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!

235 comments on “Visa-free Policy”

  1. Jennifer says:

    Hello there,
    I am flying from New York, JFK to PEK arriving at 5:30 am on Friday February 22nd, I would like to join the 7 am – 3 pm Great Wall and Forbidden City tour, is this enough time for me to get through customs and obtain my visa and meet the tour? My flight departing PEK leaves at 5:30 pm Friday February 22nd.
    Thank you!

    Reply
    • admin says:

      Hi Jennifer,

      Thank you for contacting us!

      It is all up to how long the queue at the visa free counter. We can not make sure that you can meet our guide at 7am. And the group tour is not available for Feb. 22, 2019 yet. Because our group tour departure with minimum of 2 people. Will you travel alone?

      Reply
  2. Elizabeth says:

    Hello,
    I have a layover in Beijing on Monday, March 25th. I arrive at 9:45 AM from Seoul and I depart at 5:00 PM to fly back to the U.S. (I am a U.S. citizen). That’s a 7 hour layover. I would like to see the Great Wall during my layover, but I’m also open to other tour recommendations. Please let me know what can be arranged, thank you!

    Reply
  3. Chris says:

    Hi,
    2 of us travelling to BKK. My flight is from
    – US to BKK with layover at Beijing. Arriving at Beijing 5:20am and departure is 7:30pm
    – BKK to US with layover at Beijing. Arriving at Beijing 1:25am and departure is 9:00pm

    Please suggest the tour we need to do for going and returning. If you can provide detail how much for each person and how do I pay, I will appreciate.

    Reply
    • admin says:

      Hi Chris,

      Thank you for contacting us!

      We just sent you an email about the tour options, please check it out.

      Reply
  4. Giselle says:

    Hello,
    I will be traveling from New York City (US Citizen) to Bangkok, layover in Beijing for 8 hours arriving at 5:20 am.
    wondering if that’s enough time to do the Great Wall tour and whether we will be granted the 24 hr transit visa?
    Thank you

    Reply

Got a question? Ask us here. We will reply to you within 6 hours (normally within 1 hour).

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Are you human? Click the Banana...