China Visa Checker

China has four ways in, and which one applies to you depends on your passport, how long you are staying, and — for one of them — whether your onward flight goes to a third country. That last condition is the one people get wrong, and it is the difference between boarding and being turned away at check-in.

Your passport Choose a country… ArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBelgiumBrazilBruneiBulgariaCanadaChileCroatiaCyprusCzechiaDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIrelandIsraelItalyJapanKazakhstanLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMalaysiaMaltaMexicoNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalQatarRomaniaRussiaSaudi ArabiaSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandThailandUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited StatesUkraineUruguay

Reason for the trip TourismBusiness meetingsVisiting family or friendsPassing through

Nights in China

Trip details

I leave China for a different country from the one I arrived from I am only visiting Hainan island

Check my entry route

Indicative only. China's visa-free schemes carry expiry dates and have been revised roughly every six months since 2023. Confirm your own nationality and routing with the Chinese embassy in your country before booking anything non-refundable. Rules last reviewed 2026-08-19.

Full table — every nationality and scheme

Passport	Visa-free 30 days	240-hour transit	Hainan 30 days
Argentina	Yes	Yes	Yes
Australia	Yes	Yes	Yes
Austria	Yes	Yes	Yes
Belgium	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brazil	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brunei	Yes	No	No
Bulgaria	Yes	Yes	No
Canada	No	Yes	Yes
Chile	Yes	Yes	Yes
Croatia	Yes	Yes	No
Cyprus	Yes	Yes	No
Czechia	Yes	Yes	No
Denmark	Yes	Yes	Yes
Estonia	Yes	Yes	No
Finland	Yes	Yes	Yes
France	Yes	Yes	Yes
Germany	Yes	Yes	Yes
Greece	Yes	Yes	No
Hungary	Yes	Yes	No
Iceland	Yes	Yes	No
India unconfirmed	No	No	No
Indonesia	No	No	Yes
Ireland	Yes	Yes	Yes
Israel unconfirmed	No	No	No
Italy	Yes	Yes	Yes
Japan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kazakhstan	No	No	Yes
Latvia	Yes	Yes	No
Lithuania	Yes	Yes	No
Luxembourg	Yes	Yes	No
Malaysia	Yes	No	Yes
Malta	Yes	Yes	No
Mexico	No	Yes	Yes
Netherlands	Yes	Yes	Yes
New Zealand	Yes	Yes	Yes
Norway	Yes	Yes	Yes
Peru	Yes	No	No
Philippines	No	No	Yes
Poland	Yes	Yes	Yes
Portugal	Yes	Yes	Yes
Qatar	Yes	Yes	Yes
Romania	Yes	Yes	No
Russia	No	Yes	Yes
Saudi Arabia	Yes	No	No
Singapore	Yes	Yes	Yes
Slovakia	Yes	Yes	No
Slovenia	Yes	Yes	No
South Africa unconfirmed	No	No	No
South Korea	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spain	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sweden	Yes	Yes	Yes
Switzerland	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thailand	Yes	No	Yes
United Arab Emirates	Yes	Yes	Yes
United Kingdom	Yes	Yes	Yes
United States	No	Yes	Yes
Ukraine	No	Yes	Yes
Uruguay	Yes	No	No

How the four routes differ#

Visa-free entry, 30 days. Since 2023 China has unilaterally waived visas for a growing list of countries — most of Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Brazil and others. No application, no fee, no invitation letter. You land and get a stamp.

240-hour visa-free transit. For 55 nationalities, including Americans and Canadians, who are transiting to a third country or region. Ten days, at more than 60 designated ports, within 24 permitted provinces. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as third regions, which is what makes this route so usable in practice.

Hainan, 30 days. The island runs its own scheme for 59 nationalities arriving directly at Haikou or Sanya. It covers Hainan only — you cannot continue to the mainland on it.

The L tourist visa. Everyone else, anyone staying longer than the schemes allow, and anyone who wants to fly home directly from China rather than exiting to a third country.

Why this tool exists#

The rules are simple individually and awkward in combination. A French passport holder staying 12 days has one obvious answer; an American staying 12 days has a different one that depends entirely on their onward routing; the same American staying 40 days has a third. Published guidance tends to describe each scheme separately and leave the reader to work out which applies to them.

The tool holds all four schemes and their conditions as data, and simply tells you which one you fall into.

What it does not do#

It does not replace an embassy. China's visa-free schemes are trial programmes with published end dates, and they have been revised roughly every six months since 2023 — almost always in the traveller's favour, but always with an expiry attached. Nationalities we could not confirm against an official source are marked unconfirmed in the table rather than guessed at.

Treat the result as a starting point that tells you what to ask about, then confirm with the Chinese embassy in your country before booking anything you cannot cancel.

For the full detail on each route — documents, costs, processing times, extensions, police registration and the permits needed for Tibet and Xinjiang — read the complete China visa guide.