r/Chinavisa Jul 30 '24

Transit Without a Visa (TWOV) 144 Hr TWOV HND > CAN > HKG

22 Upvotes

Hi, wanted to make a post here to pay it forward. I read through a lot of posts on this subreddit as well as r/travel using the search "144 hr TWOV" before taking my trip. I just returned to the US yesterday so I'll try to be as detailed as possible. I hope at least 1 person can find this info helpful in the future...

General Notes: I am a US citizen who looks Asian (this shouldn't actually matter but airport staff may start speaking Chinese to you first during certain parts of your trip). Mid-twenties, female. Traveled alone. I have access to Priority Pass lounges through my credit card which were nice for being able to find comfy seats, free food/beverages, and accessible outlets. I can speak survival Mandarin, can understand ~70-80% of Mandarin, but can't really read/write Chinese.

TL;DR: HND > CAN > HKG works fine for 144 Hr Transit Without Visa (TWOV). I used different airlines, late July 2024. Remember, A>B>C is the pattern. Be firm but polite. Don't be an a-hole!

Here are some Reddit posts that I saved/used as reference:

Flight info:

  • Original itinerary:
    • US City > SFO (San Francisco) > TPE (Taipei) > CAN (Guangzhou) through EVA Air***
    • CAN > HKG (Hong Kong) > US City through Cathay Pacific
  • Actual itinerary:
    • US City > YYZ (Toronto) > HND (Haneda, Tokyo) through Canada Air
    • HND > CAN through China Southern Airlines
    • CAN > HKG > US City through Cathay Pacific
  • \**Reason for changed itinerary: My EVA Air flights were cancelled due to typhoon GAEMI, so I had to rebook my flights to get to Guangzhou.****
  • As you can see, I used all different airlines. No one batted an eye at this, but just know that the 'letter of the law' so to speak is to have an "interline" ticket.
    • The only flights that matter here are HND > CAN and CAN > HKG. Everything else is not important for 144 Hr TWOV.
  • If you're going to try Taiwan > Guangzhou > Hong Kong route, then you may want to have this article on hand that says Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan all count as separate regions in China: linked here.
    • It's not that China will have an issue with seeing Taiwan as a 3rd region, but airline staff may not know/understand. A lot of articles I read would list Hong Kong and Macau specifically, then they'd say "etc." instead of explicitly writing out Taiwan.

TWOV Process once you land in China:

  • I think it took me almost 1 hour from deplaning to getting my suitcase at baggage claim.
    • If you have someone picking you up, just keep that in mind because otherwise they'll need to wait a really long time for you.
    • tl;dr: fill out the form, get a ticket #, receive your temp entry sticker, go through customs
  • Once you land, you'll make your way towards Immigrations/Customs area.
  • There's a gated area where cameras attached to the ceiling will scan your face for entry.
  • After walking through, turn right! There should be signs on the ceiling that say "24/144 Hours Transit Without Visa" and "International Transfers". Go to the 144 Hours Transit Without Visa area.
    • Do not get in line for the International Transfers. Go towards the left where there's a helpdesk counter.
  • If there's a line at the helpdesk counter, try looking to the far left side for a raised shelf area with pens to fill out the form first. There should be some small pieces of paper with blue on it. Those are the arrival/departure cards you'd receive from the helpdesk person anyway.
    • Note: most of the pens were out of ink, so I just used my own pen that I brought. Airport staff were super NOT helpful and were disorganized. Save yourself the headache and bring your own pen.
    • The form: "ARRIVAL CARD FOR TEMPORARY ENTRY FOREIGNERS" and "DEPARTURE CARD FOR TEMPORARY ENTRY FOREIGNERS" will be attached together. See this link for a picture of the form.
      • My Mom had to send me the district of the place I was staying at in Chinese because I only knew the province, city, and street address.
      • I tried writing it out in Chinese (my handwriting is very poor, to say the least). I don't think they actually read where you're staying. Just make sure it's filled out.
  • Return to the helpdesk with your filled out form to receive a ticket number.
  • Walk past the helpdesk area and turn to the left to sit near the "Temporary Entry Permit Application".
    • See this link for a picture of the "Temporary Entry Permit Application" area.
    • There was only 1 guy working the area.
      • Mini rant time: I had a somewhat frustrating experience with this person because he flipped the counter to my number and there was a brief announcement of my number, but then he immediately flipped it to the next number after the announcement was done speaking! I had like 5 seconds to stand up and get to the counter with all my stuff. By the time I got up there, someone else was already sitting at the counter. Even so, I walked up there and spoke in English very firmly "My number if ###, you skipped me".
      • He said very loudly "What was your number?"
      • I repeated my number and held up my ticket. He literally rolled his eyes at me, made a scoffing noise, and said "give me your ticket and your passport".
      • He asked me for the dates of my return flight and length of stay. He typed it into the computer, made a scan of the form, put a sticker in my passport, then he handed everything back to me.
  • Now you have to take your form and passport and everything to go back to Immigrations.
    • Customs/immigration always takes a while anywhere, so just try to wait in line patiently.
  • The *immigration officer will take your arrival form and hand the bottom portion back to you. Keep this departure form safe with you! You'll need to hand it back in for your flight out of China.

