Visa-free entry: who's actually on the list

Start here, because everything else depends on the answer. Travellers from more than 50 countries can enter mainland China visa-free for up to 30 days, and the current policy runs to 31 December 2026. The list includes the UK, Ireland, most of the EU, Australia and New Zealand — the wave of additions through 2024 and 2025 is why so much advice written before then is now wrong.

The United States and Canada are not on it. Americans and Canadians still need a visa.

Why the number matters less than the date

Entry rules have moved three times in eighteen months. That's not a figure of speech — the list has been extended repeatedly, the stay length has changed, and the end date has been pushed out more than once. So treat every number here, including this one, as something to confirm against the National Immigration Administration before you book anything non-refundable. We re-check this page; the official source is still the one that counts.

What visa-free doesn't cover

• Anything over 30 days. Longer stays, work, study and paid activity all need the right visa — visa-free is for visiting.
• The Arrival Card. Visa-free travellers file the Digital Arrival Card too. It's the arrival record, separate from permission to enter: file it before you fly.
• Every port of entry. The policy covers entry into the mainland; Hong Kong and Macao have their own rules and their own arrival formalities.

What to carry anyway

Visa-free doesn't mean documentary-free. Immigration can ask for the obvious things: a return or onward ticket, where you're staying, and enough of an itinerary to make 30 days look like a holiday. Have the first hotel booked and the flight out confirmed. Nobody has ever been asked for a printed day-by-day plan, but "I don't know where I'm sleeping tonight" is a genuinely bad answer at a border.