China 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit: 57 Countries, 65 Ports, Ten Days

The 240-hour visa-free transit is the route into China for nationalities that are not on the 30-day list, above all Americans. It replaced the older 72-hour and 144-hour schemes on 17 December 2024, was extended to Indonesia on 12 June 2025, and to Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan on 20 August 2026, bringing the list to 57 countries. The National Immigration Administration's page of 20 August 2026 is the current statement of the rules.

Who qualifies: Ordinary passport holders from 40 European countries (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom), six in the Americas (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States), Australia and New Zealand, and nine in Asia (Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE and Vietnam).

The transit condition: You must be travelling from one country or region to a different one, with a confirmed onward ticket showing a seat and a departure date within 240 hours. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan count as different regions, so London to Shanghai to Hong Kong qualifies; London to Shanghai to London does not.

Where you can enter and stay: 65 open ports in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities: Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hainan and Guizhou. The December 2024 expansion added 21 airports including Chengdu Tianfu, Haikou Meilan, Sanya Phoenix, Fuzhou Changle, Jinan Yaoqiang and Nanning Wuxu, and five more Guangdong ports were added in 2025. Once inside, you may travel across any of the 24 provinces, which was the main change from the old city-locked schemes.

What you can do: Travel, business, visits and family reunions. Work, study and news reporting still need the relevant visa. The 240 hours are ten full days; overstaying by even a few hours is an immigration offence.

Two related regional policies: Citizens of 61 countries, including the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Russia, can enter Hainan Province alone for up to 30 days without a visa or an onward ticket, through any Hainan port, for tourism, business, visits, medical treatment or conferences. Foreign tourist groups arriving by cruise ship can stay 15 days if they leave on the same ship, and ASEAN tour groups have six-day schemes for Xishuangbanna and Guilin.