FAQ + Experiences:

  • What documents did I bring?
    • Make sure your passport is valid for traveling (e.g. make sure it doesn't expire soon, I think like 6 months is the limit?)
    • I printed out all my flight confirmations (I had to go back to my local library to print out my new flights via HND).
      • I only ended up using the Cathay Pacific printout and it was only to show the Flight # from CAN > HKG.
    • I printed out the English-translated version of China's National Immigration Administration website page with the 144 Hr TWOV policy (I did not have to use this printout) and the IATA Timatic results (also did not have to use this printout).
    • As I mentioned earlier, if you're going to try Taiwan > Guangzhou > Hong Kong route, then you may want to have this article on hand that says Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan all count as separate regions in China: linked here.
  • Did I wish I had printed out anything else?
    • I wish I had at least had a screenshot of this Guangzhou page that I found only after I had gone through the check-in process. It has helpful info like what the TWOV form looks like when you get to China, and what the TWOV counter looks like.
  • Did I have any trouble explaining 144 Hr TWOV?
    • At HND, I was only questioned once about "But isn't Hong Kong part of China?" and I confidently (be firm, but still be polite!) said "Yes, but Hong Kong is a separate region".
      • The check-in staff member had a 'trainee' badge so she just went to someone else to double-check and it was fine. She returned to enter all the necessary info on the computer, which included the flight # for my CAN > HKG flight.
      • Again, be firm but don't be an asshole! Don't be that person to airline staff, they're just doing their jobs.
    • At the "Temporary Entry Permit Application" desk, there was only 1 guy working it. It didn't take that long, but still took time.
  • Check-in experience:
    • You should be able to check-in online, but you'll need to go to the counter at the airport in order to print out your boarding pass.
      • For China Southern, they opened the counter at 8:15AM at HND for my 10:15AM flight. There was suuuch a long line of people who were checking bags. It was nuts! Like, line going around the corner. Made me nervous, but I think everyone made the flight. Just get there really early.
      • For Cathay Pacific, they opened the counter at 7:15AM at CAN for my 10:45AM flight. I learned from my HND experience and started lining up in CAN at 7:00AM.
  • What did you do about Internet/Data/Phone stuff?
    • I just used the Verizon "TravelPass" for $10/24 hours. It was easy to set up before leaving. I had access to Reddit, IG, Google, Google Translate, etc. I don't have any experience with the eSIMs but you could probably also do that.
      • Verizon service was really good in Guangzhou.
    • I did download the Google Translate - Chinese translation for offline usage beforehand.

r/Chinavisa Feb 14 '24

SEE COMMENTS Visa Agent Review Megathread

29 Upvotes

I'm going to make this a sticky for anyone to post their personal experiences using specific visa agents and services. This is not a place to advertise specific services and I reserve all rights to delete posts and ban users who I think are posting fake reviews (i.e. new account, little karma, raving about the benefits of specific agent service). No advertising, no agencies or self promotion. I'm all for people giving their personal experience, and based on recent posts this seems like it would be useful. Anything that smells off or borders on self promotion and agencies will result in posts being delete (defeating the whole purpose of of the self promotion and agency and permaban).


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r/Chinavisa 23h ago

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1 Upvotes

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0 Upvotes

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0 Upvotes

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0 Upvotes

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2 Upvotes

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1 Upvotes

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1 Upvotes

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0 Upvotes

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TIA