China Visa-Free Entry: Eligible Countries, Purpose, and Stay Limits

Applies to holders of ordinary passports · Rules change with little notice, so confirm the notice in force for your own arrival date.

China runs several visa-free schemes at the same time, and they do not share a country list, a stay limit or a geographic scope. A US passport holder can enter visa-free for 10 days in transit but not for a two-week holiday; a Thai passport holder needs no visa at all, under a completely different legal instrument. Most bad advice online comes from collapsing these into one list.

This guide covers the two schemes most travellers use (the 50-country unilateral exemption and mutual visa exemption agreements), plus the counting rule, extension limits, overstay penalties and registration duty. The two schemes with their own logic and geography (transit, and Hainan/cruise/tour groups) are linked where they belong.

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Visa-free entry is a policy category with conditions: nationality, passport type, purpose, arrival date, port, maximum stay and, for two schemes, the province you plan to visit. A summary written for a different passport or a previous year can be wrong for you even when every number in it is real. And arriving visa-free does not remove what comes afterwards: accommodation registration, a lawful purpose, and departure before your stay ends.

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Work through them in order. A "yes" on the first four does not guarantee the fifth.

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Geography and onward-ticket conditions are visible in the quick-answer table and spelled out in each scheme's guide. Two things are not, and they decide more cases than anything else:

• Purpose. Unilateral and mutual entries allow business, tourism, family visits and transit; Hainan adds medical treatment, conferences and sport; tour-group schemes are tourism only. No scheme allows work, study or reporting.
• Which instrument prevails. Where you qualify under both a bilateral agreement and a unilateral policy, the terms of that agreement or policy apply, not the more generous reading of the two.

One rule cuts across all of them: the stay starts counting at 00:00 the day after entry (see how the days are counted).

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Eligibility checks, illustrated: match all four dimensions to the specific visa-free scheme you plan to use. The diagram is a planning aid; it does not establish eligibility or guarantee admission.

Nationals of the countries below holding ordinary passports may enter China without a visa for business, tourism, visiting relatives or friends, exchange visits, or transit, and stay up to 30 days. The stay is counted from 00:00 on the day after entry.

Source: National Immigration Administration, List of Countries Covered by Unilateral Visa Exemption Policies, 17 February 2026, compiled from Ministry of Foreign Affairs information.

Three conditions travel with the list. Ordinary passports only: diplomatic, service and official passports fall under separate agreements. The purpose must fit the list above; work, study and reporting do not. And the arrangement is time-limited: it is extended or amended by notice, and the list above does not promise an open-ended end date.

That last point is the one most often missed. The only reliable question is not "is my country visa-free?" but "which notice is in force on the day I land?"

China's bilateral visa exemption agreements are separate from the unilateral list, and their terms differ by country and passport type. Many cover only diplomatic or service passports. Where ordinary passports are covered, the usual allowance is 30 days, sometimes with a cumulative cap.

Other countries whose agreements include ordinary passports: Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Dominica, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Grenada, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, Samoa, Serbia, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Suriname, Tonga. NIA publishes and updates the full table as agreements enter into force. The China–Malaysia ordinary-passport arrangement is recent enough that many third-party lists still describe it incorrectly.

Read both columns, not just the stay figure. Two countries can both say "30 days" and still differ: one allows a single 30-day stay per entry, the other caps cumulative stay at 90 days within any 180-day period.

Per NIA's official Q&A:

• the 180-day window is counted backwards from any given day of your current stay, separately for each traveller;
• days spent in China on a visa, residence permit or APEC Business Travel Card do not count toward the 90 days;
• if your cumulative visa-free stay already reached 90 days in the previous 180 days, entry will be refused;
• if fewer than 30 days remain, you may enter but cannot stay beyond the remainder.

This is why "leave and come back" is not a reliable strategy. The clock follows you.

