Visa-free Transit

[xuechengfeng]

What's the deal with this? The information says:

2. Visas are not required of passport holders of the following countries, who transit through Pudong Airport or Hongqiao Airport of Shanghai, provided they hold valid passports, visas for the onward countries, final destination tickets and have booked seats, and stay in Shanghai for less than 48 hours : Republic of Korea, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland.

I am flying into Hong Kong. I fly out of Pudong. Does this mean I am able to travel to Shanghai for 2 days for leisure and then leave, or does this mean I have to stay in the airport the whole time?

Do you need some sort of paperwork for this or just a valid air ticket?

[jbradfor]

How are you getting from Hong Kong to Shanghai? Via ground? In that case, NO.

transit through Pudong Airport or Hongqiao Airport of Shangha

"transit through" means you arrive into Pudong and leave less than 48 hours later. It's really more intended for connecting flights.

[taylor04]

Yea, it's basically if it's a connection flight, for example, you're planning to go to X and you switch planes in Shanghai, you don't need a visa. However, I don't think you can just do anything you want in those two days, and if you tried to rent a hotel without a visa (except the airport hotels), I'm sure the cops would be there pretty fast....

As it says, you need the ticket for your destination (out of China) and the visa for that destination. I haven't been in this situation, but I would not travel around Shanghai without a visa.

[roddy]

Have a read of this. You'd certainly need to be flying into Shanghai (and I guess the same airport?), and my concern would be getting on to that plane without a visa in your passport - the airline may well expect you to have one. Although if you're flying from Hong Kong they may be better informed.

I wouldn't worry about not having a visa - you'll get a stamp in your passport which is in effect a visa. It'd be more accurate to describe this as visa-on-arrival than visa-free transit. You might need to explain this to hotels though.

Edited March 17, 2010 at 10:35 PM by roddy

[889]

The IATA visa database, which airline clerks check, shows the stopover rule:

"Visa required, except for Nationals of U.S.A., provided arriving at and departing from Shanghai Hongqiao or Pu Dong airports only, continuing to a third country within 48 hours and holding confirmed onward tickets and all documents required for next destination."

http://www.delta.com/planning_reservations/plan_flight/international_travel_information/visa_passport_information/index.jsp