China offers visa-free entry to travelers holding ordinary passports from Brunei, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, 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, Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Russia, Sweden, Canada and United Kingdom. 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, 2026. 

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 (August, 2026) adopts 240 hours free Transit visa to the holders of passports issued by the following countries: Vietnam, Indonesia, Chile, Czech Republic, Mexico, Macedonia, Monaco, Republic of Montenegro, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Kyrgyzstan.

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, 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!

247 comments on “Visa-free Policy”

  1. Vrinda says:

    Hi,
    We are 3 adults traveling from India to USA via Air China in February 2020 and have 9 hours layover in Beijing. We all have Indian passports. Will we be eligible for 24 hour visa free option? Also do we require to pay anything extra for this at the airport?

    We need a tour that will bring us back to airport on time. Please suggest .
    Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Marco says:

    Hi,
    We are flying to USA from Korea, with an 8 hours stop in Beijing. We are 4 passengers, holding Costa Rican passports. In addition, we have 2 different bookings with 2 different airlines: China Southern (GMP-PEK) and Air China (PEK-LAX). My question is, would this be an issue to become eligible for the 24 hours visa free transit? and must we be required to check in with Air China in Korea, before departing to PEK? Then should we inform China Southern, in Korea, that we will be requesting the 24hr TWOV upon our arrival to Beijing?
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • admin says:

      Hi Marco,

      You can get the visa free for sure. Because according to your airlines, you would have to change terminals in Beijing.

      Reply
  3. Jino says:

    Hi i am US citizens and my friend England we fly from Korea to Beijing then Beijing to Osaka both flights is not transit flights we could get free visa 144 hours?

    Reply
    • admin says:

      Hi Jino,

      According to your flight itinerary, it is suitable for 144 hours visa free policy.

      Please let us know if you have any other questions.

      Reply
  5. Idrees' London says:

    No Pakistan, Iraq or Turkey stamps in my passport but I am still worried. Have you had any visitors refused just for ethnicity or religion from your experience? Thanks

    Reply
  6. Idrees' London says:

    Thank you for the useful information.
    I am planning Kuala Lumpur-Beijing- London with Air China with a 72 hour stop in Beijing. It looks like I qualify for 144 hour transit without visa with my UK passport. However I am a UK born ethnic Indian. Have you ever heard of someone refused the transit without visa entry due to ethnicity? I am worried about this because I read in another forum that they can refuse on these grounds.

    Reply
    • admin says:

      Hi Idrees,

      According to visa free policy, UK passport is suitable the 144 hours visa free. But as a tour company, we cannot make sure that you can successfully get out of airport. Please see some reasons above as we listed. Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Mary says:

    Do you have groups that I can join for cheaper tour?
    Flight Details: Philippine Passport: 13h layover MNL – PEK – SFO
    I am also planning to book another tour two weeks after for my other layover back to MNL

    Reply

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