China to offer visa exemption to visitors of 53 countries for stays upto 6 days (144 hours) in Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin and Hebei starting from Dec 28.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will roll out a 144-hour visa-free transit policy to allow international visitors from 53 countries to stay in the region for up to 6 days without a visa starting from Thursday, Dec. 28. pic.twitter.com/BCMhXIS1h4
— People’s Daily,China (@PDChina) December 27, 2017
According to South China Morning Post,
Wang Huiyao, director of the Centre for China Globalisation think tank, said the scheme would boost the tourism sector, especially in Tianjin and Hebei.
“The new policy covers citizens from almost all the developed countries in the world and six-day stays mean foreign visitors now have enough time to travel or to attend business conferences without needing to spend time and money on visa applications,” said Wang.
The 53 countries are listed below, according to sh-immigration.gov.cn website..
1. European member countries of Schengen Visa Scheme (25)
Austria, Belgium, Czech, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovak, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco
2. Other European countries (14)
Russia, the U.K., Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Belarus
3. American countries (6)
United States of America, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile
4. Oceania countries (2)
Australia, New Zealand
5. Asian countries (6)
Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar
