China visa-free entry.
Check your itinerary.
Check a 30-day visa waiver or 240-hour visa-free transit. Hong Kong and Macao count as separate regions for the onward-route test.
Your journey at a glance
Use the stops immediately before and after mainland China, including connecting flights.
Check another entry route
These checks do not establish eligibility for the 30-day waiver or 240-hour transit. A bilateral or regional exemption may apply; otherwise arrange the appropriate visa.
- You need a confirmed onward ticket with a date and itinerary, and permission to enter your next destination.
- Transit requires at least three months of passport validity.
Planning guidance based on official sources reviewed 12 September 2026. Confirm with your airline and the National Immigration Administration (12367) before travel.
See permitted transit regionsWhere can you travel on 240-hour transit?
You may travel between the designated areas of these 24 provincial-level regions. Restricted zones and special permits still apply. Enter through a listed port and confirm the exit port with border inspection.
Entire province or municipality
Beijing · Tianjin · Hebei · Liaoning · Shanghai · Jiangsu · Zhejiang · Anhui · Fujian · Shandong · Henan · Hubei · Hunan · Guangdong · Hainan · Chongqing · Guizhou · Shaanxi
Only the following areas in six regions
- Shanxi: Taiyuan and Datong.
- Heilongjiang: Harbin.
- Jiangxi: Nanchang and Jingdezhen.
- Guangxi: Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi and Laibin.
- Sichuan: Chengdu, Zigong, Luzhou, Deyang, Suining, Neijiang, Leshan, Yibin, Ya’an, Meishan and Ziyang.
- Yunnan: Kunming, Yuxi, Chuxiong, Honghe, Wenshan, Pu’er, Xishuangbanna, Dali and Lijiang.
The third-country rule, with examples
United States → Shanghai → Japan: the route meets the third-country test. United States → Shanghai → United States: it does not. Use the last international stop before mainland China and the first stop after it, not simply the start and end of your whole holiday.
Hong Kong → mainland China → Macao can satisfy the route test. The passport, port, ticket and permitted-stay requirements still need to be met.
The stops immediately before and after mainland China must differ
Use the last international region before mainland China and the first international region after it.
The onward region is different from the region before China.
The route returns to the same region immediately after China.
What if this calculator does not cover my trip?
Bilateral visa agreements, the Hainan regional exemption and other entry categories have separate conditions. Review the applicable agreement or arrange a visa; a negative result here does not rule out every exemption.