72-hour visa-free stay in Beijing

[liuzhou]

Beijing will start a 72-hour visa-free stay policy for citizens of 45 countries from Jan. 1, 2013, municipal authorities said Wednesday.

Tourists holding third country visas and plane tickets can apply for a transit without visa (TWOV) in the capital city at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Xinhua

They go on to list the 45 countries which are eligible. These include the USA, Canada, Australia, most of Europe and some place I've never heard of called the United Kingdom of Britain.

I'm not sure how useful this is to anyone, but worth noting, I guess.

[imron]

72 hours - with Beijing traffic, that's probably just enough time to get from the airport to the city center and back

[weigeren]

I guess this will mostly benefit Chinese airlines, or just China Airlines (if this only applies for Beijing airport) as they could now develop an interesting hub for international pax.

[anonymoose]

I don't think China Airlines is allowed to fly from the mainland to anywhere except Taiwan.

[Guest realmayo]

Air China on the other hand ....

Could be good for trips from Europe to Korea/Japan.

[liuzhou]

I guess this will mostly benefit Chinese airlines, or just China Airlines

Don't get that at all. A lot of international airlines fly into Beijing. And out again. My last flight was London-Beijing with British Airways. I could have been planning heading on elsewhere. (Not that I need a visa.)

BTW. There is a bit of an interesting discussion going on in Twitter about which countries are NOT included. Norway (damned Noble Prize giving monkeys) for example.

[rmpalpha]

Isn't Sweden the country that gives out the Nobel Prizes? They're on the list.

[daofeishi]

Sweden gives out all of them except one. Norway is the country that awards the Peace Prize and it's not on the list. It is in fact the only one of the Nordic countries that is not. The Chinese foreign ministry apparently commented to the Norwegian media that "some countries whose government or people are of 'low quality' are not on the list."

[Guest realmayo]

Cute. Remind me never to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

Poor Norwegians. Have they met with the Dalai Lama? Sold fighter jets to Taiwan? Bombed a Chinese embassy in Belgrade? Been Japanese? But one little peace prize, the only one they get to award, and they hurt the feelings of a billion or so people. Oops!

[weigeren]

Well, i meant Air China , not China Airlines. Since PEK is their main hub, they could develop a larger hub geared at transfer international pax, insted of international O&D traffic.

[skylee]

That makes the Norwegian cloud storage I am using appear more reliable.

[roddy]

I can see a three-day stopover in Beijing being quite a popular option.

Poor Norwegians though. Next thing their North Sea oil fields will mysteriously fall within China's maritime borders.

[AucklandLove]

is it possible to change that visa to another visa type or extend it once in Beijing?

[roddy]

I have no actual knowledge, but I'll bet you a million dollars no.

[AucklandLove]

uh thats a shame. Does anyone know what the official name of that type of visa is? X, Z, F, L, ABC?

[liuzhou]

is it possible to change that visa to another visa type or extend it once in Beijing?

Does anyone know what the official name of that type of visa is? X, Z, F, L, ABC?

It isn't a visa. It is a visa-free stay policy. So it's unlikely to have a visa name. Or be extendible. It is difficult enough extending visas as it is without turning up at the PSB and saying "I want to extend this visa which I don't have!"

I can't see them getting the joke.

[langxia]

is it possible to change that visa to another visa type or extend it once in Beijing?

Haha you beat me to it, wanted to ask the same thing today.

To rephrase the question : Does anyone know if it is possible now to enter Beijing without a visa and get a visa there at the appropriate office ?

[Tammy Tan]

I heard this is also eligible in Shanghai now - does anyone know more about this or have a link to an official source?

So far only friends told me.

Quite urgent since I have friends visiting so any reply will be highly appreciated.

[fanglu]

Shanghai has had a similar rule for a while, although it rwas only for 48 hours and restricted to less nationalities, if I recall correctly.

[Cat Jones]

To rephrase the question : Does anyone know if it is possible now to enter Beijing without a visa and get a visa there at the appropriate office ?

No it isn't possible. Unless you are personally invited by government officials. If you are just a tourist/student - no chance.