Once one of the world’s most closed-off countries to foreign travelers, China has taken massive steps toward opening up to tourism in the half-decade that has passed since the Covid pandemic.
At the end of 2023, the Chinese government launched a pilot program that opened up visa-free entry to citizens of 11 mostly European Union countries for short trips of 15 days or fewer. The program eventually expanded the permitted days to 30 days and 74 passports.
While countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan became the latest nations to get added to the program in June, citizens of the United States, Canada, and Great Britain were not included due to their governments’ history of strained relations with China.
Dreamed of visiting China? A visa change just made it a lot easier
Although the situation has only escalated under the current administration and President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Chinese government has just taken the unexpected step of allowing Americans to enter China visa-free for 10 days, as long as they continue to another international destination.
The country had previously made it easier for Americans by eliminating the requirement of prebooked accommodation for visa applications and adding new cities to its 72/144-hour Visa-Free Transit Policy last year.
While the 10-day period is shorter than what is available to countries fully included in the visa-free program, it still marks a major change in policy toward travelers from the United States. Citizens of Canada and the United Kingdom are being offered the same option, effective immediately.
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As part of reciprocal steps of opening up toward the other country, the U.S. State Department lowered the travel advisory for China from level three’s “reconsider travel” to level two’s “exercise increased caution” in the last weeks of former President Joseph Biden’s term.
The move was widely criticized by multiple Republican lawmakers at the time, as they saw it as an undeserved softening toward an unfriendly nation.
The Great Wall of China, a fortification built during ancient times, is a popular tourist site.
Other things you need to know about visa changes for China travel
The ranking change put China on the same advisory level as countries such as France, Germany, and Italy, which sit above level one’s “exercise normal precautions” due to terrorist incidents in their capital cities. While President Trump repealed many of the policies passed by Biden, the advisory level for China has so far remained unchanged.
To take advantage of the visa-free option, travelers need to have an outward ticket to another country that is not their own after fewer than 10 days spent in China.
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While this is very easy to do by tacking on a short visit to another Asian country to one’s trip, Americans who want to go exclusively to China or stay for longer than 10 days will still need to apply for a traditional visa through an embassy or consulate.
The Chinese government is treating it as an expansion of the 72/144-hour Visa-Free Transit Policy allowing travelers brief visits to China, rather than the addition of the U.S. to the visa-free program afforded to other nations.
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