240-Hour Visa-Free Stay in China: Rules & Cities Guide

Zoella Last updated 08 Jul 2026

If you have some free time before heading to your next destination, why not spend a little while in China? Thanks to expanded transit policies, travelers from dozens of countries can now stay in China for up to 10 days without having to apply for a traditional visa in advance. This is the “240-hour visa-free China” that many tourists have been searching for.

If you want to use this visa to travel in China, here’s everything you need to know before booking your trip.

What Is a 240-Hour Transit Visa?

The 240-hour visa-free stay in China isn't technically a "visa" in the traditional sense, it's a visa exemption for travelers who are passing through China on their way to a third country or region. That's an important distinction. You can't use this policy to fly into China and stay put as your final destination; you need proof that you're continuing on to somewhere else afterward.

A 10-day window turns a layover into an actual leg of the journey. Business travelers use it to fit in meetings between connecting flights. Leisure travelers use it to add a city they'd never have booked a separate trip for. Either way, the appeal is the same: no extra visa fee, no embassy appointment, and no weeks of waiting for approval.

beijing fall

China's Visa-Free Transit Policy

China's visa-free transit policy has been around in some form for years, but it used to be far more limited. Earlier versions capped stays at 72 or 144 hours and only applied to a handful of cities. That changed in December 2024, when the National Immigration Administration relaxed the rules significantly. The stay period was extended to 240 hours across the board, and the government added more entry ports and expanded the list of provinces where travelers are allowed to go.

As of the most recent update, the policy covers nationals from 55 countries and applies at 65 designated entry and exit ports spread across 24 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities.

Here's the part that matters most for planning your trip: while you're on this visa exemption, you're allowed to do more than just sightsee. You can travel, attend business meetings, visit friends or relatives, and take part in general tourism-style activities. What you can't do is work a job, enroll in a course of study, or report news professionally, those activities still require the appropriate visa category.

List of Applicable Countries

Not every passport qualifies, so check this list before you build any plans around it. The 240-hour visa-free stay in China currently applies to citizens of the following countries:

Europe: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

North America: Canada and the United States.

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.

Oceania: Australia and New Zealand.

Asia: Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

Definition of Third-Party Countries/Regions

This is the piece of the policy that confuses the most people, so let's slow down here. To qualify for visa-free transit, you have to be traveling through China to a third country or region, meaning a destination that's different from the country you departed from.

Here's a simple way to think about it: if you fly from New York to Shanghai, spend eight days in China, and then continue on to Tokyo, that's a valid transit route. You started in the US, transited China, and are ending in Japan, three separate places. But if you flew from New York to Shanghai and then flew right back to New York, immigration officers will not consider that a genuine transit itinerary, since your origin and final destination are the same country.

Do Hong Kong and Macau qualify as third-party regions? Yes, they do. Even though both are part of China, they operate under separate immigration systems from the mainland, so a route like Los Angeles to Shanghai to Hong Kong still counts as a valid transit itinerary. This is one of the more useful quirks of the policy, since it means you don't have to fly to a different country to satisfy the third-party requirement, a connection through Hong Kong or Macau works just as well, and both are easy to reach from most of the eligible mainland cities.

hongkong

Regions and Cities Permitted for Entry

The policy currently covers 24 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Here's how access breaks down by region:

Province/ Region	Access
Beijing	Entire municipality
Tianjin	Entire municipality
Hebei	Entire province
Liaoning	Entire province
Shanghai	Entire municipality
Jiangsu	Entire province
Zhejiang	Entire province
Fujian	Entire province
Shandong	Entire province
Henan	Entire province
Hubei	Entire province
Hunan	Entire province
Guangdong	Entire province
Chongqing	Entire municipality
Shaanxi	Entire province
Anhui	Entire province
Hainan	Entire province
Guizhou	Entire province
Heilongjiang	Harbin
Shanxi	Taiyuan, Datong
Jiangxi	Nanchang, Jingdezhen
Guangxi	Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, Laibin
Sichuan	Chengdu, Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Suining, Neijiang, Leshan, Yibin, Ya'an, Meishan, Ziyang
Yunnan	Kunming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu'er, Xishuangbanna, Dali, Lijiang

