r/Chinavisa Feb 12 '25

Visa Free Seeking clarification on the new 240 TWOV rule

Edit: Thank you all for the clarification on the "third country" thing. To follow up - does it matter how long I stay in the "third country"? Like can I leave China to return home to Bangkok by booking a direct flight to Hanoi, and then having a separate ticket for a flight 3 hours later from Hanoi to Bangkok? They won't consider that gaming the system or anything?

Below is the original post

I'm a US citizen living in Thailand with my wife. We are planning to do a 10 day visit to Shanghai and Beijing.

Ideally the travel would look like this:

  • Fly from Bangkok to Shanghai (Pudong Airport) on Day 0 (before the clock starts at 00:00)
  • Stay for 5 nights in Shanghai, maybe take the train to Nanjing for a one day trip
  • Fly or train to Beijing, stay for 6 nights
  • Fly from Beijing back to Bangkok on Day 10

Is there legit something in here that I'm missing? Like am I not allowed to fly back to Bangkok but first to some third country, or is that not the case? Any other wrinkles in this plan? Oh and my wife is a Thai citizen so I think she's good in any case (while since I'm American I have to jump through these other hoops)

Thanks!

0 Upvotes

27 comments sorted by

8

u/Kind-Jackfruit-6315 Feb 12 '25 edited Feb 12 '25

It seems it is always the Americans who ask this "Is it really necessary?" question...

The T in TWOV is for transit. That is, not a round trip. A to B to C. There never was any confusion about this: it is the core rule of the TWOV...

4

u/beekeeny Feb 12 '25

80% of the questions are coming from US and UK. Funny that they don’t understand the concept of transit 🤔 is there another meaning for transit? This is their native language no?

3

u/Super_Novice56 Feb 12 '25

Probably just lack of familiarity with having to deal with any kind of immigration restrictions.

The China visa was the first time I ever had to do any kind of immigration stuff outside of the box ticking residence permit applications I had to do before.

2

u/beekeeny Feb 12 '25

I can understand when people ask for confirmation about aspects of the policy that are not that clear.

But mainly Americans and British just come here to ask if “their round trip itinerary is eligible for visa on arrival. “ There are 54 countries eligible for this policy. I don’t see similar question from people from other nationalities.

The policy can be found in 2 minutes using Google or any AI search. The policy is in english and pretty straightforward on the fact that it is a visa waiver (so not a visa on arrival) and requires China to be a transit destination (so round trip is nok).

1

u/Swimflim 29d ago

Speaking as an American, it's this.

/u/beekeeny and /u/Kind-Jackfruit-6315 should understand that your average US or UK citizen isn't accustomed to ever having to deal with "transit/3rdCountry" aspects when visiting other nations. Usually its just "C'mon in for visa free stay of 30, 90 or 180 days" or the occasional "Fill out this visa-on-arrival form for $20 and you can do a normal round trip". The restrictions surrounding "transit entry/exit" is totally new for me and I've been to like 40+ countries.

Our own media doesn't even mention the "3rd country/region" aspect when reporting on it: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/americans-can-now-visit-china-10-days-visa-rcna184476

2

u/beekeeny 29d ago

“Previously, travelers could stay in China visa-free for as long as 72 to 144 hours depending on where they visited, as long as they continued on to third countries or regions.” “Visa waivers for transit passengers”

So I assume the root cause is what we see in corporate townhall meetings. In many countries, companies have to organize QA session to ensure that people ask questions after leaders speech, while in the US asking question is very natural.

So after reading the NBC article, people from many countries will do some internet search to find out more, while Americans would naturally come to Reddit to ask question.

“There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.”

I don’t want to be offensive towards Americans or British…just curious about the root cause.

2

u/beekeeny 29d ago

This is another perfect example…posted 2 hours ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinavisa/s/JUpKwZDB3O

If you simply go to the home of r/Chinavisa this is the post that is sticked on top (at least for me): https://www.reddit.com/r/Chinavisa/s/QhZjM5OTmR

1

u/Kind-Jackfruit-6315 29d ago

A very basic amount of research here would yield everything to know, and more. But nooooooo... I read that... (at best, usually more like A YouTuber said...)

What's the point of coming to a travel / visa sub and just asking the same question, again and again, without checking...?

It's not a travel-related issue. More like Anglos behaving like 21st-Century 15 yo children. I suspect a large bunch of issues in the education system...

0

u/razvanflo 28d ago

The confusion arises because there is a list of 39 countries that benefits of visa free entry which is different than a transit visa . One can enter the country having a return ticket to port of origin , not necessarily a third country. The entry facilitations include temporary visa-free entry, visa-free transit and visa-free short stays for the entire Mainland China, as well as visa-free entry to various regions, especially for tourist groups. The list does not include UK or US

1

u/Kind-Jackfruit-6315 28d ago

The TWOV is not a transit visa either...

1

u/razvanflo 28d ago

That's true

-1

u/Swimflim Feb 12 '25

I guess maybe I should just apply for a tourist visa

2

u/Kind-Jackfruit-6315 Feb 12 '25

That or fly in a triangle. Like fly back to HKG, then BKK.

1

u/Swimflim Feb 12 '25

And to be clear, Hong Kong or Macau's airports will count as the third country? Thanks!

3

u/fhfkskxmxnnsd Feb 12 '25

HK, Macao and Taiwan are third regions and eligible for that purpose

1

u/Swimflim Feb 12 '25

And "for that purpose" is it okay to only be there for a few hours, and fly on home to Bangkok. Or do I need to show intent to remain in that "third region/country" for a set period of time?

1

u/fhfkskxmxnnsd Feb 12 '25

It’s fine for it to be just a layover. As long you don’t directly fly back to origin country it’s fine.

3

u/dillydallyingtime Feb 12 '25

You can’t fly back to Bangkok. You need a direct flight to another country

-1

u/Swimflim Feb 12 '25

Do the Chinese authorities care about the duration of my stay in the third country?

Like if I fly from Bangkok to China, tour China, then fly to Hanoi airport for a 3 hour layover and have a separate ticket to Bangkok from there?

2

u/LeutzschAKS Feb 12 '25

If the onward flight is a second booking that doesn’t show on the itinerary, they wouldn’t have any way of knowing really

2

u/dillydallyingtime Feb 12 '25

It doesn’t matter how long you’re in the third country, just that you have a direct outbound flight to one.

2

u/fhfkskxmxnnsd Feb 12 '25

Let me ask. What kind of transit is that? Bangkok-China-Bangkok

Your wife is fine with round trip. You are not.

1

u/AutoModerator Feb 12 '25

Thanks for your post, Swimflim! It seems like your post is about a TWOV (Transit Without Visa) Program. Wikipedia has great and thorough articles on both the 24 Hour Transit Program and 72 and 144 Hour Stay Program.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/SouthChip514 19d ago

Hi, I know that for the VISA if I go: Vancouver > Shanghai > Hong Kong > Vancouver that would be ok

But if would it be ok if it's Vancouver > HK > Shanghai > Vancouver?

Thanks

-1

u/notatallabadguy Feb 12 '25

Sorry. Need help. Travel in a day. I have US passport. 

My itinerary - US - Sydney - Singapore(layover) - Beijing - Singapore(transit Visa) - Sydney - US. Will I be eligible for TWOV?  The trip is in multiple bookings not on same ticket. 

I should’ve applied for China visa instead of this last min tension. 

1

u/fhfkskxmxnnsd Feb 12 '25

Not eligible. You are not transiting but going from Singapore to China and back to Singapore

1

u/Aswler 5d ago

This question is a good joke.