If you're looking for flights from the west coast of Mexico to Russia or Europe, you'll find the cheapest flights connecting in China. In particular, Hainan Airlines, which is based at Beijing Capital Airport, flies from Mexico City and Tijuana to Moscow. In most cases, you do not need a visa to transit through Chinese airports, and now we will tell you about the requirements for such visa-free transit.
Visa-free transit through Chinese airports gives you the right to leave the transit airport and stay without a visa in a certain city or region of China for a specified period of time — 24, 72 or 144 hours.
Your nationality
Citizens of the following countries have the right to carry out 72-hour and 144-hour transit through Chinese airports without a Chinese visa:
- Ukraine
- Russia
- Belarus (visa-free entry)
- Mexico
- Australia
- Austria
- Albania
- Argentina
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- Brunei Darussalam
- United Kingdom
- Hungary
- Germany
- Herzegovina
- Greece
- Denmark
- Ireland
- Iceland
- Spain
- Italy
- Canada
- Qatar
- Cyprus
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Macedonia
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- UAE
- Poland
- Portugal
- Republic of Korea
- Romania
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- USA
- Finland
- France
- Croatia
- Montenegro
- Czech Republic
- Chile
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Estonia
- Japan
Citizens of the following countrieshave no rightfor visa-free transit through China and must prepare a Chinese transit visa:
- Azerbaijan
- Afghanistan
- Iraq
- Iran
- Yemen
- Kyrgyzstan
- Malaysia
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- Thailand
- Turkmenistan
- Türkiye
- Uzbekistan
Citizensthe restCountries other than those listed above are only entitled to 24-hour visa-free transit through Chinese airports.
Main requirements
In order to purchase the option of visa-free transit through Chinese airports, you must meet a number of conditions.
- You should have it in transit. In other words, the powers from which you flew to China and where you fly from China must be different.
- You cannot use visa-free transit through a region of China for which you need a visa in order to visit another region or province of that power for which you do not need a visa. For example, you cannot fly without a visa through Beijing airport to Hainan, where you do not need a visa. Exceptions: Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan.
- Departure from China by any means of transport other than air is not permitted.
- You must have a printed boarding pass or itinerary receipt (electronic ticket) for a flight from China. The document should be in English. Boarding passes and telephone receipts are not accepted.
- The passenger's passport must be valid for another 3 months and have one blank page,
- You must have papers (citizenship, resident status, visa) confirming the option of entry into the final country of travel.
Visa-free transit 24 hours
24-hour visa-free transit is possible through all airports in China, except:
- Fuzhou Changle
- Yanji Chaoyangchuan
- Mudanjiang Hailang
- Shenzhen Bao’an
Only 2-hour visa-free transit is allowed through Urümqi Airport (Ürümqi Diwopu).
The mandatory conditions for such transit are:
- arrival and departure are carried out by one airline using a single or two separate tickets,
- arrival and departure are carried out by different airlines using a single ticket with one reservation code,
- during the flight, the airline has pre-planned a technical stop at one of the airports in China or a transfer to a domestic flight for transportation to another departure airport,
- There should be no more than 24 hours between arrival and departure from China according to the flight schedule.
Visa-free transit for 24 hours can be arranged even if the airports of arrival and departure are different.
For short-term transit, you need to have a boarding pass for the next flight with assigned seats, not an electronic ticket.
Visa-free transit 72 hours
Visa-free transit for 72 hours is only possible through the airports of the following cities or provinces in China:
- Beijing
- Changsha
- Chengdu
- Chongqing
- Dalian
- Guangzhou
- Guilin
- Hangzhou
- Harbin
- Kunming
- Nanjing
- Qingdao
- Qinhuangdao
- Shanghai
- Shenyang
- Shijiazhuang
- Tianjin
- Wuhan
- Xi’an
- Xiamen
The mandatory norms for such transit are:
- one arrival and departure airport. You cannot use different airports in the same city,
- There should be no more than 72 hours between arrival and departure. The time countdown starts from 00:00 on the day following the day of arrival, except for the following airports, where the time countdown starts from the moment of arrival:
- Chengdu Shuangliu,
- Dalian,
- Shenyang Taoxian,
- Guilin Liangjiang,
- Xiamen Gaoqi,
- Kunming Changshui,
- Harbin Taiping.
During a visa-free stay in China, passengers are prohibited from leaving the province or visa-free region where they arrived.
Visa-free transit 144 hours
Visa-free transit for 144 hours is possible only through the airports of the following cities or provinces in China:
- Beijing
- Chengdu
- Chongqing
- Guangdong
- Hebei
- Jiangsu
- Kunming
- Liaoning
- Qingdao
- Shanghai
- Tianjin
- Wuhan
- Xi’an
- Xiamen
- Zhejiang
The mandatory conditions for 144-hour visa-free transit are:
- one city, province or visa-free arrival and departure area. At the same time, airports have the right to be different. In particular, it is possible to fly into Shanghai and fly out from Hangzhou, since they are located in the same visa-free district,
- There should be no more than 144 hours between arrival and departure. The time countdown starts from 00:00 on the day following the day of arrival, except for the following airports, where the time countdown starts from the moment of arrival:
- Chengdu Shuangliu,
- Dalian,
- Shenyang Taoxian,
- Guilin Liangjiang,
- Xiamen Gaoqi,
- Kunming Changshui,
- Harbin Taiping.
During a visa-free stay in China, passengers are prohibited from leaving the province or visa-free region where they arrived.
The lists of airports, cities and provinces that are allowed to be visited within a 72-hour or 144-hour transit are regularly updated.
How to prepare visa-free transit
On the plane or upon arrival, fill out the China Immigration Card. At the airport, follow the signs for Visa-Free Transit. At some airports in China, you must purchase an electronic queue ticket before going through passport control.
When going through passport control, provide the immigration officer with:
- passport
- immigration card
- boarding pass from the flight that arrived in China
- boarding pass or printed electronic ticket for a flight from China in English
Very often, the immigration officer will require a boarding pass for the next flight with assigned seats, rather than an itinerary receipt. If issuing a boarding pass before physically checking in for the next flight is not possible, try to convince the officer of this.
You may also be asked to provide a hotel reservation for the duration of your stay in China.
Your passport will be stamped with permission to enter China for a specified period.
If you have a Chinese visa but do not want to use it for transit, please inform the immigration officer in advance, otherwise he will issue you entry under a visa rather than through visa-free transit.
Next, you need to purchase your luggage and go through customs, then you are allowed to go out into the city.
Please remember that if you stay in China for more than 24 hours, foreigners must register with the Public Security Bureau unless the hotel does this for you.
Violation of the permitted period of visa-free stay entails a fine upon departure in the amount of $75 per day, but not more than $1,500.
While in China under visa-free transit, you do not have the opportunity to change your departure flight.