Visa-free entry to Shanghai: the 30-day policy and the 240-hour transit, explained

The short answer. If you hold an ordinary passport from one of 50 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and almost all of the European Union, you can enter China without a visa and stay up to 30 days, for tourism, business, family visits, exchange or transit. For most of these countries the arrangement runs until 31 December 2026. If you are from the United States, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia or another of the 57 countries on the transit list, you can enter without a visa for up to 240 hours (ten days) provided you are flying on to a third country or region. Everyone else needs a visa before travelling.

Not sure which applies to you? Use the visa-free checker: pick your passport and dates and it tells you which policy fits your trip.

Both policies change often. The dates and lists below were checked against the National Immigration Administration (NIA) and Shanghai government pages on the date shown at the top of this page. Check the NIA’s own list again before you book.

Option 1: 30 days, no visa, no onward ticket needed

This is the “unilateral visa-free policy”. The NIA’s list as of 17 February 2026 names 50 countries:

Europe (35): Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.
Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand.
Asia (7): Bahrain, Brunei, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, South Korea, Saudi Arabia.
Americas (6): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Uruguay.

How long it lasts. China extended the policy for the countries then covered to 31 December 2026 in November 2025, and added Sweden from 10 November 2025. The United Kingdom and Canada were added from 17 February 2026, also until 31 December 2026. The Shanghai government’s summary gives Russia a later end date, 31 December 2027, and no end date for Brunei.

The rules that matter.

You need an ordinary passport, valid for your whole stay. Diplomatic and official passports fall under other agreements.
The 30 days are counted from midnight after the day you arrive, so the arrival day is free.
You may enter as many times as you like; there is no annual cap on entries or days.
Allowed purposes are business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, exchange visits and transit. Work, study and journalism are not covered and still need a visa.
No advance registration with an embassy is needed. You complete an arrival card, now usually online (see below).
To stay longer than 30 days, get a visa before you travel. Extensions after arrival are possible only for appropriate reasons through the Exit-Entry Administration.

If you are from a country on this list, use this option even if you are only passing through. It has no onward-ticket condition, which makes it simpler than the transit policy below.

Option 2: 240 hours, for transit passengers from 57 countries

The transit policy covers citizens of 57 countries, after Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added on 20 August 2026:

Europe (40): Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom.
Americas (6): Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United States.
Oceania (2): Australia, New Zealand.
Asia (9): Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.

What you need.

A passport with at least three months’ validity.
A ticket out of China to a third country or region, with a confirmed seat and a departure date within 240 hours. Flying home to the country you came from does not count as transit. Hong Kong and Macao count as regions for this purpose.
The arrival card (see below). Immigration officers at the airport handle the transit paperwork; there is nothing to apply for in advance.

Where and how far. The Shanghai border inspection authority has set up special channels for the 240-hour transit at Pudong airport, Hongqiao airport and the Shanghai passenger port; follow the signs to them (we do not have an official counter location). In Shanghai the policy applies at Pudong airport, Hongqiao airport and the Shanghai passenger port, which are among 65 ports across 24 provincial-level regions. You may travel between those regions within the areas each one has opened to transit passengers. The ten days are counted from midnight after the day you arrive, the same rule as the 30-day policy. Tourism, business, visits and family visits are allowed; work, study and reporting are not.

Coming in overland from Hong Kong. The 240-hour transit only works at the listed ports, and in Guangdong those include West Kowloon Station (the high-speed rail terminal in Hong Kong), the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge Port, Hengqin Port and Shekou ferry port, but not the busy Luohu (Lo Wu) and Futian (Lok Ma Chau) road and metro crossings. If you plan to use the transit rule, enter at a listed port; the visa-free checker shows the full port list. The 30-day policy has no such restriction and works at any port. Either way, Hong Kong counts as your third region only if you are not returning to where you started: Hong Kong to the mainland and back to Hong Kong is a round trip, not a transit.

Which option, if you qualify for both? Most Europeans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, Japanese and Koreans qualify for both. Take the 30-day policy: it is longer and does not require a third-country ticket. United States citizens and Mexicans are on the transit list only, so they need either an onward ticket to a third country or a visa.

Other routes

China also has mutual visa-exemption agreements with a separate group of countries, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia among them, which the Shanghai government page lists under its own heading. If your country is not on either list above, check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ table of mutual agreements before assuming you need a visa.

At your departure airport: what if check-in staff don’t know the transit rule?

Airlines check your right to enter before they let you board, and the check-in agent’s system decides. IATA’s Timatic database, which airlines use to validate passengers’ travel documents, is built from government and airline sources, so a rule can be new or poorly displayed there even when it is in force. If the agent says you need a visa, stay calm and do the following.

Carry the rule itself. Save and print the NIA’s page on the transit policies, which states the 240-hour rule, the 57 countries and the 65 ports. If you are flying to Shanghai, add the Shanghai government’s explanation of the covered ports.
Show the onward ticket. The NIA text requires an onward ticket with a confirmed seat and a departure date. Print an itinerary that shows origin, Shanghai, and a third country or region, not your starting country.
Ask for a second look. Politely ask the agent to re-check the rules, or to call a supervisor.
Arrive early. Leave time for this conversation; it is easier to resolve at the counter than at the gate.
Have a fallback. If your country is on the 30-day list, that option has no onward-ticket condition and may be simpler to explain. If neither works, a visa is the certain route.

The arrival card

China introduced an online arrival card on 20 November 2025. You can fill it in before you fly through the National Immigration Administration’s (NIA) government service platform website, the “NIA 12367” app, or a WeChat or Alipay mini-program, or by scanning a QR code. If you have not done it beforehand, you can complete it at the border inspection area by scanning a QR code, using an on-site smart device, or filling in a paper card. The NIA lists several groups who do not need one, including passengers transiting directly within 24 hours without leaving the port’s restricted area. It does not list the 240-hour transit as exempt, so assume you need the card. Sources: the NIA announcement and the Shanghai government notice. The announcement says only “before arrival”, with no number of days, and gives no end date for the paper card, so keep your first hotel’s details in a screenshot in case the form is slow to load.

Two small things to check before you pack

Power banks. From 28 June 2025 the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) bars power banks that have no 3C mark, an unclear 3C mark, or belong to recalled models or batches, from domestic flights. It matters if you take a domestic flight from Shanghai. Look for the 3C mark on the casing; your airline may add its own limits. See Xinhua’s report.
Prescription medicine. Shanghai Customs says medicines without narcotic or psychotropic ingredients may be carried in reasonable quantities for personal use. For narcotic or psychotropic medicines, carry the prescription or a diagnosis certificate and your passport, and declare them to customs. See the customs FAQ.

Before you fly: a checklist

Check your passport’s expiry: at least three months left for transit, and covering your whole stay for the 30-day policy.
For transit, have the onward ticket to a third country or region saved on your phone and printed, together with a printout of the NIA policy page.
Fill in the online arrival card if you can, and have your first hotel’s name and address ready for it. Every place page on this site has the address in Chinese for exactly this purpose.
Count your days from the day after arrival, and leave before midnight on the last day.
Re-check the NIA list in late 2026: most of the 30-day arrangements are dated to 31 December 2026 and will need to be renewed.