A new policy from Shanghai’s visa authorities means that visitors will soon be able to spend six days in China without a visa.
Designed to boost both business travel and tourism, authorities will allow visitors from 51 counties to spend 144 hours in the Yangtze Delta, provided they can show their booked details of onward travel (ie, your plans to leave). The new visa applies to international travellers arriving in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou. The Ministry of Public Security said yesterday that the policy will apply from the end of January.
A 73-hour visa-free period was previously implemented in 2013, and the policy has been extended to include arrivals by ship and rail rather than just at airports.
This is the latest move in a gradual easing of visa policies in China.
In exchange, many countries such as Thailand have eased entry requirements for Chinese travellers in recent years. Over the Spring Festival holiday next month, the highest number of Chinese people on record are expected to travel abroad – a 40% increase on last year.