Two schemes cover passports the main list does not, but restrict where you can go: 240-hour transit (57 countries, 65 ports, 10 days, onward ticket to a third country required) and the Hainan, cruise and tour-group schemes (30 days in Hainan for 61 countries, or 6–15 days in a defined region with a group). Each has enough distinct conditions to warrant its own guide: transit · regional policies.

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China counts a visa-free stay from 00:00 on the day after entry. Your arrival day is effectively free, and your permitted stay ends at 24:00 on the last permitted day.

A useful shortcut: departure deadline = arrival date + the number of days allowed. Arrive on 1 May with 30 days and your last day is 31 May, not 30 May. The common error runs both ways: some travellers count the arrival day and cut a day off the trip, others assume the clock starts at landing and unknowingly overstay.

Two habits prevent trouble:

• Read the admitted-until date recorded at entry (on the stamp or in the electronic record). Where the officer's notation differs from your arithmetic, the notation governs.
• Book the exit for the day before your calculated deadline on long-haul routes, so a cancellation does not become an overstay.

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Only in narrow circumstances, and only before the permitted period ends.

What is allowed: travellers who entered under a mutual exemption agreement must leave before the visa-free period ends. If an emergency or force majeure makes departure impossible, they must apply for a stay permit at the exit-entry administration of the local public security organ before the visa-free period expires.

What is not: extending a holiday, a business trip or a course because you want more time. A visa-free entry is not a convertible status, and applying after your permitted stay has ended turns a request into an overstay case.

If you know before departure that you need longer, or that you will work or study, the correct move is to obtain the appropriate visa before travelling, not to arrive visa-free and try to change status in China. Work and study permits in particular require the correct visa class, normally issued outside the country.

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Under the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the PRC, a foreign national who overstays is given a warning; where the circumstances are serious, the penalty is a fine of RMB 500 per day of illegal stay, up to a total of RMB 10,000, or detention of 5 to 15 days.

Beyond the fine:

• deportation can follow, with a re-entry ban for a set period;
• an overstay record can affect future visa applications and future visa-free entries;
• leaving the permitted area of a regional or transit scheme is a separate violation, even if your days are still valid;
• working or studying without the correct status carries its own penalties.

A one-day overstay caused by a cancelled flight is still an overstay. If disruption is unavoidable, contact the local exit-entry administration immediately and get the situation documented rather than waiting at the airport.

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Visa-free entry does not remove the registration requirement under Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law:

• Hotels register guests and report to the public security authorities automatically, so there is nothing for you to do.
• Private stays (a friend's flat, a rented apartment, a homestay that does not register guests) must be registered by you or your host within 24 hours of arrival.

Since 21 September 2026, registration can be completed online nationwide through the NIA government service platform, the "NIA 12367" app, or its WeChat and Alipay mini programs, with the same legal effect as registering in person. First registrations at a private address are best done with the host's help, since the residence details must be accurate.

Registration is checked when you extend a stay, change status, or leave through some ports. An unregistered stay is a fineable offence in its own right.

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Apply for a visa before you travel if any of the following is true:

• your nationality is not covered by the scheme that matches your route;
• you hold a diplomatic, service or official passport not covered by the relevant agreement;
• you plan to work, including paid consulting, remote work for a Chinese entity, filming or performing;
• you plan to study, including short courses and language programmes beyond a tourist stay;
• you plan journalism or media activity, which every scheme treats separately from tourism;
• you need more time than the scheme allows, or to arrive outside its validity;
• your transit route fails the third country or region test;
• you intend to travel outside the permitted area of a regional or transit scheme.

Do not rely on a tourism-focused summary for these cases. The responsible authorities are the Chinese embassy or consulate covering your place of residence, or the exit-entry administration of the local public security bureau if you are already in China. Case-specific questions can also go to the NIA 12367 hotline (now also in French). Where a scheme requires prior approval, entering visa-free first and applying afterwards is not a shortcut.

