The 240-hour visa-free transit: who qualifies and who does not

What the 240-hour transit actually is

The 240-hour visa-free transit lets eligible travellers pass through mainland China for up to ten days without a visa, provided they are genuinely transiting to a third country or region. It is not a general tourist waiver: China has to sit between two other places on your journey, and you have to prove it.

The list has grown quickly. As of 20 August 2026, 57 nationalities qualify, after Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added. British passports are on the list, so UK travellers can use it. The port list has grown too, to 65 points of entry across 24 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

Ten days is enough for a Beijing–Shanghai leg by rail or a loop around a single province. It is not enough for a nationwide tour, and it is shorter than the separate 30-day visa-free entry that UK passports have held since February 2026.

The scheme exists so that a long-haul journey can include a short stop in China without paperwork. Flights routed through Shanghai or Beijing are the classic use: you break the journey for a few days, see one city properly, and keep the visa out of it altogether.

The third-country rule, in practice

The core requirement is a real onward journey. London to Shanghai to Tokyo qualifies; London to Shanghai to London does not, because you are returning where you started. Hong Kong and Macao count as a third region, so London to Beijing to Hong Kong works.

You must hold a confirmed ticket with a date and seat to that third destination, departing within the 240-hour window, and you must be able to meet the entry rules for it — including a visa if that country requires one. A printout of the booking is the document border staff will want to see.

Final say rests with the immigration officer at the port of entry, not the airline check-in desk. If an itinerary looks like an attempt to live in China rather than pass through it, entry can be refused even when the paperwork is technically correct, so keep the trip looking like a genuine stopover.

Where you can enter

The waiver works at 65 ports, including the big international airports at Beijing Capital and Daxing, Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Xi'an. Land and rail crossings on the list include Shenzhen and the Hong Kong high-speed rail terminus at West Kowloon.

You are not free to roam the whole country. Once admitted, you must stay within the designated area tied to your port of entry — usually a province, a municipality or a group of them. Leaving that area without authorisation breaches the conditions of your stay and can be treated as overstaying.

Because the numbers change as new ports and countries are added, check the National Immigration Administration's current list before you rely on a specific crossing, especially if your plan depends on a smaller regional airport rather than one of the big hubs.

Eligible ports are spread across 24 provincial-level regions, from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong to Sichuan, Yunnan, Shaanxi and Fujian. If your plan needs a specific smaller airport that is not on the list, you cannot use the waiver there and would need a visa instead.

How the 240 hours are counted

The clock is generous but fiddly. The 240 hours start at 00:00 on the day after you enter, not at the moment you clear immigration. Arrive on a Monday afternoon and your allowance effectively begins at midnight, so you can stay slightly longer than ten exact days from your physical arrival.

Keep your entry stamp and your onward ticket together, and work back from the final departure date immigration writes on entry. That date is what you have to meet; the friendly arithmetic of the 00:00 rule does not extend it.

The 24-hour visa-free transit is a separate and even simpler rule — stay inside the airport's restricted area and you need no paperwork at all. The moment you want to leave the terminal, you are dealing with the 240-hour regime or with a visa.

British travellers: when to use which route

Since 17 February 2026, ordinary UK passports can enter visa-free for up to 30 days for tourism, so most British visitors no longer need the transit rule at all. The 30-day entry is simpler: no third-country ticket to show, no restricted travel area and no onward booking to prove.

The transit waiver still matters in two cases. It is the fallback if the 30-day entry lapses after 31 December 2026, and it is the route for nationalities that appear on the transit list but not on the 30-day list. It also suits genuine stopovers, where you are flying on elsewhere in any case.

If you are a UK passport holder planning a 2027 trip, treat both as temporary: the 30-day entry expires at the end of 2026 and the transit list is revised regularly. Check the current position on the National Immigration Administration site before you book anything non-refundable.

For anyone on a passport that has neither the 30-day entry nor the transit waiver, the ordinary tourist visa remains the route. That is worth remembering if you are travelling with family or friends of a different nationality on the same trip.

Rules change — verify before you fly

Both lists are revised often. The transit scheme itself went from 72 to 144 to 240 hours over a few years, and five extra ports were added in Guangdong in November 2025 alone. A guide written last year can be wrong on both the countries and the crossings.

Confirm the current position with the National Immigration Administration and with your airline before departure. Airlines are liable for passengers who arrive without the right documents, so check-in staff apply the rules strictly — often more strictly than a border officer would — and a refusal at the gate is hard to undo.