Can You Travel to China? Restrictions & Requirements
10 Minutes Read
• Since closing its borders to most international travel last year, China has imposed strict lockdowns, mass testing, large-scale contact tracing, quarantines and entry restrictions as part of its zero-tolerance Covid-19 strategy.
• The country closed its borders to most international travel. Only the lucky few ones get back, and must meet a series of requirements.
• The measures look set to continue despite the potential long-term economic impact and the nation’s plans to host international events including the Winter Olympics.
• Here is what you need to know about China’s latest entry restrictions.
China has closed its borders to most international travel. Photo: Bloomberg
Is everyone allowed to enter China?
No, not at all.
Very few foreigners are still able to return at the moment.
Holiday travel to China is generally not allowed but people with special courtesy visas, such as government officials and diplomats travelling for personal reasons, can enter the country. Those from the same group travelling for official purposes on diplomatic and service visas are also allowed in.
China has refused to let foreign students return to the country to resume their studies, and has stopped granting visas to international students except to those from South Korea following a visa agreement last year.
Returning to China did NOT get any easier, and has likely become even harder because of China's ‘zero tolerance’ stand on Delta variant. However, it is still possible to enter the country for certain reasons. Mainland Chinese citizens can return home from overseas as long as they test negative for Covid-19 and obtain the health code required to verify this. Meanwhile, foreigners holding valid work, personal and family reunion residence permits are allowed to enter, as are those holding approved visa types such as air crew.
Foreigners can also apply for visas for humanitarian and emergency reasons, such as visiting critically ill relatives or attending the funeral of an immediate family member. However, some visas require travellers to have been vaccinated with a Chinese vaccine.
Flights from certain countries, such as Britain, Belgium and the Philippines, have at various times also been banned when cases surged in those places. Travellers are advised to check the Chinese embassy website in their country for the latest information.
Recently various Chinese Embassies even announced pre-boarding quarantine and other measurements, including regular checks during personal health declaration, nucleic acid testing reports and other relevant files, and even require CT scan. Check out the overview below.
What documents do I need?
In addition to a valid visa or residence permit, you need to obtain a health code from a Chinese embassy or consulate before departure. To apply for the health code, travellers must submit a negative Covid-19 nucleic acid test result and antibody test online. Both have to be taken within 48 hours of the flight at a lab approved by the embassy or consulate.
Travellers will also have to submit vaccination records, if any, and may also be asked to provide other supporting documents such as flight itineraries and proof of residence.
They are also advised to take direct flights when available because Chinese embassies will decline to issue health codes to transit passengers if direct flights are available.
For travellers with no direct flight to China, only one transit is allowed in general, and health codes are required from the embassy or consulate at the point of departure, and at the transit location.
Travellers who were previously infected with Covid-19 also have to have a lung scan, undergo two nucleic acid tests 24 hours apart and do 14 days of self-quarantine before they can apply for a health code.
Those coming from some high-risk countries, such as Britain, may also have to take an additional nucleic acid test.
Are vaccinations required?
Vaccinations are not a must, but those that have been fully vaccinated with a Chinese vaccine may be able to enter China for a wider range for personal matters such as to visit close family members, or to take care of elderly relatives.
Those who have received other vaccines will not be able to enter China for these expanded reasons. However, they may have to take a different antibody test to obtain the health code to enter China.
Most Chinese vaccines are inactivated vaccines, unlike other jabs such as the Moderna and BioNTech shots. Vaccinations may result in a positive result in the antibody test, and travellers who have been jabbed with non-inactivated vaccines may have to take a different antibody test to show that the result is due to the vaccine and not an active Covid-19 infection – a requirement not necessary for those who had inactivated vaccines.
What happens when I arrive in China?
Unless you are travelling on a “fast lane” arrangement that allows some essential travellers to skip quarantine (read: the top elite), you will generally have to undergo 14 to 21 days of quarantine. Pre-boarding Quarantine: More Embassies Join List
Quarantine requirements vary among China’s provinces and cities. Beijing has some of the strictest, requiring travellers to undergo 14 days of quarantine at a designated location and seven days at home, followed by another seven days of health monitoring involving daily temperature and symptom reports.
Some travellers from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, on the other hand, are allowed to spend half of their two-week isolation period at home.
How can I get into China?
Inbound travel options for China have been cut drastically.
Air travel remains the main way of entering the country but international flights to the country are limited. In March last year, China restricted both foreign and Chinese carriers to just one weekly international passenger flight per airline.
The civil aviation authority can suspend flights if there are a certain number of positive Covid-19 cases among a carrier’s passengers, although those rules have been eased this year. If between five and 10 passengers on a flight test positive for the coronavirus, the airline can choose to either suspend their operations for two weeks or continue operating at a maximum of 40 per cent capacity. Previously, they had to suspend operations for one week.
China strengthened its control of its land border with Myanmar amid fears over the spread of the Delta variant, and completely closed its land border with Russia last year to contain a spike in cases entering the country from its northern neighbour.
READ MORE
How Effective are the Chinese Vaccines?
China Crackdowns: E-Commerce to Education
Pre-boarding Quarantine: More Embassies Join List
China Bans Private Tutors from Giving Online Classes