Which Countries Get Visa-Free Entry to China? (2026 Guide)

Quick answer: as of November 2026, citizens of 79 countries can enter mainland China without applying for a visa in advance — 50 of them under China's unilateral 30-day scheme and 29 more under bilateral mutual visa-exemption agreements (the two sets do not overlap). US passports are not on the 30-day list, but UK and Canadian passports joined it in February 2026; US passport holders can use the 10-day visa-free transit rule or apply for a standard tourist visa.

How China's visa-free entry works

Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau run separate immigration systems. A mainland visa-free scheme does not cover Hong Kong or Macau, and Hong Kong's visa-free access for Western passports (up to 180 days for British citizens) does not cover the mainland. This guide covers mainland China only.

There are three main routes in without a visa:

The unilateral 30-day visa-free list: China waives visas for 50 nationalities as of November 2026, for stays of up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits, exchanges and transit.
Mutual visa-exemption agreements: 29 countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the UAE, hold treaties with China covering ordinary passport holders.
The 240-hour visa-free transit rule: 57 nationalities, including the US, UK and Canada, can stay up to 10 days while in transit to a third country, entering and leaving through 65 designated ports.

For the first two routes there is no application and no fee: you present your passport at immigration and receive a stay stamp. Transit requires a confirmed onward ticket. Six regional schemes add niche options covered below — including a visa-free group-tour route into Guangdong from Hong Kong or Macau. Separately, travellers of every nationality may transit China for up to 24 hours at any open port, provided they stay inside the port area.

Visa policy has changed several times a year since late 2023, so re-check your nationality's status before booking flights.

The 30-day unilateral visa-free list

China launched this programme on December 1, 2023 with an initial six countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — and has expanded it in waves since. The scheme is currently authorised through December 31, 2026, and has been extended repeatedly — but confirm renewal before planning 2027 travel.

As of November 2026 the list includes, among others:

Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, United Kingdom (joined February 17, 2026)
Northern Europe: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland
Central and Eastern Europe: Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia
Asia-Pacific: Japan, South Korea, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand
Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain
Americas: Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay (Canada joined on February 17, 2026)
Russia was added on a one-year trial from September 15, 2025 and is currently extended through December 31, 2027 — check the latest notice before relying on it

Conditions to know:

Ordinary passport holders only, for stays of up to 30 days per entry.
Permitted purposes are tourism, business, family visits, cultural or exchange activities and transit — not employment, study or paid performances.
No onward ticket is required by the rule itself, but check-in staff and border officers commonly ask for a return ticket and a first-night booking, so have both handy.
You may enter more than once, but repeated back-to-back 30-day stays tend to draw questions at the border.

Countries with mutual visa-exemption agreements

Separate from the unilateral list, China holds full mutual visa-free treaties with Singapore and Thailand (30 days, in force since February and March 2024), Georgia, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Serbia, Belarus, Armenia and Ecuador, plus smaller states including the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Mauritius, Seychelles and San Marino. Stays are usually 30 days per visit; a few agreements measure the stay as no more than 90 days in any rolling 180-day period. Each treaty also defines exactly which passports it covers — the list above is the set whose agreements currently extend to ordinary passports. Ecuador: although an agreement exists, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that Chinese passport holders must currently obtain a visa for Ecuador in return, so treat Ecuador as a case to re-confirm before travelling.

The 240-hour visa-free transit rule

This remains the main visa-free route for US passports, which are not on the 30-day list as of November 2026 (the UK and Canada joined the 30-day list in February 2026). Since December 17, 2024, China has run a single unified 240-hour transit policy, replacing the old 72- and 240-hour versions, and it has no published end date.

The essentials:

57 eligible nationalities, including the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and most of Europe; Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan joined in August 2026.
65 designated entry and exit ports across 24 provinces, including Beijing Capital and Daxing, Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao, Guangzhou Baiyun, Chengdu Tianfu, Xi'an Xianyang, Hangzhou Xiaoshan, Kunming Changshui, Chongqing Jiangbei and Shenzhen Bao'an, plus cruise ports such as Shanghai Wusongkou.
A confirmed onward ticket with a booked seat to a third country or region — different from the one you arrived from — departing within 240 hours. London to Shanghai to London does not qualify; London to Shanghai to Hong Kong does, because Hong Kong counts as a separate region.
A passport valid for at least three months.

