the routing, port and permitted-area conditions.
30-day visa-free
Forty-eight of the fifty countries are written as running to 24:00 on 31 December 2026. Two already sit past it: Brunei has no end date, and Russia runs to 31 December 2027. No extension for the remaining forty-eight has been published yet.
What we do either way: we confirm the rule that applies to your passport before you commit to flights, and again before you fly, and we tell you which official notice we are reading it from. You can plan now; before non-refundable bookings, confirm the applicable entry route and leave time for a visa if an extension is still unconfirmed.
At the border
Since November 2025 the paperwork has moved online. Here is the whole sequence, from your sofa to the arrivals hall.
Not on either list?
Full support for travellers from all countries: invitation letters, itinerary confirmations, hotel booking proofs, and step-by-step guidance through the application. We’ve walked travellers from India, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and many other countries through it smoothly.
Before you fly
Disclaimer: visa policies change. This page reflects the rules as of 24 September 2026 — confirm current rules with your nearest Chinese embassy, or ask us for the latest before booking flights. We recheck the position for every guest before booking.
Check the source
Rules move. These are the government pages behind this guide; we checked them on 24 September 2026.
Operated by 成都光大国际旅行社 — licensed since 1987Travel licence L-SC-CJ00008See the paperwork →
Now the good part
Thirty days or ten — what matters is how they’re spent. See how couples and families shape a private China around the time they have.
Good to know
Yes. Fifty countries — including the UK (added February 2026), almost all of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Canada (added February 2026) and Brazil — can enter China visa-free for up to 30 days. Around twenty-nine more countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE and Qatar, enter under mutual agreements. US citizens use the 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit policy instead.
US ordinary-passport holders can use 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit if all conditions are met. The policy covers 57 nationalities and 65 ports. You need a designated entry port, a confirmed onward ticket with a departure date and seat within the permitted stay, and travel only within permitted areas. The country or region immediately before mainland China must differ from the one immediately after it; Hong Kong counts. A US → China → US round trip alone does not qualify.
Most foreign travellers should complete the e-arrival card, introduced on 20 November 2025. Fill it in before your flight through the National Immigration Administration website, the NIA 12367 app, or a WeChat or Alipay mini-program, then show the QR code it generates at the border. Official exceptions apply; check the NIA guidance. The service is free, and paper cards remain available at ports as a fallback.
The policies are dated differently. The current official 240-hour transit guidance publishes no end date; that does not guarantee unchanged rules in 2027. The 30-day unilateral scheme runs to 31 December 2026 for 48 of its 50 countries; Brunei has no end date and Russia runs to 31 December 2027. Mutual visa exemptions follow their own agreements. We recheck the exact rule for your passport before booking.
It depends on your passport and route. As of the policy check shown on this page, an extension beyond 31 December 2026 is not confirmed for 48 of the 50 unilateral visa-free countries. Russia is covered through 31 December 2027; Brunei has no published end date. The current 240-hour transit guidance also has no published end date, while mutual exemptions follow individual agreements. Previous extensions do not guarantee another one. Recheck the official notices for your travel dates before booking and before departure.
You can plan now, but do not assume an extension when making non-refundable bookings. If your passport is among the 48 countries with a 31 December 2026 expiry, allow time for a tourist-visa application unless an official extension covers your dates. We can supply an invitation letter, itinerary confirmation and hotel booking proofs; you apply yourself and approval rests with the authorities. US travellers should recheck the separate transit rules and their complete flight routing. No published expiry is not a promise that a policy will stay unchanged.
Your brief
We’ll confirm the current entry route for your nationality and sketch a first direction — three lines is plenty.
Share your group size and travel month for a free first route idea. No payment or booking commitment.
A real person will reply within 24 hours, usually much sooner. If it’s easier, continue on WhatsApp:
Open WhatsAppStart the conversation
Tell us your nationality and dates — we confirm the current entry route, then shape the trip around the time you have.
Share your group size and travel month for a free first route idea. No payment or booking commitment.
