The 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit, Explained for 2026

Four regimes, one decision

China runs several transit-without-visa schemes, and they are not versions of the same thing. The 24-hour rule is a direct-transit exemption: most nationalities can change planes, or take an onward train, within a day without a visa, provided they keep moving. The 72- and 144-hour schemes still exist on paper at a short list of ports. The 240-hour policy, introduced at the end of 2024 and widened twice since, is the one nearly every traveller now uses.

If you are staying longer than a day and leaving for a different country, assume the 240-hour policy is your route — then verify your nationality and your arrival port on the official list before you book anything.

Regime	Duration	Eligible travellers	Typical use
24-hour direct transit	24 hours from arrival	Most nationalities, airside or a brief city exit	A connection in Shanghai or Beijing
72-hour	72 hours	A short list of ports and nationalities	A city break, rarely the best option now
144-hour	144 hours	The older expanded port list	Legacy itineraries, largely superseded
240-hour	240 hours (10 days) from 00:00 the day after entry	50+ nationalities, 24 provincial regions	A proper 7–10 day trip

Who qualifies

Eligibility has two halves: your passport, and your routing. The passport list runs to more than fifty countries and includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and most of the European Union. The routing test is stricter than most people expect.

You must arrive from one country or region and depart to a third. In practice that means a confirmed onward ticket to a different country, leaving within your 240 hours. Hong Kong and Macau count as third regions; returning to your own country does not.

The third-country rule, in plain terms

London → Shanghai → London fails. You arrived from the UK and you are going back to the UK, so there is no transit to speak of. London → Shanghai → Hong Kong passes, because Hong Kong is treated as a separate region. Los Angeles → Beijing → Bangkok passes. Sydney → Guangzhou → Sydney does not.

Book that onward flight before you reach the desk, and make sure the date sits inside the window. An open ticket, a standby listing or a “to be confirmed” itinerary is the single most common reason a traveller is turned around at immigration.

Where you can land, and how far you can roam

As of late 2026 the policy covers 24 provincial-level regions — Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shaanxi and others — and roughly 60 ports of entry. Both lists have been revised more than once, so check the National Immigration Administration notice for your arrival airport before you book. Tibet and Xinjiang are not on the list.

The regions matter because your 240 hours are geographically bounded. You can take the train from Beijing to Shanghai, Shanghai to Hangzhou, Xi’an to Chengdu. You cannot use the policy as a back door into Lhasa or Kashgar, however cheap the flight looks.

The clock starts the morning after

This is the detail that gives you back a day. Your 240 hours begin at 00:00 on the day after entry, not at the moment the officer waves you through. Land at 22:00 on a Monday and your clock starts at midnight, running to 23:59 on the Thursday of the following week. Ten full days, effectively eleven.

The officer writes the final permitted date into the system, and that date is the one that counts — not your own arithmetic. Photograph the stamp before you leave the desk.

At the transit desk

You do not join the normal foreigner queue. Follow the signs for 过境免签 (transit visa-free), usually a separate desk beside the immigration hall, and hand over:

• your passport, with at least three months’ validity beyond your exit date;
• a printed onward ticket to a third country or region, with a confirmed date and flight number;
• the address of your first hotel, ideally written in Chinese;
• a printed copy of the policy page and port list, in case the airline or the officer wants to check.

The officer will fingerprint you, photograph you, and may ask what you plan to do. Answer with cities and dates. Tourism, family visits and short business meetings are all fine; the stamp is not a work permit. I have cleared that desk in Shanghai in twenty minutes while the main queue snaked back to the escalator.

What you may and may not do

Hotels register foreign guests automatically, so you need do nothing beyond handing over your passport at check-in. If you are staying in a friend’s flat or an unlicensed homestay, you must register at the local police station within 24 hours — take the passport and the host with you.

Working, paid or unpaid, is prohibited, and so is study. You can book trains, flights and hotels freely, and travel inside the permitted regions is unrestricted. What you cannot do is behave like a resident: sign a lease, take a job, enrol in a course.

Why people get refused

The failures are rarely mysterious:

• an onward ticket that returns to the country you arrived from;
• an onward date outside the 240 hours, or a ticket that is not confirmed;
• a passport with less than three months’ validity, or no blank page;
• arriving at a port that is not on the list, or one whose transit desk closes overnight;
• a first-night address you cannot produce;
• an airline check-in agent who has never seen the policy and refuses boarding.

That last one is worth preparing for. Airline staff work from a database that is sometimes months behind the notice. Carry the printed page, stay calm, and ask for a supervisor rather than arguing at the counter.

A five-day Beijing and Shanghai run

Arrive at Beijing Capital or Daxing in the afternoon, take the airport express or a Didi to a hotel inside the Second Ring, and give the first evening to a walk around the Drum Tower neighbourhood. Two full days cover the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park and one Great Wall section — Mutianyu if you want the cable car, Jiankou if you want the hike.

On day four, take the 07:00 G train from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao: four and a half hours, ¥553 (about $78). Spend two nights near the Former French Concession, add a day trip to Hangzhou on the one-hour train at ¥73 each way, and fly out of Pudong on day six to Bangkok, Seoul or Hong Kong. Five days on the ground, comfortably inside ten, and no visa appointment.