Visa & Entry
48, 50, 57 or 61? What Each China Visa-Free Count Actually Means
Search for “how many countries can enter China visa-free” and you will get at least six different answers. They are not contradicting each other. They are counting different things — and almost nobody says which. Here is each figure, what it measures, and the official document it comes from.
The short answer
There is no single number, because China does not run a single visa-free scheme. It runs several, under different authorities, with different rules about where you can go and what you must carry.
50 countries are on China’s unilateral 30-day visa-exemption list. 57 can use 240-hour visa-free transit, which is a different thing and needs an onward ticket to a third country. 61 can enter Hainan only for 30 days. Officials quote 75 for unilateral and mutual exemptions combined. A guide citing 48, 55 or 59 is quoting a figure that has since changed.
The practical consequence: you cannot answer “am I visa-free?” from a country count at all. You answer it from which scheme your passport sits in, and that is what the table below is for.
Six numbers side by side
| Figure | What it counts | Where you can go | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Unilateral visa exemption, ordinary passports, up to 30 days. China waives the visa on its own initiative; no reciprocity involved. | Mainland China, any open port | Counted from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ per-country notices, current after the UK and Canada were added on 17 February 2026 |
| 45 + 1 | The subset named in the most recent extension notice — 45 countries, plus Sweden from 10 November 2025 — whose exemption was extended to 24:00 on 31 December 2026. | Mainland China | Chinese embassy notice, November 2025 |
| ~29 | Mutual visa-exemption agreements for ordinary passports — a different legal instrument: bilateral treaties, with stay limits set per agreement (commonly 15–90 days). Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are in this group, not the unilateral list. | Mainland China, per treaty terms | Commonly cited figure. The official mutual-exemption table mixes diplomatic, service and ordinary passports in one list, so no ordinary-passport total is published — see below |
| 75 | Unilateral and mutual combined, as stated by officials. No breakdown was published. | Mainland China | Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, 31 July 2025 |
| 57 | 240-hour visa-free transit — 10 days, 65 designated ports in 24 provinces. This is transit: it requires a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region. | Nationwide, but you must leave for a third country | National Immigration Administration English policy page, dated 20 August 2026 |
| 61 | Hainan 30-day visa-free entry — a separate provincial policy, entry through designated Hainan ports only. | Hainan island only | Embassy notice; Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam added effective 20 August 2026 |
| 150+ | Agreements covering all passport types, including diplomatic and official. For most of these countries the waiver does not extend to ordinary passports. | Not applicable to tourists | The official agreements table runs to 158 numbered entries, most of them diplomatic or service passports only. Not comparable to any figure above |
Note what happens if you add the third and fourth rows: 50 unilateral plus roughly 29 mutual is about 79, not the 75 officials quote. The two do not reconcile, and no official source explains the gap — it could be overlap, a different cut-off date, or a different treatment of passport types. We are not going to pretend the arithmetic works.
Why there is no single official total
This is the actual root of the confusion, and it is structural rather than careless:
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes per-country notices, not a running total. Each addition or extension is its own announcement naming specific countries. The National Immigration Administration does keep a consolidated list of unilateral visa-exemption countries — 50 of them, compiled from those Ministry releases and stamped 17 February 2026 — but it is a dated compilation of one track, not a running total of everything, and a writer counting before that date correctly got 46 or 48.
- Transit is a different authority. The 240-hour policy is administered by the National Immigration Administration and published on its own page with its own country list. It has never matched the exemption list and is not meant to.
- Hainan is provincial. Its 30-day policy is announced separately and applies only within the island.
- Officials quote combined figures without a breakdown. “75 countries” covers unilateral and mutual together, so it cannot be checked against either list on its own.
So when two guides disagree, the useful question is not “which one is right” but “which scheme, on which date”.
