China To Resume Its Entry Visa Policy

For the first time since 2020, China will begin granting all visa categories again, starting on Wednesday, March 15, 2023.

After the relaxation of cross-border control restrictions implemented three years ago at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, China has announced that it would begin granting all kinds of visas to visitors beginning this week’s Wednesday.

This comes following early 2020, when the virus swept across Wuhan, the country ceased providing visas to outsiders as well as passports to its residents.

With the reinstatement of visa services, all border controls put in place as a result of the virus will be gone.

The restart of visa applications for all nationalities "removes another key hurdle in the return of regular travel between the UK and China," explained Tom Simpson, managing director of the China-Britain Business Council.

Even though the [council] has seen an up-tick in business travel applications and arrivals since January, this announcement is expected to spark a meteoric rise in tourist arrivals, Simpson added.

According to the announcement made by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, the countries that did not need visas to enter certain regions of China prior to the outbreak would once again be able to do so. Hainan, a popular holiday spot in the south, and cruise ships docking in Shanghai are also included. Likewise, non-Chinese citizens from Hong Kong and Macau will once again be able to enter the industrial heartland of Guangdong without a visa.

The government said that travellers with valid visas granted before March 28, 2020 will also be allowed entry into China.

After unexpectedly dropping its zero-COVID plan at year's end, China resumed accepting passport applications from its residents on January 8. Also, it lifted the long-standing warning against any kind of international travel.

China had been the greatest market for international tourism when the epidemic struck, with the number of Chinese tourists abroad hitting 150 million in 2018. In the same year, Chinese travellers spent $277 billion, or 16% of all international travel expenditures.

 

Source: aljazeera.com