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.
Updates: To further facilitate cross-border travel, China decided to include more countries in its visa waiver program and extend the visa-free policy to ordinary passport holders from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay on trial basis from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026, and from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain on a trial basis from June 9, 2025 to June 8, 2026. Ordinary passport holders from the above-mentioned five countries can be exempted from visa to enter and stay for no more than 30 days for business, tourism, family/friends visit, exchange and transit purposes.
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!
Is there any official information about the 144hour transit in beijing capital international that I can provide the airline when checking in? I have seen many people been denied boarding to China because of the airline check in being unaware of the transit visa change for Beijing.
Hi Bo,
Below link is the official information about the 144 hour transit on Beijing Capital Airport website, please check.
http://en.bcia.com.cn/server/notice/144visafree/144visafree_faq.shtml
I entered Shanghai April 30 from Taipei and received a 144 hour transit visa presenting a departing ticket to Hong Kong May 1 at 08:35. I now can’t make that flight and need to rebook the flight to 12:05 on the same day May 1 to the same city Hong Kong. Will I have a problem departing China at 12:05 because the departure ticket was 08:35?
Hi Gary,
We do not think you that is a problem. No worries!
Hi, I am entering Beijing coming from Dehli on 08-05-18. I am flying on 12-05-18 from Beijing VIA Guangzhou to Nairobi. The stopover in Guangzhou is 1,5 hours. I fly on 2 different tickets: PEK – CAN and CAN – NBO. Could I get a 144 hour transit visa with this travel route? Many thanks for your advice. Best regards, Judith
Hi Judith,
Sorry, we do not think you can get the visa-free. Please apply the visa in advance.
Hi,
Can I get the 144h visa free layover if I arrive and leave from different airports within the region?
My itinerary:
8 May Fly from Seoul to Tianjin airport
12 May Fly from Beijing Capital airport to Moscow
Is that possible?
Hi V,
According to visa-free policy, you can get the 144 hours visa-free.