How to date any guide you are reading
Each of these numbers was correct once. If you see one, you know roughly how old the page in front of you is:
| If it says | Then the page predates | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 144-hour transit | 17 December 2024 | The 72- and 144-hour transit windows were replaced by a single 240-hour (10-day) allowance. The 144-hour rule no longer exists. |
| 48 | 17 February 2026 | The UK and Canada were added to the unilateral list |
| 55 | 20 August 2026 | Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam were added to 240-hour transit, taking it to 57 |
| 59 | 20 August 2026 | The same two additions took Hainan’s list to 61 |
This is a more reliable freshness test than a “last updated” stamp, which is often bumped without the content being rechecked.
Which number applies to you
Three questions, in this order:
- Is your country on the unilateral 30-day list? If yes, you can enter mainland China for up to 30 days with no visa and no onward-ticket requirement. Check the current list in our 30-day visa-free countries guide.
- If not — are you only passing through? If your country is one of the 57 and you have a confirmed ticket onward to a third country, 240-hour transit gives you 10 days nationwide. Full rules and the port list are in our 240-hour visa-free transit guide.
- If neither — is Hainan enough? 61 countries can enter Hainan visa-free for 30 days, but you must enter through a Hainan port and stay on the island.
If none of the three fits, you need a tourist (L) visa. Our tourist visa guide covers the application.
The 31 December 2026 problem
The unilateral visa-exemption arrangement currently runs to 24:00 on 31 December 2026. The November 2025 notice extended it to that date, and the UK and Canada were added in February 2026 on the same end date.
As of 29 October 2026 we have found no announcement extending it into 2027. Chinese officials said in March 2026 that they intend to expand the list further, but an intention to expand is not an extension. Russia is a separate case, running to 31 December 2027.
If you are planning January 2027 travel on the unilateral exemption, treat the rule as unconfirmed until a new notice appears.
Our December 2026 deadline page tracks this specifically.
FAQ
- So how many countries can enter China visa-free?
- For mainland entry with no onward-ticket condition: 50, on the unilateral list. Add mutual-exemption treaty countries and officials put the combined figure at 75. Counting transit and Hainan as well produces larger numbers that answer a different question.
- Is 240-hour transit the same as being visa-free?
- No, and this is the most common mix-up. Transit requires a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region, entry and exit through designated ports, and it caps you at 10 days. Unilateral exemption has none of those conditions.
- Why does one site say 48 and another 50?
- Because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces changes country by country and never publishes a total. A page written before 17 February 2026 — when the UK and Canada were added — correctly said a lower number at the time.
- Is the 144-hour rule still available?
- No. It was replaced on 17 December 2024 by the single 240-hour allowance. A guide still quoting 144 hours predates that change.
- Does the Hainan list help if I want to visit Beijing?
- No. Hainan’s 30-day visa-free entry is limited to the island and to its designated entry ports.
- Where is the authoritative list?
- No single page holds all of it, but two of the three tracks do have an official list. The National Immigration Administration publishes a unilateral visa-exemption list (50 countries, stamped 17 February 2026) and a 240-hour transit list (57 countries, stamped 20 August 2026). Both are dated compilations of Ministry of Foreign Affairs releases, so they can lag a fresh announcement. Hainan is announced separately by embassies, and mutual exemptions appear only in a combined table covering diplomatic, service and ordinary passports, which is why no clean ordinary-passport total exists. That split is the reason this page exists.
Sources
- 240-hour transit, 57 countries, 65 ports, 24 provinces — National Immigration Administration, visa-free transit policies, dated 20 August 2026.
- Hainan 30-day, to 61 countries — Chinese embassy notice on Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam being added, effective 20 August 2026.
- Unilateral exemption extended to 24:00 on 31 December 2026 — Ministry of Foreign Affairs notice of 3 November 2025 (Chinese), naming 45 countries, with Sweden added from 10 November 2025. English-language embassy notices repeat the same list.
- 75 countries, unilateral and mutual combined — Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, English release dated 31 July 2025.
- Unilateral exemption, 50 countries — National Immigration Administration, list of countries covered by unilateral visa exemption, stamped 17 February 2026, which is the release that added the UK and Canada.
- Mutual visa-exemption agreements — National Immigration Administration, details of mutual visa exemption agreements, as of April 2025. 158 entries, passport types mixed.
