Thread: Soooo, new Chinese visa requirements?

Originally Posted by mrs767er

You'd think so, but it hasn't slowed that much since the Olympics...
Then they had the exposition in Shanghai, and apparently river cruises are still very popular. Not as though they need any tourism money--they have oodles of ours!

But they never had the requirement that you had to have a sponsor before. At least I did not have one when I went to PEK. It's like Russia now...too much of a PITA to deal with all the crap, and there's plenty of other cool places to go.

Edit: Found this on Chinese Consulate website:

A foreign citizen can enter China without a visa under any one of the following circumstances:

1) Direct Transit

A foreign citizen who is transiting through China by air is exempted from a visa if he/she will stay only in the airport for no more than 24 hours and has a valid connecting ticket with confirmed seating on an international flight.

Citizens holding passports issued by the following countries are exempted from a visa if transiting through Shanghai and staying for no more than 48 hours in Shanghai. These visitors can leave the airport but must enter and exit from China via Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport or Shanghai Pudong International Airport: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S.