18 of these regions grant full-province access, meaning you can travel anywhere within their administrative borders without restriction. The other six, Heilongjiang, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan, limit you to a specific list of approved cities. Guangxi is the widest of these six, stretching from Nanning and Guilin to smaller stops like Hezhou and Laibin, which gives you plenty of room to combine karst mountain scenery with coastal towns in a single trip. On the narrower end, Heilongjiang is limited to Harbin alone, and Shanxi covers just Taiyuan and Datong.

What makes this policy genuinely useful for travelers is the ability to move between these zones. If you land in Shanghai, you're not stuck there for 10 days, you could work in a few nights in Suzhou, Hangzhou, or even fly onward to Chengdu, all without leaving the visa-free framework, as long as your travel stays inside the approved areas and you depart for your third-country destination within the 240-hour window.

chengdu panda

Airports matter here too. The number of eligible entry and exit ports has grown to 65, adding regional airports like Taiyuan Wusu, Hefei Xinqiao, Fuzhou Changle, Sanya Phoenix, and Chengdu Tianfu to the list, alongside the major international hubs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. That means smaller regional gateways are now valid entry points too, not just the traditional big-city airports.

How to Apply for a 240-Hour Transit Visa

Here's the good news: there's no separate application, no embassy visit, and no advance approval needed. This is a visa exemption, not a visa, so the "application" really happens at the airport when you arrive. That said, a bit of prep goes a long way.

Before you fly:

Confirm your passport is from one of the 55 eligible countries.
Book a route that clearly shows transit through China to a third country, with the final destination different from your origin.
Have your onward ticket confirmed, with a fixed date and seat, open tickets typically won't satisfy the requirement.
Check that your arrival airport is one of the 65 designated ports, and that your planned itinerary stays within the approved provinces for that entry point.
Make sure your passport has enough validity remaining, generally at least six months, and has blank pages for entry stamps.

How to Use It After Arriving in China

At the airport:

Look for the dedicated 240-hour transit lane at immigration, most major airports have signage for this now, separate from the regular visa queue.
Present your passport, your onward ticket, and if requested, proof of your original departure point.
An immigration officer will review your documents and, if everything checks out, stamp your passport with the visa-free transit endorsement, noting your permitted stay duration and region.

That's really it. Because this process runs through the immigration counter rather than an embassy, you'll find out immediately whether you're approved, and there's no waiting period beforehand.

Once you've cleared immigration, your 10-day clock starts running from the moment you enter. A few practical things to know as you plan your days:

You'll want to register your accommodation within 24 hours of arrival, which is standard practice in China for all foreign visitors. Hotels handle this automatically when you check in, so if you're staying somewhere formal, there's nothing extra for you to do. If you're staying with friends or family, you'll need to register in person at the local police station.

FAQ

Can US citizens enter China without a visa?

Yes. The United States is on the list of 55 eligible countries, so American passport holders can use the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, provided they're traveling through China to a different third country and meet the standard requirements, confirmed onward tickets, valid travel documents, and an itinerary that doesn't loop back to the US.

Can Americans stay in China without a visa for 240 hours?

Yes, up to 240 hours, which is 10 days. The stay period is the same for all eligible nationalities, US citizens included. The clock starts when you clear immigration and ends when you depart, so travelers often plan their itinerary down to the hour to make the most of the full window without risking an overstay.

How to get a 240 hour transit visa in China?

There's no formal application process, since this is a visa exemption rather than a standard visa. Eligible travelers simply need to book a qualifying itinerary, one that transits through China to a genuinely different third country, and present their passport and confirmed onward ticket at immigration upon arrival. Officers process the exemption on the spot at one of the 65 designated ports, and no embassy visit or advance paperwork is required.