In December 2024, China upgraded its visa-free transit policy from 144 hours to 240 hours (10 days) and expanded the program to 55 countries and 24 provinces — the entry-port list has since grown to 65 ports (per the NIA's July 2025 update). As of November 2025 the policy was extended through the end of 2026. For the right traveler this turns China from a "we need to start visa paperwork three months out" trip into a "book the flight on Friday, fly Monday" trip.
👉 Not sure if you qualify? Run your nationality through our 30-second Visa Checker →
It also has a stack of small rules that don't survive a quick read of the official page. This article walks through who's eligible, where you can go, the third-country requirement, how the 240 hours are actually counted, and the half-dozen mistakes that get visitors turned around at immigration.
What "240-hour visa-free transit" actually is
The policy is transit, not a tourist visa. The legal premise is that you are passing through China on the way somewhere else. In exchange, you get to leave the airport, travel domestically across 24 provinces for up to 10 days, and re-board for your onward flight — with no visa, no fee, and no advance application. Tourism, business meetings, conferences, and family visits are all fine during the stay; paid work and formal study are not.
Three rules anchor everything else:
- You must be a citizen of one of 55 eligible countries.
- You must enter and exit by air, sea, or rail through one of 65 designated ports.
- You must be travelling China → a third country (not back to where you came from). Your inbound flight is from country A, your outbound flight is to country C — never A → China → A.
If those three boxes check, the immigration officer issues a "Temporary Entry Permit" at the border. The 240 hours start at 00:00 the next day after your entry — not at the moment your passport is stamped.
Are you eligible? The 55 countries
Instead of scanning a 55-country list manually, run your nationality through the Visa Checker — it tells you in 5 seconds whether you qualify for 240-hour transit, 30-day visa-free, or need a regular L visa.
The 55 break down as: the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile in the Americas; Australia and New Zealand; Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, the UAE, and Qatar in Asia; and 40 European countries — the UK, Ireland, Russia, all of the Schengen area, and most of the Balkans.
If your nationality isn't among the 55, you need a regular Chinese visa (or the 30-day policy below, if you're on that list instead).
A separate policy worth knowing about: 30-day unilateral visa-free entry. As of the NIA's February 2026 update, 50 countries (including the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and most of Europe) can enter China visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism — without the third-country requirement. US citizens are not on the 30-day list and must use the 240-hour transit. We compare the two at the end of this article.
The 65 entry/exit ports
You can enter or exit through any of 65 designated ports across 24 provinces (the official list, last updated July 2025, is here).
Tier-1 international airports: Beijing (PEK / PKX), Shanghai (PVG / SHA), Guangzhou (CAN), Shenzhen (SZX), Chengdu (TFU / CTU), Chongqing (CKG), Xi'an (XIY), Hangzhou (HGH), Kunming (KMG), Xiamen (XMN).
Beyond the big hubs, the list runs through most provincial capitals and tourist gateways: Taiyuan, Wuxi, Yangzhou, Wenzhou, Hefei, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Nanchang, Jinan, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Sanya, Haikou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang — plus a few worth calling out for travelers: Harbin (the ice-festival city), Zhangjiajie Hehua (the Avatar-mountains airport), Lijiang Sanyi, and Huangshan. Sea ports (Shanghai, Guangzhou Nansha, Shenzhen Shekou, Xiamen) and land/rail ports (West Kowloon for the Hong Kong HSR, the Mohan rail port on the Laos line) round out the 65.
You can enter through one port and exit through a different one. A clean example: USA → Manila → Chongqing (entry) → Xi'an → Fuzhou (exit) → USA — perfectly legal, even with mismatched entry/exit airports.
The 24 provinces you can move within — and the fine print
Fully covered (the whole province or municipality is fair game): Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hebei, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Guizhou, Shaanxi.
Covered in part only — this is the fine print most summaries skip. In six provinces, the permitted area is a list of specific cities, not the whole province:
- Sichuan: 11 cities including Chengdu, Leshan, and Yibin — but not Jiuzhaigou or the western Sichuan highlands (Aba and Garze prefectures are outside the zone)
- Yunnan: 9 cities/prefectures including Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, and Xishuangbanna — but not Shangri-La
- Guangxi: 12 cities including Nanning, Guilin (Yangshuo included), and Beihai
- Heilongjiang: Harbin city only — which means, yes, the Harbin ice festival is covered, a point many older guides get wrong
- Shanxi: Taiyuan and Datong only
- Jiangxi: Nanchang and Jingdezhen only
Not covered at all: Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Jilin. Tibet and the Silk Road (Gansu/Xinjiang) require a regular L tourist visa — and Tibet additionally needs a Tibet Travel Permit. If your itinerary touches any excluded region or strays beyond the permitted cities in the six partial provinces, the 240-hour transit will not cover it.
The third-country rule
The single biggest gotcha. The policy is "transit" — you must be passing from country A to country C, through China. The rules:
- A → China → C is fine. US → China → Japan ✓. UK → China → Thailand ✓. Australia → China → Korea ✓.
- A → China → A is not fine. US → China → US ✗. You're not transiting, you're round-tripping.
- Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan count as "third countries" for transit purposes. US → China → Hong Kong ✓. This is the foreigner-friendly loophole that makes the policy genuinely useful for many itineraries.
A practical implication — and the routing I suggest to every American friend who asks: if you want to fly from the US to China and back, fly into China from the US and out of China to Hong Kong (or Macau, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok — anywhere that's not the US), then connect home from there. Hong Kong is usually the cheapest "third country" out: flights from Beijing or Shanghai are short, plentiful, and inexpensive.
The onward flight must be confirmed and visible to the immigration officer at entry. A vague "I'll book it later" doesn't work; you need a printed or screenshot itinerary.
