If you have China on your travel bingo card for 2025, I have good news for you. Effective immediately, Americans will be able to visit the country for up to 10 days without a visa if you're transiting to another destination, including Macau and Hong Kong.
This is a significant positive development for everything from last-minute trips to long-planned vacations, eliminating for many people the paperwork, cost and stress of the visa application process.
Plus, citizens of 52 other countries will be able to take advantage of these new relaxed visa procedures, too, and the majority of them can stay up to 30 days without needing a visa (the U.S. doesn’t qualify yet for the longer stay).
Here are some key points about China's new visa-free transit policy for foreign visitors.
What was the previous China visa policy for Americans?
Prior to this week, Americans were required to have a visa to enter China.
While you could apply for a multiple-entry visa that was valid for 120 months, there was no guarantee that your application would be approved or that you would receive the full 10-year version, even if your visa request was granted.
TPG senior cruise writer Ashley Kosciolek applied for a Chinese visa in the fall before a recent cruise with Viking. She submitted documentation at the consulate in New York, along with the official cost of $140. While she was approved for a visa (which she had to pick up in person a few days later), it was only good for a single entry and allowed her into the country for 30 days. However, some fellow passengers on her sailing said they applied via the service the cruise recommended and were approved for 10-year visas, but at a cost of about $1,200 per person — a significant price difference that included service fees and shipping costs.
Why Americans no longer need a visa to visit China
Although China had slowly been relaxing visa requirements for many nations since last fall, up until yesterday (Dec. 16), the country required U.S. citizens to obtain a visa before they could enter the country. These visas cost $140 per person and took at least four days to process.
Starting in the fall of 2023, China had been relaxing travel requirements for foreign visitors, first allowing citizens of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway and Malaysia to visit the country visa-free, according to China Briefing. Now, Americans, along with people from 52 other countries, will be able to visit China for at least 10 days (and up to 30 days for those from some other nations, though not the U.S.) without a visa.
As of today, Dec. 17, Americans can now stay up to 10 days (or, more specifically, 240 hours) when entering the country through one of 60 entry points across 24 provinces as a transit passenger on the way to a third destination. That means for the kind of cruise that we mention above, there would be no visa, or cost, involved to visit the country as long as you visited for less than 10 days (for a longer stay, you would still need to obtain a visa) and then went on to another destination before returning home, including the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong.
Restrictions to keep in mind
While visa-free transit entry is available for trips up to 240 hours, a passport is still required for travel to China, and passports must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into the country.
Bottom line
If the thought of applying, and paying, for a visa to visit China has been causing you to hesitate to visit the country, that obstacle has now been removed if you're transiting to a third destination.
Effective immediately, you can visit the country for up to 240 hours with a valid passport, with no other paperwork required if you add a third option to your trip, including a stop in nearby Hong Kong and Macau.
Related reading:
- US-China flights are a quarter of what they were pre-pandemic — here’s why
- The difference between CDC and State Department travel warnings
- If you need a passport quickly, this service may be for you
- Can you have multiple passports?
- How the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program could help you on your next trip abroad
- Brazil delays visa requirement for Americans once again
