China’s 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Now Covers 57 Countries
China’s 240-hour transit visa-free policy grew by two countries this morning. From 20 August 2026, citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam can enter China without a visa while transiting to a third destination, and the eligible list now stands at 57 countries (National Immigration Administration [NIA], 2026a). Two names on a list sounds small. For Vietnamese and Kyrgyz passport holders, it is the first visa-free door into the mainland that either country has ever had.
The announcement came from the National Immigration Administration as Announcement No. 4 of 2026, and it moved two policies at once. Alongside the transit scheme, both nationalities were added to Hainan’s 30-day visa-free entry, which now covers 61 countries (NIA, 2026a).
What Changed in the 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Policy
The mechanics did not change at all. Only the guest list did. Here is the whole update in four lines:
- Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam join the transit scheme, taking it from 55 countries to 57.
- Both also join Hainan’s separate 30-day visa-free entry, taking that scheme to 61.
- Entry is allowed at any of the 65 open ports, spread across 24 provinces and regions.
- Permitted purposes: tourism, business, visits and family. Work, study and journalism still need a visa in advance (NIA, 2026a).
That last line trips people up every year, so it is worth repeating. Visa-free entry is not a work permit. It never has been.
Why the 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free List Matters More for Vietnam
China and Vietnam share a land border, dense flight links and a very large amount of trade. They do not, however, share a visa waiver. The mutual exemption agreement signed in 1992 covers diplomatic, service and public-affairs passports only — ordinary passports were never included (Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MFA], 2026). Kyrgyzstan sits in exactly the same position, under a 2003 agreement limited to diplomatic and service passports.
So for the ordinary traveller from Hanoi or Bishkek, a China trip has always started with a visa appointment. As of today, one route around that no longer needs the appointment at all. That is a bigger practical shift than adding, say, a 41st European country to the same list.
There is a catch, and it is structural rather than bureaucratic. The scheme is for transit. Your departure point and your onward destination must be different countries or regions (Chinese Consulate General in Montreal, 2025). A Hanoi–Guangzhou–Hanoi round trip does not qualify, no matter how long the gap in the middle. Hanoi–Guangzhou–Seoul does.
Kyrgyzstan Joins, and the List Tilts Toward Asia
Look at how the list has moved since it was created. On 17 December 2024, China rebuilt its old 72- and 144-hour transit rules into a single 240-hour policy covering 54 countries and 60 ports (NIA, 2024). Then it barely moved. Indonesia was added on 12 June 2025, taking it to 55 (NIA, 2025). Nothing else changed for fourteen months.
Today’s addition is therefore only the second expansion of the eligible list, and both new names are Asian. The regional split now reads 40 European countries, 9 Asian, 6 in the Americas and 2 in Oceania (NIA, 2026b). Europe still dominates. But the growth, such as it is, has been entirely in Asia.
Kyrgyzstan is the more interesting of the two for a different reason: geography. Central Asian routes east run through western Chinese hubs, and Xi’an has been an approved transit city since the old 144-hour days. Ten days is generous enough to make a stopover there a real leg of the trip rather than an airport wait.
How the 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Rules Work in Practice
The rules are the same for all 57 countries. They are also stricter than most summaries admit. Our full guide to China’s transit visa-free policy covers the port list in detail; the essentials are these.
- You need a through ticket. An ordinary passport plus a confirmed onward ticket with a fixed date and route. No ticket, no entry.
- The clock starts late. The 240 hours run from 00:00 on the day after you enter, not from the moment you land (Chinese Consulate General in Montreal, 2025). Arrive at 9pm and you effectively gain a few free hours.
- You may cross provincial lines. Travel between the 24 designated provinces and regions is allowed, as long as you stay inside that scope.
- Register where you sleep. Hotels handle it for you. Staying with friends means registering with the local police within 24 hours — see our note on temporary residence registration in China.
- Apply at the border, not before. There is no online form. You request the transit stay at the port on arrival.
Where the 65 Ports Let You Go
This is the part the December 2024 rewrite really changed. The old 72- and 144-hour rules carved China into separate city bubbles. Enter at Shanghai, stay near Shanghai. The 240-hour version replaced those bubbles with one designated zone of 24 provinces and regions, reached through 65 open ports (NIA, 2024).
In plain terms: land in Guangzhou, take the high-speed train north, sleep in Shanghai. That is allowed. What is not allowed is wandering outside the designated zone. Not every province is in it, and some areas — Tibet among them — carry their own permit requirements for foreign visitors regardless of how you entered. Check the zone before you draw the route, not after.
