Tools
China Visa-Free Eligibility Checker: 30-Day Entry and 240-Hour Transit
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China’s short-term visa-free rules are not one policy. Ordinary-passport holders from listed countries may qualify for 30-day unilateral visa-free entry. A partly overlapping group of 57 countries, including the United States, may instead use 240-hour visa-free transit if they are genuinely going on to a different country or region and enter at a designated port. This page explains how to read a result from the checker below. It is a first-pass screen only and does not guarantee entry.
Use the checker, then confirm the official lists: the NIA 30-day unilateral list (17 February 2026) and the NIA 240-hour policy page (updated 20 August 2026).
Check your visa-free eligibility
Choose the country that issued your ordinary passport, your purpose, and how long you plan to stay. Add your route and entry point if you want a 240-hour transit reading. This is a first-pass screen, last checked November 2026 against official NIA lists (50 countries for 30-day entry, 57 for 240-hour transit).
How does China visa-free eligibility work?
30-day unilateral visa-free entry
Eligible ordinary-passport holders may enter for business, tourism, family visits, exchange, or transit and stay no more than 30 days. The stay is counted from the day after entry. A Chinese Embassy FAQ states that this policy applies to open land, sea, and air ports, and that you may start from any country or region—including Hong Kong. Work, study, and news reporting are not covered. For most listed countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, the policy currently runs through 31 December 2026; Brunei has no published end date on that FAQ, and Russia is listed through 31 December 2027.
The United States is not on the 30-day list.
240-hour visa-free transit
As of 20 August 2026, nationals of 57 countries may stay up to 240 hours (10 days) if they hold an ordinary passport, hold a confirmed onward ticket with a date and seat to a different third country or region, and enter at one of 65 designated ports. The clock starts at 00:00 on the day after entry. Hong Kong can be that third region; a Hong Kong–mainland–Hong Kong trip is a round trip, not a transit.
Other paths the checker only flags
China also has mutual visa-exemption agreements with some countries, and a separate Hainan 30-day policy for certain nationalities staying in Hainan. Those rules depend on passport type and destination. The checker will point you to official tables rather than treat them as a hard “yes.”
How to use the checker
- Choose the country that issued your ordinary passport.
- Choose your purpose (tourism, business, visit, or work/study/journalism).
- Enter your planned length of stay and, if you have one, your route: where you arrive from, and where you go after the mainland.
- Optionally note whether you plan to enter via a Hong Kong land crossing (for example Lo Wu) or via a designated port such as an airport or West Kowloon Station.
- Read the result and the conditions. Then check the official list that the result cites.
Insider tip: Living in Hong Kong most of the year, I treat “I am just popping over to Shenzhen and coming back tonight” as the question the checker is designed to catch. That itinerary is not 240-hour transit.
Want the pre-flight sequence, not just a yes/no?
After you see your result, you can get the free Day-1 / pre-flight checklist by email, or use the paid First-Time China Guide for the full setup: entry rules, Alipay and WeChat Pay, internet, and the arrival card. The guide does not replace official sources or a visa application.
FAQ
Does a “likely visa-free” result mean I will get in? No. It means you appear to match a published policy on this site’s last-checked lists. Border inspection officers decide, and rules can change.
Why does a U.S. passport not show 30-day visa-free entry? Because it is not on the NIA 30-day list. A U.S. traveler may still qualify for 240-hour transit if the itinerary and port rules are met.
Can I enter from Hong Kong on 30-day visa-free entry? Usually yes, if you are on the 30-day list, because embassy guidance says open land ports are included. Complete the arrival card if required.
Can I enter from Hong Kong on 240-hour transit? Only if you are transiting to a different place and you enter at a designated port. West Kowloon Station has been a designated entry port since 5 November 2025; Lo Wu is not on that designated-entry list. See Entering China from Hong Kong.
What if my country has a mutual visa-exemption agreement with China? Follow the official MFA mutual visa-exemption table. The checker does not auto-approve those cases, because agreements differ by passport type and stay length.
This tool is a first-pass screen only. It is not legal, visa, or official government advice, and it does not guarantee entry.
Get the free Day-1 checklist
A short pre-flight sequence by email. The eligibility result above is not gated on this form.
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