International tourists transiting through Beijing can now enjoy visa-free stopovers of up to six days.

 

Photo: Roman Boed

Visitors can now apply for a 144-hour visa-free stay in Beijing, which will also cover trips to nearby Tianjin and Hebei Province.

The new system, first announced in summer 2017, offers a stopover of twice the length of the previous system.

It’s available to citizens of 53 countries, but will require visitors to have a flight to a third destination (outside of China and not the point of origin) already booked before arriving in Beijing.

Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong are all considered to be outside of China under the policy.

On arrival in Beijing, which can also be by train, tourists are required to fill out a 144-hour visa-free permit form along with an arrival/departure card.

And if you don’t want to lug your luggage around for the next six days, the airport will look after it for free. Winning!

The previous 72-hour visa-free transit policy was very popular in Beijing, which attracted 26,323 visitors in 2016, a 32 percent rise from the previous year.

The 144-hour system was introduced to Shanghai and the nearby Zhejiang and Jiangsu areas last year.

It is expected to be rolled out soon in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Guangdong province.

 

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Keywords: visa-free stopover Beijing visa-free stay Beijing