China visa checker: is your passport visa-free in 2026?

How this tool works

The 30-day-entry and transit records here are transcribed from two of our own verified guides — China's visa-free country lists and the 240-hour transit rules — and cross-checked directly against the National Immigration Administration's unilateral-exemption list, its 240-hour transit list, and its regional (Hainan) policy page, plus the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own notices announcing each list's current end date. The bilateral-treaty answers come from a different place again: the ordinary-passport line of the NIA's own table of mutual visa-exemption agreements, or — for the two agreements that post-date it — the Chinese embassy notice announcing that agreement's entry into force. Whichever pages back your own country's answer are linked, with the day we opened each one, under the Sources line on its page.

When your country isn't on either NIA list and we haven't verified a bilateral treaty covering it, this tool labels it “No exemption on any list we verified” — which means exactly what it says: not found on any list we checked. It is not a claim that no exemption exists. The NIA's table of mutual visa-exemption agreements runs to 158 entries, 21 of which cover ordinary passports; this tool carries 11 of those 21, plus Malaysia and Azerbaijan, whose agreements came into force after that table was compiled. A treaty covering your passport can exist without appearing here, so check that table and your own foreign ministry before assuming you need a visa.