China is ending the year with something they have never done before and now is the time to visit.
In 2023, China opened up their borders to five nations without requiring them to have a visa. This once in a lifetime experiment was a brainstorming solution to help China during the worst economic crisis in more than thirty years.
Not many visitors took advantage of the visa free waiver, so China expanded the number of countries. This month, they reached a record number of 38 nations that can now visit China without a visa!
Initially, the visa waiver program was only for 15 days, but now has been expanded to 30 days.
The 38 nations are:
Brunei, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Korea, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, and Japan.
Individuals holding valid ordinary passports from these 38 nations have been exempted from visa requirement if entering into China for the purpose of business, tourism, visiting family or friends, or transit and they can stay in China for up to 30 days.
Are you from a nation that is not listed above? Perhaps you are from American, UK, Canada, or Sweden?
China has also included these nations in their visa free waiver program, just not in the same way.
On December 17, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) of China announced a major expansion and optimization of its visa-free transit policy, effective immediately. Under the new policy, foreign travelers transiting through China can now stay for up to 240 hours (10 days), a significant extension from the previous 144-hour visa-free transit policy.
That means that travelers from America, UK, Canada, Sweden, and many other nations that are not listed in the 38 nations above can travel to certain Chinese cities without any visa at all and stay for 10 days. Now there are certain restrictions to this visa like not leaving the city of arrival and departure and having to be in transit from one nation to another.
If none of these opportunities above apply to you, there is one more way to get into China in 2025 without a visa. – Take a vacation in Hainan Island.
Currently, Hainan is offering visitors a 30 day visa to boost their tourism. Hotels are hobbling along in the city of Sanya and they are desperate for foreign visitors. Tourists are allowed to fly into and out of Sanya without a visa and stay for up to a month.
In its long history, going back thousands of years, China has never been this open before. It is not known how long this opportunity will last. If you have ever thought of going to China before, 2025 might be the best time to do it.
WOW! Let’s go! Keep me posted and just might meet you there.