China to grant visa-free entry to citizens of more countries
Starting from November 30, 2024, to December 31, 2025, a visa-free trial period will be implemented for holders of ordinary passports from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, and Japan. The duration of visa-free stay will be doubled to 30 days, announced Lin Jian, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC.
This will expand the scope of China's unilateral visa-free policy from 29 to 38 countries. Since December 1, 2023, China has been introducing a unilateral visa-free regime for holders of ordinary passports from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. Subsequently, the rules were extended to several other countries. From January to September of this year, 42,000 new enterprises with foreign investment were established in China, an 11.4% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of PRC.
Now, traveling to China is even more attractive, as foreign citizens can benefit from simplified procedures, reduced fees, and faster border crossings. Shortly after the announcement of the expansion of visa-free entry opportunities, there was a surge of interest in Chinese cities on the international platforms of the company Trip.com: within 30 minutes, search queries on the European site increased by 65%, and on the Japanese site - by 112%. In addition, there was a noticeable increase in interest in direct flights from various cities in Japan to China.
