A layover in China used to mean 72 or 144 hours, depending on the port. Eligible travellers can now stay up to 240 hours, ten days, before continuing to a third country.
“The stay duration for foreign nationals eligible for visa-free transit has been extended from the previous 72 hours and 144 hours to 240 hours (10 days).”
Ten days is enough for one city properly, or two or three before you fly onward.
Transit only
The policy covers passing through China on the way to somewhere else. Eligibility runs through travellers “traveling from China to a third country (region).” If your trip starts and ends in China, this exemption is not the one you want. China’s general visa-free entry covers ordinary tourism.
Who qualifies, and where you can land
Fifty-seven countries are eligible, and the National Immigration Administration names all of them. The Asian entries are Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Europe accounts for 40, the Americas for 6 and Oceania for 2.
Entry is available at any of 65 open ports across 24 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. The full port list is on the official page, and that is the version to trust on the day you travel.
The conditions: travellers “may enter visa-free through any of the designated 65 open exit-entry ports… and stay in the permitted areas for no more than 10 days, provided that they hold ordinary passports and onward tickets with confirmed seats and departure dates.” You need an ordinary passport and a booked onward leg.
The 24-hour rule for everyone else
Separate from the 240-hour policy: “All open exit-entry ports in China implement this policy for nationals of all other countries around the world. Foreigners transiting through China to third countries or regions may stay in China for no more than 24 hours without a visa… provided that they… will not leave the restricted areas of ports.”
A passport outside the 57 therefore gets 24 hours, airside. Leaving the restricted area needs a temporary entry permit from the port.
Where you can travel
Under the 240-hour policy you must stay “within the allowed areas for visa-free transit travelers,” a defined footprint rather than the whole country. Inside it you can cross provincial lines: foreign nationals entering under this rule “can make cross-province travels within the allowed areas… in these 24 provinces.”
How much of each province is open varies:
- Anhui, Hainan and Guizhou: the entire province.
- Fujian, Hubei and Shaanxi: the entire province, since expanded.
- Shanxi: Taiyuan and Datong only.
- Jiangxi: Nanchang and Jingdezhen only.
- Guangxi: a named set of about a dozen urban centres, including Nanning and Guilin, not the whole autonomous region.
Landing in a province does not mean you can travel freely across it. Confirm the cities open to you before planning a multi-stop itinerary. With the open cities settled, tours and day trips inside them are the part of a ten-day window you can fix in advance.
What the sources do not say
Neither the National Immigration Administration’s policy page nor the State Council announcement that introduced the change says:
- how the 240-hour clock is measured: from the immigration stamp, the flight’s scheduled arrival, or midnight after entry;
- what proof of onward travel you must carry beyond the ticket requirement above;
- whether your entry and exit ports need to differ.
Checked again on 18 September 2026 against both pages, and neither answers any of the three. Ask at the port or your airline.
Corrections
18 September 2026. The country and port counts on this page were stale. It said 54 eligible countries and 60 open ports, taken from the State Council announcement of 17 December 2024. The National Immigration Administration’s own policy page now states 57 countries and 65 ports, and names every country where the announcement gave five examples. The source is now that page, the Asian list is printed, and the separate 24-hour transit rule has been added.
The page previously declined to print the nationality list because it changes without notice. A list that changes calls for citing the source that maintains it. Printing no list left readers with a number that then went stale.
Tours and day trips in the Chinese cities a 240-hour transit opens (affiliate link)