Policy data verified 2026-09-05
Do Russian citizens need a visa for China?
Visa-free for up to 30 days.
Up to 30 days · authorized through December 31, 2027
- Ordinary passport only — emergency or temporary travel documents do not qualify.
- Permitted purposes: business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, exchange visits, and transit. Work, study and journalism still need the matching visa.
- Your 30 days are counted from 00:00 on the day after you land, so the arrival day itself is free.
- No routing requirement and no onward ticket — a round trip from home is fine.
- Tibet still needs a separate travel permit for every foreigner, visa-free or not.
- Authorized through December 31, 2027 under a separate arrangement.
- Russia is also on the 240-hour visa-free transit list, which you will not need unless the 30-day scheme lapses.
- You still file the free China Digital Arrival Card (CDAC) online within 72 hours before entry — visa-free does not mean form-free.
Russia joined China's 30-day visa-free entry list on September 15, 2025. The scheme is currently authorized through December 31, 2027 for ordinary-passport holders travelling for business, tourism, family and friend visits, exchange visits, or transit — no onward ticket or routing conditions apply, and the stay clock starts at 00:00 the day after you land. Russia also sits on China's separate 240-hour visa-free transit list, though you won't need it while the 30-day scheme holds.
Specifics for Russia
- Russia's arrangement is separate from the main scheme — the MFA confirmed on May 20, 2026 that it runs through the end of 2027.
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.