CHINA. In a highly positive step forward for tourism and travel retail, China has expanded its visa-free travel scheme to include citizens of nine additional countries, effective from 30 November through 31 December 2025.
The programme now covers ordinary passport holders from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan, on a trial basis.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press briefing that the revised policy aims to “further facilitate cross-border travel”.
The visa waiver will now apply to travellers for exchange purposes, with the maximum stay period extended from 15 days to 30 days.
From 30 November, citizens holding ordinary passports from 38 countries included in the programme, along with the nine newly added, can enter China visa-free and stay for up to 30 days for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges or transit, Lin added.
China has been gradually rolling out visa-free policies for a number of countries in Europe and Southeast Asia since late last year including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia.
On 1 November, the Foreign Ministry announced that it would extend this policy on a trial basis to include citizens from Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein and South Korea.
Citing data released by the National Immigration Administration (NIA) last month, Global Times reported a sharp rise in foreign visitor arrivals during the third quarter of 2024, which increased by +48.8% year-on-year to 8.186 million. Of these, 4.885 million trips were facilitated by the visa-free policy, marking a +78.6% year-on-year growth. ✈
