China has improved its passport rankings within a decade from being a weak passport. The Chinese passport now in 67th spot, moved up 12 places since 2009, according to the new Henley passport rankings update for 2019.
As of Q2 2019, Chinese passport had visa free access to 74 countries in the world.
Chinese passports issued
The Population of China is 1.38 billion in 2017, and Chinese government issued almost 100 million biometric passports as of 2017. This also means only 7.2% of population have passports to travel abroad and more than 90% chinese do not have passports to travel abroad. In the US, about 41% of population have passports.
Chinese passports cannot normally be used when traveling directly to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan from Mainland China.
Chinese Foreign Travel
Chinese are the largest single travel population visiting several countries in the world for tourism and business trips, especially due to increase in wealth.
In 2017, Chinese citizens visited these countries in record number
- Thailand – 9.8M
- South Korea – 4.1 million
- Japan – 7.3M
- Vietnam – 4M
- United States – 3.3M
- Singapore – 3.2M
- France – 2.1M
- Russia – 1.7M
- Australia – 1.3M
- UAE – 764K
- Canada – 700K
- UK – 350K
*M – million, K – thousands
Visa Agreements
The Chinese government has made number of visa agreements with
United Arab Emirates – Chinese get 30-day visit visa on arrival, free of charge and renewable
New Zealand
Multiple entry visas for Chinese businessmen and tourists into New Zealand will be extended to five years from three years and Chinese passport holders will be allowed to use SmartGate entry when traveling to the country.
Serbia
China and Serbia’s mutual visa-free agreement goes into effect, allowing holders of ordinary Chinese passports to enjoy a visa-free entry to Serbia for a stay of up to 30 days. Serbia is the first country in Europe to grant Chinese passport holders visa-free entry.
Australia
Chinese tourists are able to apply for a 10-year multiple entry visa to Australia. Under the new visa, visitors are not allowed to work, and can stay for up to three months at a time. A fast track is established to offer visa services for Chinese applicants exclusively and online applications in Chinese simplified language is available to facilitate the whole process.
Japan
Japan’s five-year, multi-entry visas particularly for Chinese businessmen, academics and artists are extended to 10 years. Visa requirements for certain applicants are lowered and single-entry visa application procedures are simplified for students from 75 universities under the direct supervision of the Chinese Ministry of Education. These include registered undergraduates and post graduates, as well as alumni who graduated from the 75 schools within three years.
Morocco
Morocco exempts visas for Chinese tourists and allows a stay of up to 90 days.
Ecuador
A bilateral agreement passed Ecuador’s National Assembly, enabling Chinese citizens to stay in Ecuador for a single stay of up to 90 days over the course of a year with no visa.
Ukraine
Ukraine launches a pilot project to issue visas on arrival for Chinese citizens at the Boryspil airport from June 20 to Sept 30 2016. The policy is later extended with no specific expiration date.
Netherlands
The Netherlands extends the validity of its visa for Chinese passport holders to five years and decides to open 11 new visa application centers in China.
United Kingdom
The UK launches a new two-year visa system for Chinese nationals visiting the country, enabling business people to attend conferences or to investigate setting up a business, and tourists from China to make multiple trips to the UK.
Republic of Korea ROK
The Republic of Korea (ROK) starts issuing 10-year multiple entry visas to Chinese nationals who are specialized professionals, such as lawyers, professors or anyone with a master’s degree or above. The length of stay for each visit is extended from 30 days to 90 days.
Israel – 10 year visa agreement
Caribbean – Visa not required to travel to Antigua, Dominica, St Kitts, St Lucia and Grenada for 30 days.
Qatar – Visa not required for 30 days.
E-Visas
Chinese nationals are required to apply for e-visa to enter these countries
- Turkey
- Singapore
- Singapore
- Ukraine
- Malaysia
Golden Visas
Large number of HNWI emerge from China in recent years who desire to emigrate to other countries in search for better opportunities.
Chinese also apply in large numbers for golden visa schemes in Europe and Americas especially real estate investment. Chinese investors top the table in
- United States (EB-5)
- Canada QIIP
- Portugal
- Greece
- Spain
Golden visa schemes are more popular with chinese than citizenship by investment schemes as China does not allow dual citizenship.
Belt and Road Initiative
The Chinese Belt and Road initiative is one of the biggest and largest silk road projects in the world estimated to be completed in 2049. Through this project China has already established diplomatic relations with 30 countries.
Belt and Road Initiative as one of the largest infrastructure and investment projects in history, covering more than 68 countries, including 65% of the world’s population and 40% of the global gross domestic product as of 2017
The Belt and Road Initiative is geographically structured along several land corridors, and the maritime silk road. The Infrastructure corridors encompassing around 60 countries, primarily in Asia and Europe but also including Oceania and East Africa, will cost an estimated US$4–8 trillion