How to actually use it: step by step
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Before flying. Book the inbound (A → China) flight and the outbound (China → C) flight. Make sure the China stay is ≤ 240 hours measured by calendar days starting the day after entry (we explain this below). Print or screenshot both itineraries. If staying at a hotel, book that too — they'll handle police registration automatically.
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At immigration. Look for the "Visa-Free Transit (临时入境许可 / Temporary Entry Permit)" or "24/240-Hour Transit" counter — it's separate from the main immigration line, and often shorter. Hand over your passport, both flight itineraries, and a filled-in arrival card; the officer confirms your eligibility and stamps a temporary entry permit into your passport.
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Within 24 hours of arrival. If you're staying at a hotel, the hotel automatically registers you with the police at check-in — no action needed. If you're staying at an Airbnb, a friend's apartment, or any non-hotel accommodation, you (or your host) must visit the local police station (Public Security Bureau / PSB) within 24 hours with your passport and the host's ID card. Skipping this is a fineable offense (up to ¥2,000) and can complicate any future visa application. Hotels do this in 60 seconds at check-in; PSB stations do it in 15-20 minutes when you walk in.
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Departure. Get to your exit port — it can be a different one from where you entered — and check in for your onward flight to country C. The temporary entry permit is good for a single exit; once you leave, it's done.
How the 240 hours are actually counted
The single most-misunderstood detail.
The 240-hour clock does not start when your passport is stamped. It starts at 00:00 the day after your entry.
Example: you land on May 30 at 11:50 PM and clear immigration at 12:30 AM on May 31. Your 240-hour transit period begins at 00:00 on June 1, not at 12:30 AM on May 31. You must leave China before 23:59 on June 10. (Regular Chinese visas count duration of stay the same way.)
Practical effect: if you land late at night, you effectively get an extra slice of free time before the clock starts. If you land at 1:00 AM, your real time in China is closer to 10 days plus 23 hours.
Common mistakes
- Booking a round-trip back to your home country. US → China → US isn't a transit. Route the return via Hong Kong / Tokyo / Seoul, or apply for a regular L visa.
- Miscounting the 240 hours. Starts at midnight the next day, not the moment you land. Don't shave the trip too close.
- Trying to go to Tibet, Xinjiang, or another excluded region — or to Jiuzhaigou, western Sichuan, or Shangri-La, which sit outside the permitted cities of their otherwise-covered provinces. Plan your itinerary entirely inside the permitted areas.
- Forgetting the 24-hour police registration at an Airbnb. Hotels handle this automatically; private rentals don't. ¥2,000 fine and a flagged record otherwise.
- Not having the onward flight booked. A printed itinerary to a third country is required at the border — "I'll buy it later" is rejected.
- Assuming Hong Kong is "still China." For immigration purposes, HK, Macau, and Taiwan all count as third countries. This is the loophole — use it.
240-hour transit vs 30-day visa-free vs L tourist visa
China currently has three main routes for short visits. Which one you should use:
| 240-hour transit | 30-day visa-free | L tourist visa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who's eligible | 55 countries (incl. US, UK, CA, AU, EU, JP, KR) | 50 countries (UK, CA, AU, EU, NZ, JP, KR, BR — but not US) | Anyone (with application) |
| Max stay | 10 days (240h) | 30 days | 30-90 days (depending on visa) |
| Onward third country? | Required (A→China→C) | Not required | Not required |
| Application | At border, free | At border, free | Apply at embassy in advance, ~$140 USD |
| Permitted regions | 24 provinces only | All of China | All of China |
| Best for | Short layovers extended to 10 days, business stops, multi-country Asia trips | Up to a month of mainland China tourism (if your country is on the list) | Trips longer than 30 days, or trips that need to visit excluded regions like Tibet |
If you're a UK / Canadian / Australian / EU citizen and want a 2-3 week China-only trip, the 30-day visa-free is the simpler tool. If you're a US citizen, only the 240-hour transit and the L visa exist. If your itinerary includes Tibet or Xinjiang, only the L visa works.
More on the 30-day unilateral visa-free program
The 30-day list grew dramatically in 2024–2026. The NIA's February 2026 update puts it at exactly 50 countries: 35 in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and most of the rest), Australia and New Zealand, 7 in Asia (Japan, South Korea, Brunei, plus the Gulf states Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia), and 6 in the Americas (Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay). One nuance: Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand aren't on this list because they have mutual visa-exemption agreements with China — a different instrument, same practical effect for those passport holders.
The authoritative list (updated whenever a country is added or removed): NIA 30-day visa-free policy page.
The biggest country currently NOT on the list is the United States. US passport holders should use either the 240-hour transit (covered above) or a standard L tourist visa — see our dedicated guide: Can Americans Travel to China in 2026?.
Final notes
The 240-hour transit policy is the most travel-friendly thing China has done for foreign visitors in years, and as of late 2025 the government has committed to extending it through the end of 2026. For most visitors from the eligible 55 countries, it removes the single biggest friction point of visiting China.
The two things to actually get right: route your trip so you exit to a third country (Hong Kong counts), and register with the local police within 24 hours if you're not in a hotel. Everything else is mechanics.
👉 Confirm your specific situation: Use the Visa Checker →
For city itineraries inside the permitted zones, start with the 4-day Beijing plan, the 3-day Shanghai itinerary, or the 3-day Chengdu itinerary — all three cities are major 240-hour entry ports.
Official sources (National Immigration Administration policy pages): Visa-Free Transit Policies — 24-hour + 240-hour, updated 2025-07-04 · List of Countries Covered by Unilateral Visa Exemption — 30-day, updated 2026-02-17 · China's Entry Facilitation Policies for Foreign Nationals — overview, 2025-12-07.