In practice the 240-hour clock starts at midnight on the day after you arrive, so an evening landing buys you nearly 11 days on the ground — confirm the exact calculation with the border officer when you enter. You are not confined to the arrival city: you can travel between the permitted provinces, as long as you exit through a designated port and register your address at every stop. Tell the airline at check-in that you are using visa-free transit, since staff verify your onward ticket before boarding.

Worked examples for non-list passports:

New York to Beijing, 10 days across Beijing and Xi'an, flying out to Seoul.
London to Shanghai, high-speed rail to Hangzhou and Suzhou, exiting from Shanghai Pudong to Bangkok.
Vancouver to Guangzhou, onward to Chengdu by air, exiting to Singapore.

If your passport is not on any list

For longer trips, or if you do not want to build your journey around an onward ticket, apply for an L tourist visa. Applications go through the Chinese embassy's visa application centre in your country, usually starting with the online COVA form; processing typically takes four to seven working days plus centre service fees. Costs vary by nationality and validity — US citizens currently pay US$140, while many other passports pay roughly US$30 to 150 depending on entries — so check your embassy's current fee schedule. US passport holders can often be issued ten-year multiple-entry tourist and business visas, which suits repeat travellers.

Regional schemes: Hainan, Guangdong, Guilin and beyond

Hainan province runs its own visa-free policy for 61 countries — a list that includes the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of Europe — allowing stays of up to 30 days. You may enter through any open port in Hainan, but activities are confined to Hainan's administrative area: this policy does not let you travel on to Beijing or Shanghai. Permitted purposes are tourism, business, visits, family reunions, medical treatment, exhibitions and sports events; work and study are excluded. The 30 days are counted from 00:00 on the day after arrival.

Guangdong from Hong Kong or Macau (group tours). Citizens of any country that has diplomatic relations with China, once in Hong Kong or Macau, can join a group of two or more organised by a travel agency registered in Hong Kong or Macau and enter the mainland visa-free for up to 6 days, travelling in the nine Greater Bay Area cities plus Shantou: Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Shantou. The group enters and leaves together through these ten cities' open ports. Jiangmen — where HXXC Travel is based — is on this list, so short Guangdong loops combined with a Hong Kong stay usually run under this scheme.

Cruise ship tour groups. Groups of two or more foreign travellers organised by a Chinese travel agency and arriving by cruise ship may enter visa-free for up to 15 days through the cruise ports of Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Lianyungang, Wenzhou, Zhoushan, Xiamen, Qingdao, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beihai, Haikou and Sanya. Activities are limited to the eleven coastal provincial regions plus Beijing, and the group must continue on the same ship.

ASEAN tour groups to Xishuangbanna. Groups of two or more holding ordinary passports from the ten ASEAN countries — Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia — may enter visa-free for up to 6 days through Xishuangbanna Gasa airport or the Mohan rail and road ports, staying inside Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. Handled by a Chinese travel agency, group in and group out.

ASEAN tour groups to Guilin. The same ASEAN groups may enter visa-free for up to 6 days through Guilin Liangjiang airport, with activities limited to Guilin city. Also handled by a Chinese travel agency, group in and group out — this is how short Guilin and Yangshuo trips run, including several of our Li River itineraries.

Hainan from Hong Kong or Macau (group tours). Groups of two or more assembled in Hong Kong or Macau by a locally registered agency may enter Hainan visa-free for up to 6 days — shorter than the 61-country scheme above, but open to every nationality whose country has diplomatic relations with China.

All six regional schemes are published together by the National Immigration Administration, and every stay is counted from 00:00 on the day after arrival. Where more than one scheme applies to you, take whichever gives the longer stay.

