China eliminates visa requirement for citizens of five countries and increases openness to tourism

26-11-23

The pandemic dealt a hard blow to Chinese tourism, which is facing a tough recovery process. In a further attempt to boost this activity, the Asian nation recently eliminated the need for visas for citizens of Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands visiting the country.

In a one-year pilot project, citizens of these countries traveling to the People's Republic of China for tourism, family visits or transit, for stays of less than 15 days, will only require a valid passport.

The measure is announced in the context of new flights and a greater rapprochement with Western countries. It is expected that these measures will be extended to all European Union citizens.  "China has decided to extend the scope of countries with unilateral visa exemption to France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia on an experimental basis," Chinese authorities announced. 

The new measure will come into force on December 1, 2023, will remain in force until November 30, 2024 and will apply to all those citizens of the aforementioned countries, provided that the stay does not exceed 15 days. For longer stays it will be necessary to apply for an entry visa.

China's strict pandemic containment measures made it one of the last countries to officially declare a return to normalcy, a fact that seriously undermined the country's economic recovery capacity. It is now possible to travel to China from other countries that have special agreements with the country without a visa. Visa waiver agreements allow citizens to stay in China for a period of up to 90 days. However, they are subject to some important restrictions. For example, citizens are not allowed to stay in the same region for more than 30 days without visas. 

The countries that currently allow their citizens to travel to China without visas are Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, Japan, South Korea, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Russia and Australia. 

These countries have a visa waiver agreement with China. Citizens of these countries can stay in China for a period of up to 90 days without a visa. However, it is important to note that the visa waiver agreements between the above countries and China are different. Therefore, citizens of these countries will need to check what requirements they need to meet to travel to China without a visa.