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• Save the official notice in force for your arrival date, with a screenshot showing the date.
• Confirm your passport is ordinary, valid well beyond your stay (six months is a safe standard), and has blank pages.
• Write down your calculated last permitted day: arrival date + days allowed.
• Book the exit inside that window, ideally a day early.
• Keep evidence of purpose: hotel bookings, onward tickets, invitation letters.
• Check that every city on your itinerary is inside the permitted area if you are using transit or a regional scheme.
• Plan accommodation registration for any non-hotel stay.
• Recheck the policy 48–72 hours before departure and again at check-in.

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Which countries can enter China without a visa?

It depends on the scheme: 50 countries under the unilateral exemption (as of the NIA list dated 17 February 2026), a separate group under mutual agreements (including Singapore and Thailand), 57 countries for 240-hour transit, and 61 countries for Hainan's 30-day scheme. See the list above.

Is my country on the list? What about the US, India, Singapore, Thailand? Check the list that matches your route. The US is not on the unilateral list but is on the transit and Hainan lists; India is on none; Singapore and Thailand travel visa-free under their own agreements; Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam appear on the Hainan and transit lists.

Can visa-free visitors work or study?

No. Every scheme permits a defined set of short-term activities (typically tourism, business, family visits, exchange visits and transit) and excludes work, study and news reporting. Those require prior approval and the correct visa.

How are the 30 days counted? From 00:00 the day after entry. See the worked examples.

Can I extend a visa-free stay? Only for emergencies or force majeure, applied for before the period expires. See extensions.

Can I travel anywhere in China on a visa-free entry? Only on the unilateral and mutual schemes. Transit, Hainan and group schemes are geographically limited. See the quick-answer table.

Do I need an onward ticket?

For the unilateral and mutual schemes it is not a formal condition, but airlines and officers may ask for proof of your plans and departure. For 240-hour and 24-hour transit, a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region is a hard requirement.

Can I enter visa-free, leave to Hong Kong, and come back for another 30 days?

There is no published rule allowing you to reset a stay this way. Entry is assessed on each arrival, back-to-back visa-free visits can be refused, and some agreements impose a 90-in-180 cap that makes the plan pointless anyway.

Do I need to register if I stay with friends?

Yes, within 24 hours, online or at the local public security office. Hotels do it for you; private hosts do not.

Does an overstay affect future trips?

It can. Overstays are recorded and can affect later visa applications and visa-free entry decisions, in addition to the fine, possible detention and deportation.

Where can I get a definitive answer for my case?

The NIA 12367 immigration service hotline, or the Chinese embassy or consulate covering your residence. Both outrank any travel article, including this one.

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Sources

All figures were taken from the following official publications and checked on 19 October 2026.

1. NIA: List of Countries Covered by Unilateral Visa Exemption Policies, 17 Feb 2026. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c183390/content.html
2. NIA: Details of Mutual Visa Exemption Agreements, 14 Apr 2025. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c181470/content.html
3. NIA: Q&A on Visa-Free Entry into China Under Mutual Visa Exemption Agreements, 4 Jul 2025 (90-in-180 calculation, stay permits, registration). https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c183401/content.html
4. NIA: Visa-Free Transit Policies (24-hour and 240-hour), 20 Aug 2026. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c183412/content.html
5. NIA: Regional Visa-Free Entry Policies for Foreign Nationals, 20 Aug 2026. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c180637/content.html
6. NIA: Announcement No. 4 of 2026 (Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam added), 20 Aug 2026. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147468/c217849/content.html
7. NIA: Policy Interpretation of the Nationwide Implementation of the Online Accommodation Registration Service, 21 Sep 2026. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147463/c237273/content.html
8. Exit and Entry Administration Law of the PRC, Article 39 (registration), penalties for illegal stay and employment. https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147418/n147458/c155982/content.html
9. China Consular Services (MFA): current visa and visa-free notices. https://cs.mfa.gov.cn/
10. NIA 12367 hotline: case-specific confirmation.

If a newer NIA or MFA notice contradicts anything above, the notice prevails and this page should be corrected.