Rules that catch travellers out

The 30 days are per entry, counted from 00:00 on the day after you arrive — not from the moment you land. Extensions are decided case by case and not guaranteed; if you want longer, apply for a visa before you travel.
Visa-free entry never covers work, study or journalism.
Every foreigner must register their address within 24 hours of arrival. Hotels do this automatically; if you stay in an apartment or guesthouse that cannot register foreigners, you must report to the local police station.
Airlines, not just border officers, enforce these rules at check-in. Carry a printed or offline copy of your onward ticket and first-night booking.
Passport validity matters: three months minimum for visa-free transit, and six months is the safe standard for any entry.
Hong Kong and Macau are separate. Landing in Hong Kong gives you no right to enter the mainland — you still need one of the schemes above, or a visa.

Planning a route that fits the rules

The entry rule you qualify for should shape the itinerary, not the other way round. HXXC Travel's advisors work on the ground in Jiangmen, Guangdong, and plan trips around the exact window a traveller has: a 10-day transit route such as Shanghai, Xi'an and Beijing for US passports, or a 30-day visa-free loop through Yunnan and Guizhou for UK, Australian and EU passports. If you share your nationality and entry port with HXXC Travel before booking, they can confirm which scheme applies and how many days you actually get.

FAQ

Do US citizens need a visa for China in 2026?

Not for short visits structured as transit: US passport holders can stay up to 10 days under the 240-hour visa-free transit rule with an onward ticket to a third country. For longer stays, or travel without an onward ticket, they need an L tourist visa, currently US$140.

Can UK citizens enter China without a visa?

Yes — twice over. The UK joined China's unilateral 30-day visa-free list on February 17, 2026, so British citizens can enter mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism, business, family visits or transit with no onward ticket; the 240-hour transit rule remains a second option if you prefer it. British citizens also get visa-free access to Hong Kong for up to six months, but that does not extend to the mainland.

How long can I stay in China without a visa?

Up to 30 days per entry under the unilateral list or a mutual treaty, or up to 10 days under visa-free transit. Both clocks effectively start at 00:00 on the day after you arrive, not at touchdown — so an evening landing buys you an extra day. Regional schemes (Hainan, Guangdong, Xishuangbanna, Guilin) count the same way; Hainan allows 30 days, the group schemes 6 or 15 days depending on the route.

Can tour groups enter Guangdong from Hong Kong without a visa?

Yes. Travellers of any nationality whose country has diplomatic relations with China can join a group of two or more run by a travel agency registered in Hong Kong or Macau and visit Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Shantou for up to 6 days visa-free, entering and leaving as a group through those cities' open ports. HXXC Travel arranges these Jiangmen-based Guangdong loops.

Can I extend a 30-day visa-free stay in China?

Extensions are decided case by case by the local exit-entry administration and are not guaranteed. The reliable options are to apply for a tourist visa before travel, or to exit to Hong Kong or Macau and re-enter — though repeated back-to-back entries can prompt questions at the border.

Does visa-free entry to China cover Hong Kong and Macau?

No. Hong Kong and Macau manage their own immigration and grant most Western passports 7 to 180 days visa-free depending on nationality. Entering either territory does not grant access to mainland China, though both count as third regions for the transit rule.

What documents do I need to enter China visa-free?

A passport with sufficient validity (at least three months for transit; six months is the safe standard), a return or onward ticket, and a first-night accommodation booking you can show if asked. Transit travellers must have a confirmed onward ticket to a third country departing within 240 hours.

References & updates

This guide is reviewed monthly by the visa and entry desk at HXXC Travel, a China inbound tour operator based in Jiangmen, Guangdong. Last reviewed: November 2, 2026. Time-sensitive points to re-check before booking: the unilateral 30-day list is authorised through December 31, 2026 and its renewal for 2027 had not been confirmed at review time; Russia's one-year trial from September 15, 2025 has since been extended through December 31, 2027; and the country lists above have grown several times a year since late 2023. For the authoritative current position, check announcements from China's National Immigration Administration or the Chinese embassy or consulate in your country.

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As of November 2026, 50 nationalities can enter mainland China visa-free for 30 days, 57 can use 240-hour visa-free transit through 65 ports, and 29 hold mutual visa-exemption agreements. Search your passport below to see which rule applies to you, how long you can stay, and what you need at the border.