China offers visa-free entry to travelers holding ordinary passports from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan. Citizens from those countries are able to enter China without a visa and stay for no more than 30 days for business, tourism, family visits and transit purposes till December 31, 2025.

So if your nationality is one of those countries, you DO NOT need to follow below instructions to apply for the transit visa, just please go to immigration directly.

1. Countries qualified for the 24/240 hours free Transit Visa in Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport now (Dec, 2024) adopts 240 hours free Transit visa to the holders of passports issued by the following 54 countries: Albania, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Macedonia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Republic of Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.

According to our experience, some of the countries do not belong to the 240 hours visa free countries, but if you layover within 24 hours in Beijing, you still can obtain the visa free for 24 hours. Such as: India, Philippines, Vietnam, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Dominican Republic, etc.

2. Restrictions of the 24/240 hours free Transit Visa

It only applies to passengers who transit through Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. The destination and place of departure cannot be the same.(e.g Auckland – Beijing – Auckland).

3. About how to get free Transit Visa at Beijing airport

Please see details at: https://www.beijinglayovertour.com/beijing-layover-tour-tips/.

Even if you fit all the policies above, the immigration officers still have the right to object to you for some reasons (sometimes they will tell you the reason, sometimes they don’t).

If you want to be 100% sure, please apply for the visa in advance at the Chinese Embassy.

We found some reasons that cause you can not obtain the free Transit Visa.

1. The validity of your passport is less than 3 months.

2. Worked or been to Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan.

There must be more reasons but we just don’t know yet. (The latest updated on Nov. 17, 2023)

As a tour company, if we agree to arrange a tour for you that means your flight information, layover time and your nationality fit the visa free policy requirements.

But there are still some other issues that might happen that might cause you can not obtain the visa-free or can not get out of the airport.

We don’t take any responsibility if it happens. And according to our private tour refund policy, we will deduct our tour guide and driver airport transfer costs accordingly and refund the rest of the tour fee to you. (Most companies are non-refundable)

Hope for your understanding!

Now we have the best solution for all these concerns. Our company became an official partner of Beijing Capital airport. We are the one and only qualified tour company that operates tours at Beijing Capital airport. Only we can sell tours at the airport. Please see the tour options at: https://www.beijinglayovertour.com/book-a-tour-upon-your-arrival-beijing-airport/

232 comments on “Visa-free Policy

  1. Asi says:

    We are arriving on the 2nd Jan at 6:05am and leave at 14:40pm. Would have time for a tour. We have hand luggage only. We are from the UK. When do your group tours start in the morning? Or is it better for a private tour? How much is a visa for a UK citizen for 24hours or less?

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