Policy data verified 2026-09-05
Do Indian citizens need a visa for China?
Not on any exemption list we have verified.
- India is not on the NIA's unilateral 30-day visa-free entry list (50 countries, current to February 17, 2026).
- India is not on the 240-hour visa-free transit list (57 countries, current to August 20, 2026).
- We have not verified a bilateral visa-exemption treaty for India. China holds treaties with more countries than our guides enumerate, so check your own foreign ministry's China entry advice before you assume anything.
- Two routes exist regardless of nationality: Hainan's 30-day regional visa-free scheme (the NIA's regional-policy page, linked below, names the 61 countries it covers — check it for your nationality) and the universal 24-hour direct transit when you are continuing to a third country or region.
- Otherwise the fallback is an ordinary L tourist visa from your nearest Chinese embassy or visa centre.
- Whichever route you use, you file the free China Digital Arrival Card (CDAC) online within 72 hours before entry.
India does not appear on China's unilateral 30-day visa-free entry list (50 countries, current to February 17, 2026), nor on the 240-hour visa-free transit list (57 countries, current to August 20, 2026). We have not found a bilateral visa-exemption treaty for India in our own research, though China holds more treaties than any single public guide fully enumerates. Two universal fallbacks remain regardless of nationality — Hainan's 30-day regional scheme and the 24-hour direct-transit policy — and the ordinary L tourist visa always works as a last resort.
Specifics for India
- Our visa guide names India explicitly as absent from the 30-day visa-free entry list.
What this doesn't change
Whatever your passport lets you skip, it doesn't skip the paperwork. Since November 20, 2025 the China Digital Arrival Card (CDAC) has been mandatory for essentially all foreign entrants — visa-free and transit travelers included. It's a free 5-10 minute form at s.nia.gov.cn, filed within 72 hours before you fly, producing the QR code an immigration officer scans on arrival. See our China Digital Arrival Card guide for the field-by-field walkthrough.
Sources
Not legal or immigration advice.MapTrip is an independent travel guide, not an immigration adviser. Everything on this page is a plain-English reading of published government policy on the date shown — information, not advice, and not a guarantee of admission. Border officers decide each entry case by case, and China's visa rules change several times a year. Verify your own nationality against the National Immigration Administration pages linked under Sources, or ask your nearest Chinese embassy or visa centre, before you book anything.