After a three-year pause of border restrictions due to the pandemic, China is fully reopening to foreign visitors. According to a statement released on Monday by the country’s embassy in Washington, visas are again being issued to foreigners as of Wednesday March 15th. This marks a major relaxation of travel restrictions in place since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to the review and approval of new travel documents, visas issued before March 28, 2020 –the date China closed its borders to most overseas visitors- that remain valid will again allow entry into China, according to the embassy announcement, translated from Chinese by AFP.
The updated policy will also allow the resumption of visa-free travel for those arriving on cruise ships in Shanghai, as well as for certain groups of tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and countries in the ASEAN regional grouping, the notice mentions.
China welcomed 65.7 million international visitors in 2019, according to data from the UN World Tourism Organization, before the pandemic led the country to close itself off from the rest of the world. While most other countries began fully reopening their economies and welcoming international travelers earlier, China only began to exit its strict policies in late 2022.
With the increase in cases in China around the New Year, countries such as Japan and South Korea re-imposed restrictions on Chinese visitors, leading to a tug-of-war as Beijing imposed its own limitations. As cases in China declined, travel restrictions were lifted.
In December of last year, Chinese authorities effectively ended mass testing, closures and lengthy quarantines, but the abrupt reversal led to a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases. Authorities announced that travelers entering the country from January 8th would no longer have to go through quarantine, but maintained visa restrictions for foreigners.
At the time, authorities specified that they would “continue to adjust its visa policy for foreigners visiting China scientifically and dynamically in accordance with the epidemic situation.”
The announcement that China will resume issuing visas to foreigners comes at the end of a key parliamentary session in Beijing, where Xi was confirmed for a third presidential term and his close ally Li Qiang became premier.
However, travelers still need to take a Covid test 48 hours before departure and have to fill in the results in their customs health declaration forms.
