China 72 Hour Visa-Free Transit

[not so old china hand]

As I mentioned in a previous post I took advantage of the 72 hour visa free rule to string together cheap flights between Ulaanbaatar and Hong Kong.

As the name suggests it allows one to stay in China for up to 72 hours without having to get a visa in advance. And it's FREE

The rule applies to most cities that are major points of entry for international flights. The ones most like to be of interest are: Beijing, Chogquing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Qindao, and Xian. There are others.

For most cities no advance notice is required (certainly the case with Beijing) but it's worth checking in advance with the airline or travel agent.

For Beijing the 72 hours begins at the scheduled arrival time. For most other cities it starts at midnight of the day you arrive so take care when calculating the length of your stay

Eligibility: most European citizens (including non-Schengen countries such as Ireland and the UK; Canada and the USA; Australia and New Zealand. HOWEVER I regret not Philippine citizens.

Requirements: passport valid for at least 6 months and at least one empty visa page; a confirmed onward booking to a destination outside China (for the purposes of this process Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan count as being outside China); details of where you are going to stay (including a contact telephone number). NOTE it must be an onward ticket to a third country not a return. So you could not fly Manila - Beijing - Manila for example but you could fly Manila - Beijing - Hong Kong.

The process.

When you check-in tell the agent that you are going to apply for a 72 hour visa free transit and show them the details of your onward flight. Fill in the arrival card they give you on the plane (if you don't get one don't worry you can get at the transit desk).

The only tricky part of the whole process is finding the transit desk after you land. In Beijing T3 it is on the left after the health-check desk and before immigration. At the transit desk you will be given a form to fill in. It's quite straight forward: You don't need to fill in the fields "Agent" and "Agent's phone number." After checking the form and your itinerary the person at the desk will stamp your passport with an illegible stamp and write-in your departure time.

Ignore the sign that says you need to get a boarding pass for an onward flight. Proof of booking is all.

Then you go to the immigration desk and they will process you into the country.

WELCOME to CHINA.

NOTE the 72 hour visa free transit limits you to staying in one city (with the exception of Shanghai where they give you 144 hours and you can visit nearby provinces). However the city limits are pretty large. For Beijing for example they include most of the popular sites on the Great Wall.

So to sum up.

Advantages: No need to go through the hassel of applying for a visa

                       Handy if you book a trip on the spur of the moment or happen to be flying through China on a cheap ticket.

                       It's free.

Disadvatages: Long wait. It took me about two hours as one person processed a long queue.

                                             Not applicable to Philippine citizens (unless they are travelling on another passport)

Edited November 9, 2017 by not so old china hand

[Old55]

Thanks for taking the time to share this.

Perhaps during our next Cebu visit a quick China run could be made.

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

Great info!  I have always stayed away from those cheap flights to Canada via China as I was concerned about the visa process and I heard the cheap seats were only good for midgets on the Chinese airlines.

So now that you have given us the goods on 72 hour visa free travel can you give us any tips about what airlines to use when flying via China to Vancouver or the west coast of US?

[AlwaysRt]

22 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

So now that you have given us the goods on 72 hour visa free travel can you give us any tips about what airlines to use when flying via China to Vancouver or the west coast of US?

I flew China Southern last April and had no complaints, if I had to come up with something it would be the food. Seating and schedule was fine, no difference from my connecting flight with AA except for better looking crew who bowed occasionally. 

[not so old china hand]

On 11/09/2017 at 11:34 AM, Dave Hounddriver said:

So now that you have given us the goods on 72 hour visa free travel can you give us any tips about what airlines to use when flying via China to Vancouver or the west coast of US?

 

15 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

I flew China Southern last April and had no complaints, if I had to come up with something it would be the food. Seating and schedule was fine, no difference from my connecting flight with AA except for better looking crew who bowed occasionally. 

Just did an online search on Kayak. The cheapest flight through Beijing to Vancouver, one way, was with Air China. HK$ 4,807 (about 31,600 peso). The routing was Manila to Beijing non stop, Beijing to Vancouver with a two and a half hour stopover in SFO.

For less than that (HK$4,642) you could get a return flight with Xiamen Airlines stopping over in Xiamen. Xiamen also qualifies for a 72 hour visa free transfer. Xiamen (Amoy) is a pleasant sea-side town and IMHO not a bad place to spend a day or two.

I have flown Air China from Beijing to Manila and from Beijing to SFO and been perfectly comfortable on both flights (caveat I fit most airline seats at 5ft 7in and 150 lbs).

I have not flown Xiamen airlines but those that have say that it compares favourably with Hainan Airlines (which I rate quite highly). Like most Chinese airlines their equipment is pretty new and they have recently added Boeing 787 "Dreamliners" to their fleet.

As far as airline food goes my expectations are fairly low. One advantage of Chinese food (and Asian food in general) is it stands up well to being reheated.

Chinese airlines that I would not recommend from personal experience are China Eastern and China Southwestern.

Edited November 10, 2017 by not so old china hand

[Dave Hounddriver]

7 hours ago, not so old china hand said:

Chinese airlines

All good info, thank you very much.

Next question is a language question.  When in some areas of Hong Kong I found that people who did not speak English would make no attempt to communicate when I spoke in English.  They might reply in their language, as if to say 'I don't speak your language so how about you speaking mine'.  Fair enough, its their country, but it does not make a tourist feel welcome so I tend to avoid that kind of area.  (I have the same situation with the French speakers in Quebec except the CAN speak English but won't).

So the question is:  How will an English speaker be treated and how much communication difficulty is there (signs in English?)  For example, In South Korea (Incheon area) there are not a lot of people willing to speak English to me but they do make an effort to try and they are friendly about it.  How does that compare to Xiamen or Beijing?

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

How will an English speaker be treated and how much communication difficulty is there (signs in English?)  For example, In South Korea (Incheon area) there are not a lot of people willing to speak English to me but they do make an effort to try and they are friendly about it.  How does that compare to Xiamen or Beijing?

I have been through Beijing a few times. Never had a problem, only 'issue' I ever had was putting up with security at the x-ray machine once. Gave me attitude and riffled through my backpack (I had lots of different electronics and chargers in it) during an especially busy time, shortly after a 'westerner who knows their rights' episode. Only that once, every other time was normal get in line, wait, this way please. Usually have enough time to eat and get a massage (expensive vs Philippines, still cheap vs US at about $20 for an hour if I remember right)

[not so old china hand]

14 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

So the question is:  How will an English speaker be treated and how much communication difficulty is there (signs in English?)

My experience is that Mainland Chinese will go out of their way to communicate with you. In airports, hotels, and major sightseeing areas you will normally find signs in English and someone with at least a smattering of English. Failing that sign language and smiles go a long way. Most hotels give their guests cards that say in English and Chinese "Please take me to..." followed by a list of major destinations (eg, Tianamen, the Summer Palace, the Silk Market... and, of course, the hotel name"). You just show this to the driver when you board a taxi and point to your destination.

Two or three phrases such as "Ni hao" (hello) Xi xi (thank you) and "Dui bu chi" (I'm sorry / excuse me) go a long way to building good will and may well result in you being complemented on speaking good Chinese. A Google search on these phrases will pull up sites with soundbites giving the correct pronunciation.

So it's really "Mei wenti" (no problem).