In line with international law and practice, any sovereign state is entitled to make its own decisions as to whether to allow a foreign citizen to enter or leave its borders, and to issue or refuse to issue a visa, or to revoke an issued visa according to its own laws. Based on Chinese laws and regulations, Chinese consular officials may decide on the type of visa, number of entries, validity period and duration of stay, and may also refuse a visa application or revoke an issued visa. 1. The necessity to apply for a Chinese visa if a foreign citizen is planning to visit Foreign citizens should have applied for and obtained appropriate visas before entering You are advised to ensure that your visa is valid before travel. If your visa has expired or the visa has insufficient number of entries, you need to apply for a new visa. 2. Types of Chinese visas Chinese visas fall into the types of diplomatic visas, courtesy visas, public service visas and ordinary visas. Ordinary visas can be further classified as the following categories: (1) C visa: Issued to foreign crew members of means of international transportation, including aircraft, trains and ships, or motor vehicle drivers engaged in cross-border transport activities, or to the accompanying family members of the crew members of the above-mentioned ships. (2) D visa: Issued to those who intend to reside in (3) F visa: Issued to those who intend to go to (4) G visa: Issued to those who intend to transit through (5) J1 visa: Issued to resident foreign journalists of foreign news organizations stationed in (6) J2 visa: Issued to foreign journalists who intend to go to (7) L visa: Issued to those who intend to go to (8) M visas: Issued to those who intend to go to (9) Q1 visa: Issued to those who are family members of Chinese citizens or of foreigners with Chinese permanent residence and intend to go to "Family members" refers to spouses, parents, sons, daughters, spouses of sons or daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandsons, granddaughters and parents-in-law. (10) Q2 visa: Issued to those who intend to visit their relatives who are Chinese citizens residing in (11) R visa: Issued to those who are high-level talents or whose skills are urgently needed in (12) S1 visa: Issued to those who intend to go to China to visit the foreigners working or studying in China to whom they are spouses, parents, sons or daughters under the age of 18 or parents-in-law,or to those who intend to go to (13) S2 visa: Issued to those who intend to visit their family members who are foreigners working or studying in "family members" refers to spouses, parents, sons, daughters, spouses of sons or daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandsons, granddaughters and parents-in-law. (14) X1 visa: Issued to those who intend to study in (15) X2 visa: Issued to those who intend to study in (16) Z visa: Issued to those who intend to work in 3. Validity period, number of entries and duration of each stay of Chinese visas (1) The validity period of a visa ("Enter Before") refers to the valid time length of the visa itself. A visa is valid for the visa holder to enter the Chinese border from the date the visa is issued to the expiry date (as of Beijing Time). If a visa has unused entries, the holder can still use it before the expiry date (inclusive). (2) The term "Entries" of a visa refers to the number of times the visa holder is permitted to enter the Chinese border within the validity period of the visa. A visa becomes invalid if all the entries are used up or if the visa has expired even though there are entries unused. In this case, you will have to submit a new visa application if you wish to visit (3) The "Duration of Each Stay" refers to the maximum number of days a visa holder is permitted to stay in Foreign citizens who stay in China longer than permitted by the visa without applying for an extension of stay will be considered as violating the Law of the People's Republic of China on Control of the Entry and Exit of Aliens and Rules Governing the Implementation of the Law of the PRC on the Entry and Exit of Aliens, and as a result will face prosecution of fines or other penalties. Therefore, the visa holder must apply for an extension of stay at local public security authorities above county level (detailed requirements are available on the websites of local public security authorities) should it be foreseeable that an overstay would happen. (However, approval of the application cannot be guaranteed.) Chinese embassies and consulates in foreign countries do not accept applications for visa extension. Holder of D visa, J1 visa, Q1 visa, S1 visa, X1 visa, Z visa must register with a local public security authorities for residential formalities within 30 days of entry. Resident members of diplomatic and consular missions must complete residential formalities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or local foreign affairs departments within 30 days of entry. 4. Visa Exemptions Foreign citizens visiting (1) Direct Transit Foreign citizens who are going to transit From the 1st January 2013, citizens of the following countries holding a valid travel document, a transit flight ticket with a confirmed departure seat and date leaving within 72 hours,who transit via Beijing (Beijing Capital International airport) or Shanghai (Shanghai Pudong International airport and Hongqiao International airport) to a third country (region) may be exempt from a transit visa, provided that their stay within the Beijing or Shanghai administrative regions does not exceed 72 hours: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. From the 1st August 2013, citizens of the following countries holding a valid travel document, a transit flight ticket with a confirmed departure seat and date leaving within 72 hours, who transit via Guangzhou Baiyun International airport to a third country (region) may be exempt from a transit visa, provided that their stay within the Guangdong administrative region does not exceed 72 hours: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. From the 1st September 2013, citizens of the following countries holding a valid travel document, a transit flight ticket with a confirmed departure seat and date leaving within 72 hours, who transit via Chengdu Shuangliu airport to a third country (region) may be exempt from a transit visa, provided that their stay within the Chengdu administrative region does not exceed 72 hours: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. (2) Travellers to the Pearl River Delta or 1) Foreign citizens holding ordinary passports of a country with diplomatic relations with China, are exempt from a visa, if they are already in Hong Kong or Macao, and wish to enter the Pearl River Delta region (including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Zhaoqing and Huizhou) as a member of tourist group organised by a travel agency legally registered in Hong Kong and Macao, and also if their stay will not exceed 6 days. 2) Citizens of the following countries holding ordinary passports are exempt from a visa, if they travel to Hainan Province in a tourist group (more than five people inclusive) organised by an international travel agency registered in Hainan Province and approved by China National Tourism Administration, and also if their stay is not to exceed 15 days: the U.S., Malaysia, Thailand, Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Germany, the U.K., France, Austria, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Japan, and Singapore. Among the listed countries, visitors from 3) Citizens of Citizens of a. the passport held is an ordinary one and the stay is to exceed 15 days, and the purpose of the visit is tourism, business or meeting relatives and friends in China; b. the passport held is an ordinary one, and the purpose of the visit is study, work, settlement, official visit or news coverage in c. the visitor holds a Japanese diplomatic or a public service passport. 4) Holders of valid APEC business travel cards An APEC business travel card is equivalent to a three-year visa with multiple-entries. Holder of such a card together with a matching passport is entitled to making multiple entries, to 5) Holders of valid certificate of permanent residence issued to foreign citizens by the People's Republic of 6) Holders of valid residence permit issued to foreign citizens by Chinese public security authorities Foreign citizens who come to China to pursue study or to take office or to take employment, and resident foreign journalists, must register with the public security authorities for a residence permit after arriving in China. Within the validity period of the residence permit foreign citizens may reside in 7) Bilateral Agreements Citizens of some countries having bilateral agreements, either signed or reached with |