On Nov. 24, 2023, China decided to offer visa-free entry to travelers holding ordinary passports from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024. Citizens from those countries are able to enter China without a visa and stay for no more than 15 days for business, tourism, family visits and transit purposes.

Updates: In order to further promote personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries, China has decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries and implement a pilot visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg. From March 14 to November 30, 2024, ordinary passport holders from the above countries can enter China without a visa if they come to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit for no more than 15 days.

1. Countries qualified for the 24/144-hour free Transit Visa in Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport now (Nov. 17, 2023) adopts 144-hour 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 144-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 24/144-hour 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/

222 comments on “Visa-free Policy

  1. Steph says:

    I am currently living in Australia on a UK passport. I am flying to Germany via China. Can I apply for a transit visa when I get to the airport? Is there a cost to this? My layover is around 19 hours, which tour would you recommend? I also have the same layover on the way back to Australia, so may have the opportunity to do two. Thank you

  2. Aben Sarmiento says:

    Hi Iam a filipino citizen and living in Austria for 22 years with a Schengen visa.I have a layover of 14 hours in Beijing and want to have a layover tour to the Great Wall.Iam qualified of a 24 hour visa?

  3. Marta says:

    Hi!
    I’m from Spain, travelling to NZ next month, on the 19 Dec. I’ll be transiting in Beijing. Do I need to apply for the Visa-Free Permit to leave the airport for less than 24h? I’ve seen the new announcement that some countries (Spain included) can visit China without Visa for 15 days. Does that mean that I don’t need to do the queue for a Visa-Free Permit when I get to the airport?

    Thanks!

    • admin says:

      Hi Marta,

      Thank you for contacting us!

      As we understand, you do not need to wait in line to apply for the transit visa. Just go through the immigration directly when you arrive.

      Please let us know if you have any other questions. Thank you!

  4. Irshad says:

    Hi
    I am a NZ citizen and will be transiting Bejing. We are 2 adults and 2x kids. Kids are 5 and 1 year old.
    All NZ citizen.
    Will we need visa to come out of the airport. Our transit is 18 hours. We are at 7am and depart at 1am the following morning.

    • admin says:

      Hi Irshad,

      Thank you for contacting us!

      Yes, you would have to apply for the transit visa (temporary visa permit) first, then you can leave the airport.

      Please let us know if you have any other questions.

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