Two Itineraries That Qualify
Examples make the transit rule concrete. Both of these work under the 240-hour transit visa-free policy:
- Hanoi → Guangzhou → Seoul. Ten days in the Pearl River Delta, then onward. Departure country and destination country differ, so the itinerary qualifies.
- Bishkek → Xi’an → Almaty. A Central Asian loop with a stop on the old Silk Road. Kyrgyzstan out, Kazakhstan in — again, two different countries.
- Hanoi → Shanghai → Hanoi. This one fails. Same country at both ends, so it is not transit, whatever the ticket costs.
Book the whole chain before you fly. Buying the onward leg at the airport counter is possible in theory, though it is a poor plan when the officer is already looking at your booking.
One more point that catches first-timers. The 240-hour transit visa-free permit is tied to the itinerary you showed at the counter. Change the onward flight afterwards and you are changing the basis on which you were admitted. Talk to the border authorities before you rebook, not after.
Hainan’s 30 Days or the 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Route?
For a straightforward holiday, the second half of today’s announcement is the more useful half. Hainan’s scheme asks for no onward ticket to anywhere. Kyrgyz and Vietnamese travellers can now fly in, stay up to 30 days, and fly home (NIA, 2026a).
The trade-off is the map. You must stay inside Hainan province, and you must enter and leave through a Hainan port. That suits a beach fortnight in Sanya perfectly. It does not suit a Shanghai business trip at all. Our guide to Hainan visa-free entry sets out what the province allows.
Put simply: Hainan for a holiday, the 240-hour transit visa-free route for anything that crosses the country.
What the 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Expansion Signals
China has spent two years widening entry rules rather than advertising them, and the pattern has been consistent — more ports, more provinces, longer stays, more countries (State Council, 2025). Today’s step fits that pattern. It also lands at a moment when the transit list had been static long enough that observers assumed it was finished.
Apparently not. Whether more Southeast Asian neighbours follow is anyone’s guess, though the direction of travel seems clear enough. Anyone tracking this should watch the immigration administration’s announcement page rather than the news cycle, because these changes arrive as short notices and take effect the same day.
Before You Book a 240-Hour Transit Visa-Free Trip
- Confirm your entry port is one of the 65 approved ones. Not every airport qualifies.
- Book the onward leg to a genuinely different country or region before you fly.
- Check that everywhere you plan to visit sits within the 24 designated provinces.
- Carry a printed itinerary. Border counters ask for the through ticket, and phone batteries fail.
- If your trip involves work, study or reporting, apply for the right visa instead.
Fifty-seven countries, sixty-five ports, ten days. For two more nationalities, that arithmetic became relevant this morning.
References
Chinese Consulate General in Montreal. (2025, May 30). 外国人240小时过境免签常遇问题解答 [FAQ on the 240-hour transit visa exemption for foreign nationals]. https://montreal.china-consulate.gov.cn/zjfw/lszj/fhqz/cjwd2/202505/t20250530_11637915.htm
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. (2026, May 29). List of agreements on mutual visa exemption between the People’s Republic of China and foreign countries. https://cs.mfa.gov.cn/wgrlh/lhqz/lhqzjjs/202510/t20251023_11739051.shtml
National Immigration Administration. (2024, December 17). 中国过境免签政策全面放宽优化 [China comprehensively relaxes and optimises its transit visa-free policy]. https://www.nia.gov.cn/n897453/c1688948/content.html
National Immigration Administration. (2025, June 12). 国家移民管理局关于新增印度尼西亚为中国240小时过境免签政策适用国家的公告 [Announcement on adding Indonesia to China’s 240-hour transit visa-free policy]. https://www.nia.gov.cn/n897453/c1722957/content.html
National Immigration Administration. (2026a, August 20). 国家移民管理局关于增加吉尔吉斯斯坦、越南为240小时过境免签和海南30天入境免签政策适用国家的公告 [Announcement No. 4 of 2026 on adding Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to the 240-hour transit visa-free and Hainan 30-day visa-free policies]. https://www.nia.gov.cn/n741440/n741542/c1796294/content.html
National Immigration Administration. (2026b, August 20). 过境免签政策 [Transit visa-free policy]. https://www.nia.gov.cn/n741440/n741577/c1731205/content.html
State Council of the People’s Republic of China. (2025, November 4). China widens visa-free access in latest opening-up move. https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202511/04/content_WS69094ae0c6d00ca5f9a07472.html