Ten Minutes at the Counter: China's Arrival Card and Immigration Questions

The Card You File Before You Land

Since 20 November 2025 the paper slip handed out on international flights has largely gone. Foreign arrivals now file the same information online, through the National Immigration Administration website, the NIA 12367 app, or the WeChat and Alipay mini programs carrying that name, and show a QR code at the desk instead of a completed form.

The window opens 72 hours before arrival and closes when you land. The form is free, takes a few minutes, and asks for two things people routinely have to look up: the flight number and the address of the first night. Do it before you leave home, screenshot the code, and keep the screenshot even if you have no signal on arrival.

Not everyone files one. Seven groups are exempt: holders of a Chinese permanent residence ID, non-Chinese holders of Hong Kong and Macao residents' permits, group visa and group visa-free arrivals, passengers in 24-hour direct transit staying inside the port area, cruise passengers in and out on the same vessel, e-channel users, and foreign crew on cross-border transport. If you cannot file online, ports still provide on-site QR codes, self-service terminals and paper cards. The entry rules that took effect in September sit behind all of this.

Fingerprints, Photo and the Officer's Screen

At the window the officer scans the passport, takes a photograph, and, for most foreign nationals aged 14 to 70, collects fingerprints. It is a short standard step, done at the counter or a kiosk beside the queue, and separate from anything a consulate did.

Exemptions exist: diplomatic passports, nationalities covered by a reciprocal arrangement, and prints the scanner cannot read. Travellers under 14 and over 70 are not asked.

First-time arrivals usually join the staffed queue, not the automated gate, which needs a prior enrolment you will not have. Expect two to five minutes at the window once you reach the front; the queue itself is the slow part, and mid-morning is busiest at most hubs.

Two habits keep this moving. Have the passport open at the photo page and the QR code already on screen. Then put the phone away: photography at immigration counters is prohibited and staff enforce it.

Four Questions and the Papers Behind Them

Four questions come up again and again, and each one has a document behind it.

Purpose of visit. One word is enough: tourism, business, transit, visiting family. Say the thing your paperwork supports. Since 15 September 2026 revised exit-entry rules let an officer ask for evidence of that purpose, including bookings and electronic records, so keep confirmations reachable rather than buried in an inbox.

How long. Give the number of days you actually intend to stay, not the maximum your entry basis allows.

Where you are staying. Hotel name and address, ideally in Chinese characters on your phone. This is the question most often met with a hunt through email.

Your way out. A return or onward booking, dated. On a transit entry this stops being a formality and becomes the condition of entry.

Answer plainly and stop; long explanations invite more questions. A false purpose or fabricated invitation can mean refusal and an entry ban of one to five years.

The Ticket That Ends a Transit Entry

The 240-hour transit entry is the one most often lost at the desk, and always for the same reason: the ticket.

The rule is a third country or region. London to Shanghai and back to London does not qualify; London to Shanghai to Hong Kong does. So does Frankfurt to Chengdu to Bangkok. The onward booking must be confirmed, dated inside the 240 hours, and it must leave China. The officer reads it before the stamp goes down.

As of November 2026 the scheme covers ordinary passport holders from 57 countries, entering through 65 designated ports across 24 provinces and municipalities, with the stay counted from midnight on the day after arrival. Movement is limited to those areas, so a route outside the list breaks the terms.

This also fails at check-in. Airline staff need the same onward ticket and must code the booking correctly; if they are not satisfied, you do not board. Our guide to the 240-hour transit sets out the port list and the counting rule, and the winter entry checklist covers the bookings that should be in place before you fly.

The Twenty-Four Hours After the Stamp

The stamp is not the last step. Every foreign visitor has to be registered with the local police, and the twenty-four hour clock starts on arrival.

In a hotel this happens without you: the front desk copies the passport and files the record at check-in. In a private home, a rental or a friend's flat, you or your host must register at the local police station within 24 hours, passport in hand. Some rural areas allow a longer window, and online registration has been available since March 2026 in Hebei, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangxi, Chongqing and Sichuan, with more regions following. Filter for hotels that accept foreign guests before you pay, not after you arrive.

Check the date on the stamp before you walk away. It governs everything after: the length of the stay, the registration deadline and the day you must be out. Keep a photo of the stamp; a few local procedures still ask to see it.

The immigration hotline 12367 answers in several languages around the clock. What the first two days decide picks up where the counter leaves off, and the small practicalities cover the hour after baggage claim.

Frequently Asked Questions