In an effort to draw in more foreign tourists, China announced on Tuesday that it was extending its visa-free transit policy, enabling Americans and other qualified foreign visitors to remain in some areas of the nation for up to 240 hours, or 10 days.
On its WeChat account, China’s National Immigration Agency declared that passport holders from 54 nations are eligible for the policy, which takes effect immediately. They comprise the United States and Canada, as well as nations in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
As long as they traveled on to a third nation or region, visitors could previously remain in China for up to 72 to 144 hours without a visa, depending on where they went.
Those who have tickets to leave China within 10 days can enter the nation at 60 locations in 24 provinces, including Beijing, the capital, and Shanghai, the biggest city in China. With certain limitations, the extended program also permits transit tourists to move between regions over the 10-day period.
Many tourists, particularly Americans, who might otherwise have to endure a time-consuming visa application process in order to travel to China or other countries, favor waivers for transit passengers.
As it attempts to recover from three years of economic isolation, China, the second-largest economy in the world, has been gradually relaxing its visa requirements in recent months in an effort to attract foreign tourists.
For business, tourism, family visits, exchange, and transit purposes, passport holders from 38 countries can now enter China for up to 30 days without a visa. These nations—with which China has a contentious historical relationship—include France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and even Japan, but not the United States.
In October, the immigration service reported that while the number of visa-free entry into China had increased by over 80%, the number of foreign visitors had increased by nearly 50%.
Similar to the travel recommendations for France and Germany, the State Department last month reduced its travel advisory for China from Level 3, which advised Americans to rethink travel, to Level 2, which advises Americans to exercise heightened caution.
After the Biden administration announced that it had obtained the release of three Americans who had been held in detention in China for years, the action was taken.
According to the advocacy group Dui Hua Foundation, the second-highest level of the advice, Level 3, had issued a warning about the possibility of unjust detentions in China, where more Americans are jailed than in any other foreign nation.
Among those released in November were Kai Li and Mark Swidan, two of the three Americans the State Department formally designated as having been unlawfully held. After nearly two decades in prison, the third, David Lin, was released in September.
The amended guidance no longer mentions unjust detentions, but it still cautions against the capricious application of local regulations, including exit bans.
Beijing expressed its expectation that the revised U.S. recommendation would encourage academic and other exchanges between the two nations, which had drastically decreased due to geopolitical tensions and pandemic limitations.
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