240-Hour Transit Policy: Complete List of Eligible Countries and Practical Guide

TL;DR: China's 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit covers ordinary passports from 57 countries, entry through 65 ports, and stay inside the National Immigration Administration's 24 specified provincial-level areas — not the whole country, and not the old 72/144-hour port-cluster lock. You need a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region (Hong Kong and Macao usually count). The 240-hour clock starts at 00:00 the day after you arrive. Check your nationality on the NIA notice before you buy the flight. The English NIA interpretation still shows 55; NIA announcement No. 4 (20 August 2026) is the current count.

This page is the country-and-port list. For the full route planner, use the 240-hour visa-free China guide.

• Check if your nationality and route qualify
• Get a custom independent itinerary inside the 24 stay areas
• Ask LocalKey to book the trip

240-Hour Transit at a Glance

Who is eligible — and who is not?

Citizens of 57 countries holding an ordinary passport can use the policy when they are transiting China to a third destination. The National Immigration Administration publishes the list. A State Council update on 4 November 2025 confirmed 55 countries and 65 ports. NIA announcement No. 4 (20 August 2026) added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, bringing the count to 57 countries. Ports remain 65 and stay areas remain 24. The 57 break down as:

• Europe (40): Schengen-area countries plus Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
• Americas (6): Canada, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico.
• Asia-Pacific (11): Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam.

Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam joined effective 20 August 2026 (Xinhua / SCIO). Indonesia was already on the prior 55-country list. The list is not frozen — check the NIA page before you book, not a third-party recap. If your passport is not on it, you need a regular visa or another visa-free channel (some nationalities have a separate unilateral stay, which is not this transit policy).

The policy is for transit. New York → Beijing → New York does not qualify. You need Country A → China → Country B. Hong Kong and Macao count as separate regions, so US → Shanghai → Hong Kong is valid transit.

The older 72-hour and 144-hour transit schemes are folded into this 240-hour policy. Do not plan against an outdated 72/144 port list.

Which ports can I use, and where can I actually stay?

There are 65 designated entry and exit ports across 24 provincial-level regions. Stay is not locked to the city or cluster you flew into. That was the old 72/144-hour model. Under the current NIA wording, you stay inside the permitted stay areas of those 24 regions, and you may travel between them.

Beijing and Shanghai are both on that list. Landing in Shanghai and taking the high-speed train to Beijing on the same 240-hour entry is allowed, as long as you stay inside the 24 permitted areas and exit through a designated port within the clock.

What is still out: Tibet, Xinjiang, and any place that is not on the permitted stay-area list. Shanxi is limited to Taiyuan and Datong. Jiangxi is limited to Nanchang and Jingdezhen. Guangxi is limited to a named city list (Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Hezhou, Hechi, and Laibin). Check those city limits before you add a stop.

Common ports people actually use:

• Beijing: Capital (PEK) and Daxing (PKX)
• Shanghai: Pudong (PVG) and Hongqiao (SHA)
• Yangtze Delta extras: Nanjing (NKG), Hangzhou (HGH)
• Guangdong: Guangzhou (CAN), Shenzhen (SZX), plus designated ferry / bridge ports
• Southwest: Chengdu (TFU / CTU), Chongqing (CKG)
• Others: Kunming, the Shandong ports, Fuzhou / Xiamen / Quanzhou, Haikou / Sanya, and the remaining designated airports, stations, and terminals on the official 65-port list

The live list sits on the NIA notice and the 4 November 2025 State Council update.

Frank Zhang, LocalKey Travel's founder, sees one leftover myth more than any other: "People still quote the old cluster lock — Shanghai in, Beijing out. That is not the current 240-hour rule. The constraint is the 24 stay areas, not the airport you used."

If you want a nationwide trip that includes places off the permitted list, you need a regular visa or a unilateral visa-free stay, not this transit policy.

• Ask us to check your cities against the 24 stay areas

How is the 10-day limit calculated, and can I extend it?

The 240-hour clock starts at 00:00 the day after you arrive, not at the minute the officer stamps your passport. If you land and clear immigration on 1 June, the clock starts at 00:00 on 2 June, and you must exit within 240 hours of that start. Do not treat the arrival afternoon as extra free time you can spend on day 11.

Extensions are not available. Local entry-exit bureaus cannot add an hour. Miss the deadline and you are overstaying.

Leave a buffer. Do not book a departure in the last hour of the window. Aim to be out at least 12 hours early, and treat the last half-day as margin, not a sightseeing block.

What exact steps should I take before departure?

1. Confirm your nationality on the NIA list. Dual citizens should use the eligible passport for the ticket and for immigration.
2. Book a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region — flight, train, or ferry, with your name and a reservation code. A refundable ticket is fine. A ticket that returns you to the same origin country is not transit.
3. Confirm your entry and exit ports are on the 65-port list.
4. Map every city to the 24 stay areas. Watch the Shanxi, Jiangxi, and Guangxi city limits.
5. Save your first-night hotel address in Chinese and English, offline.
6. Complete the digital arrival card before you land (NIA 12367, or the WeChat / Alipay mini-program), if your port uses it.
7. Set up Alipay before you fly. WeChat Pay is a separate setup; use the WeChat Pay for Foreigners 2026 guide if that is the app you will live in.

Most refusals we hear about are step 2: no onward ticket, or a ticket that is not to a third region. If you want the bookings and a day-by-day roadbook handled, send the route.

What do most guides still get wrong?

The biggest error is "10 days anywhere in China." Stay is the 24 permitted areas, not nationwide.

The second is the leftover 72/144 cluster lock: "Shanghai entry cannot reach Beijing." That is outdated. Cross-province travel inside the 24 areas is allowed.

The third is treating a round-trip home as transit. It is not.

You can use 240-hour transit more than once if you exit to a third region and re-enter. London → Beijing → Hong Kong → Chengdu → Kuala Lumpur can be valid if each China leg has its own onward ticket and stays inside the clock. The planning version of that is in the 240-hour visa-free China guide.

Airline check-in staff are often behind the NIA wording. Carry a screenshot of the official page and the printed onward ticket.

Quick-reference checklist

• Passport from one of the 57 countries, usually valid 6 months beyond entry.
• Nationality checked on the current NIA list.
• Confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region, inside 240 hours.
• Entry and exit ports on the 65-port list.
• Every city inside the 24 stay areas (watch Shanxi, Jiangxi, Guangxi).
• Hotel address saved in Chinese.
• Arrival card done if the port uses it.
• Departure booked with a buffer, not at the last hour.
• Alipay set up before you fly.

If a passport goes missing in China, use the lost passport guide.

Want the list turned into a trip?

LocalKey builds custom independent travel: we can book the flights, hotels, and trains, give you a roadbook in the app, and stay in a WhatsApp or WeChat group — or run the same days with a private car and optional guide. Budget follows the hotels and trains you choose. This is not a group tour.

• Check my 240-hour nationality and ports
• Plan a stay-area itinerary
• Ask LocalKey to arrange it