Thread: Visa requirements Australia and Shanghai

If you are a US citizen, you can get a visa to Australia in a matter of a day or two online. It is electronic and costs about $20AUD for a multiple entry/exit visa valid for 1 year. Not sure about China but I think it takes longer to get a visa to visit there.

It's not so much a visa, but rather an electronic travel authorization that's necessary for Australia. I think it's instant, though.

For China, there are a transit without visa program for US citizens. PVG only allows you 24 hours, but PEK and CTU allow 72 hours starting at 0:01 the day after you arrive. There are other cities like this, but none with flights to US. You do need a confirmed ticket to a third country (so if you fly USA-NRT-China-NRT, it doesn't count) but you could buy a refundable confirmed ticket, nonrev home earlier, and cancel your refundable ticket once you get out. I would research this carefully before acting on it, though.

I remember in training, my instructor said the most common destinations with visa restrictions is the ABC - Australia, Brazil, and China. You have asked about 2 out of the 3

Actually PVG now allows 144 hours visa free transit provided you have a confirmed onward ticket to a third country. Note in this respect Hong Kong is treated as a separate county to China so a routing such as USA-PVG-HKG-USA would qualify for this.
See https://www.travelchinaguide.com/emb...it-144hour.htm

Hmm, I had just checked TIMATIC before saying that - maybe that's only the case for UK citizens?

Should be the same for US folks as the 144 hr rule for PVG is based on the same country criteria as the 72hr rule you previously mention ... see given link.
Unfortunately TIMATIC is not a good as it is cracked up to be when dealing with 'exceptions'.

Originally Posted by spongebue

It's not so much a visa, but rather an electronic travel authorization that's necessary for Australia. I think it's instant, though.

For China, there are a transit without visa program for US citizens. PVG only allows you 24 hours, but PEK and CTU allow 72 hours starting at 0:01 the day after you arrive. There are other cities like this, but none with flights to US. You do need a confirmed ticket to a third country (so if you fly USA-NRT-China-NRT, it doesn't count) but you could buy a refundable confirmed ticket, nonrev home earlier, and cancel your refundable ticket once you get out. I would research this carefully before acting on it, though.

I remember in training, my instructor said the most common destinations with visa restrictions is the ABC - Australia, Brazil, and China. You have asked about 2 out of the 3

You are right, it isn't a visa so much as an ETA. Mine took more than a day to get confirmed though they never actually sent me confirmation.