A number of other measures have also been introduced to facilitate the entry of foreign citizens
Xinhua news Agency reports: The State Administration for Immigration Affairs /GUI/PRC on Monday announced the introduction of a 144-hour visa-free transit regime at three more checkpoints. Thus, the number of such checkpoints in the country has increased to 37. Among the named points are the Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, Henan Province /Central China/, the Sanya International Airport in Lijiang, Yunnan Province in southwestern China and the Mohan Railway checkpoint in Yunnan Province, the ministry said in a statement. Starting on Monday, foreign citizens whose situation meets the relevant requirements can enter China through the checkpoint of the Xinzheng Airport in Zhengzhou city without visas, but with a restriction on staying only within Henan Province. Persons entering Yunnan Province under the above-mentioned regime through the checkpoint of Sanya Airport are allowed to stay in more areas of this province. If previously it was allowed to visit only Kunming, then now these people can visit nine units of the city and district level of Yunnan Province, including Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Xishuangbanna, GUI reported. Currently, the 144-hour visa-free transit policy in China applies to citizens of 54 countries around the world, including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.Expanding the list of checkpoints for 144-hour visa-free transit will provide more opportunities for foreign travelers, the ministry said in a statement. The introduction of the 72/144-hour visa-free transit regime has played an important role in ensuring the country’s high-level openness to the outside world, facilitating human exchanges between China and other countries of the world, as well as facilitating contacts and cooperation. GUI promised to continue to improve and optimize immigration policy and to receive foreign visitors with a more open approach. As reported earlier this month in the GUI, in the first half of this year, 14.64 million inbound trips of foreigners were registered in the country, which is 152.7% more than in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the number of foreigners who traveled to China under the visa-free regime increased by 190.1% year-on-year to 8.54 million people. Their share in the total number of foreign entry trips was 52%. In addition to the expanded visa waiver policy, China has also introduced a number of other measures to facilitate the entry of foreign citizens and their stay in the country, including easing visa application requirements and simplifying the relevant procedure, exemption from border checks for certain groups of transit passengers, as well as providing more convenient mobile payment services for foreigners. GUI predicts that the number of foreigners visiting China will continue to grow in the second half of this year.
