China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on November 22 that China has added nine more countries to the short-stay visa-waiver program. The policies are in place from November 30, 2024 to December 31, 2025.
The nine new countries are Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Japan. Besides transit, leisure, business and family reunion, exchange visits are included in the visa-waiver rules, and now travelers can stay up to 30 days, double the previous 15. This brings the total number of countries with visa-free access to China to 38.
Foreign Ministry official Tong Xuejun said at a press conference on November 22 that in the third quarter of 2024, China saw about 8.19 million foreign entries, 48.8 percent more than that in the same period of 2023. Of these, 4.89 million entered via visa-waiver policies, a 78.6 percent year-on-year growth.
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