China's 30-Day Visa-Free Entry: What Ends on 31 December 2026 — and What Does Not

Information current as of 2 November 2026. Visa rules can change at short notice. This page is an information summary only — it is not a visa decision for any individual traveller. Before you book, confirm your own situation with the Chinese embassy or consulate in your country, or with your airline.

The short answer

• For 48 countries, China's 30-day unilateral visa-free entry currently ends at 24:00 Beijing time on 31 December 2026.
• Russia is already extended to 31 December 2027. Brunei has no published end date. Neither is affected by the 31 December 2026 deadline.
• 29 countries with bilateral mutual visa-exemption treaties are not affected by this deadline at all — their arrangements run on separate terms.
• 240-hour visa-free transit is a different scheme, not a continuation of the 30-day policy. It has no 2026 end date and works under its own rules.
• As of 2 November 2026, no extension of the 30-day policy into 2027 has been announced for the 48 countries. Past renewals came in November, but that is a pattern, not a promise.

Shanghai, seen from the Bund. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC0).

1. The deadline: 31 December 2026

China's unilateral visa-free policy lets holders of ordinary passports from 50 countries enter China without a visa for business, tourism, visiting family or friends, exchanges, or transit, for a stay of no more than 30 days (counted from the day after arrival). It does not cover work, study, or journalism — those always need a visa applied for in advance.

The current period for 48 of those 50 countries runs until 24:00 Beijing time on 31 December 2026. This end date was set by the extension notice of November 2025 (which also added Sweden from 10 November 2025), and the United Kingdom and Canada joined the list on 17 February 2026 with the same end date. The 48 include most of Europe, plus Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

What this means in practice:

• A trip that ends on or before 31 December 2026 is covered by the published rule.
• A trip that starts in 2027 is not yet covered by any published rule for these 48 countries. Unless an extension is announced, a visa will be needed.
• A stay that straddles the year end (entering in December 2026 and leaving in January 2027) is not addressed in any official notice we found. If your trip crosses the deadline, confirm with the Chinese embassy before you travel rather than assuming the 30 days will run past it.

2. The two exceptions inside the 50-country list

Russia — extended to 31 December 2027. China's Foreign Ministry announced on 20 May 2026 that visa-free entry for Russian citizens is extended to 31 December 2027. Russia is therefore not part of the 31 December 2026 deadline.

Brunei — no end date. Brunei appears on the same 30-day list, but no official notice sets an end date for its exemption. It is likewise unaffected by the 31 December 2026 deadline.

The Great Wall at Mutianyu. Photo: Lloyd Tudor, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

3. What the deadline does not touch: mutual visa-exemption treaties

Separate from the unilateral policy, China has bilateral mutual visa-exemption agreements covering ordinary passports with 29 countries. Because these are treaties signed by both governments, they do not run to the 31 December 2026 deadline and are not changed by it. They typically allow stays of up to 30 days per visit (some cap total stays at 90 days in any 180 days) for tourism, business, and family visits.

Well-known examples include Singapore (in force since 9 February 2024), Thailand (since 1 March 2024), Malaysia (since 17 July 2025), the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Serbia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. A few agreements carry special conditions, so travellers should confirm the exact terms for their own passport rather than relying on the headline count — published counts vary slightly (28–32) depending on whether restricted or partial agreements are included.

4. A different route: 240-hour visa-free transit

Beijing Capital International Airport, Terminal 3. Photo: Wikimedia Commons user 颐园居 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit scheme is a separate mechanism. It is not an extension or continuation of the 30-day unilateral policy, and it has no 2026 end date.

How it works:

• Who: ordinary passport holders from 57 countries (55 originally, plus Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam added on 20 August 2026). The list includes the United States, Mexico, Indonesia, and Vietnam — passports that are *not* on the 30-day list — as well as many countries that are on both lists.
• What you must be doing: genuinely transiting through China to a third country or region. The country you arrive from and the country you depart to must be different — a round trip back to where you came from does not qualify. Hong Kong, China and Macao, China count as separate destinations from the mainland for this rule.
• Ticket: you must hold a confirmed onward ticket with a date and a seat, booked before you arrive, departing within 240 hours.
• Where: entry through one of 65 designated ports across 24 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. Your exit port may differ from your entry port (for example, entering in Beijing and leaving from Shanghai). Travel is limited to the permitted areas — Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Gansu, and Jilin are not covered.
• How the 240 hours are counted: from 00:00 on the day after you arrive, not from the moment you land.
• Passport validity: at least three months beyond your entry date.
• Purposes: tourism, business, and family visits are allowed; work, study, and journalism are not.

If your passport also qualifies for the 30-day policy or a mutual exemption, you may use those rules instead — they have no onward-ticket condition and no port restriction. The 240-hour route matters most for travellers whose passport is on the transit list but not on the 30-day list.

5. What about 2027?

As of 2 November 2026, no extension of the 30-day policy beyond 31 December 2026 has been announced for the 48 countries. The most recent status checks (late October 2026) and a fresh news check on 2 November 2026 found no new announcement.

China has renewed this scheme every year so far, each time with an announcement in November (November 2024, and 3 November 2025 for the current period). That points to November 2026 as the likely window for a decision — but it is a pattern, not a promise. Nobody outside the Chinese government knows whether the list will be renewed, trimmed, or changed.

If you are planning travel in 2027:

1. Watch for an official notice from China's Consular Service (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) or the National Immigration Administration — that is where any extension will appear first.
2. Until an extension is announced, treat a 2027 trip as needing a visa, and apply in good time.
3. If an extension is announced, it may not cover every country on the current list — check the new notice, not last year's.

6. Before you travel

• Confirm your passport is on the current list for the route you plan to use (30-day, mutual treaty, or 240-hour transit) — the three lists are different.
• Check that your purpose of travel is covered; work, study, and journalism need a visa under every route above.
• For 240-hour transit, have your confirmed onward ticket ready before you land — without it, border inspection cannot issue the temporary entry permit.
• If your stay would cross 31 December 2026, or your trip is in 2027, get confirmation from the Chinese embassy or consulate before booking.

Sources

• Chinese Embassy in Iceland, "Notice on the Extension of the Unilateral Visa-Free Policy," 4 November 2025 — 45 countries extended until 24:00 on 31 December 2026. Read the notice
• Chinese Embassy in Latvia, "Notice on Extending the Unilateral Visa-Free Policy" — extension to 31 December 2026, 30-day stay, listed purposes. Read the notice
• Russia's extension to 31 December 2027, announced 20 May 2026 by Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, as reported by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and summarised in: China Visa-Free Countries: 2026 List and 2027 Deadline (last checked 20 October 2026).
• Status of a 2027 extension for the 48 countries ("not yet" as of 24 October 2026; November renewal pattern): Will China Extend Visa-Free Entry to 2027? — re-checked against news on 2 November 2026, with no new announcement found.
• Mutual visa-exemption treaties (29 countries, ordinary passports; terms and the Ecuador note): China Mutual Visa Exemption: 29 Countries (2026 List) (reviewed 21 October 2026).
• 240-hour transit (57 countries, 65 ports, 24 regions, onward-ticket and counting rules; Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam added 20 August 2026, per the National Immigration Administration): 240-Hour Visa-Free Transit in China (last updated 10 September 2026).

*Information current as of 2 November 2026. Where sources disagreed (notably the exact count of mutual-treaty countries), this page follows the most recent dedicated lists and flags the disagreement rather than presenting a disputed figure as settled.*