China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) has switched on a new online Arrival Card platform, giving all foreign national visitors the option to submit entry details digitally before landing at any Chinese port of entry. From 20 November, travellers can complete the form via the NIA’s website, its 12367 mobile-app, WeChat/Alipay mini-programs or by scanning a QR code provided by airlines and airports. Paper cards remain available, but officers say the goal is to move most passengers to paper-free processing within the next six months.
The digital card asks for the same information—passport data, flight number, address in China, health and customs declarations—but pre-submission allows border‐control systems to run security and public-health checks in advance. When the traveller’s passport is presented at an e-gate, the record is automatically pulled up, cutting inspection time from an average of 45 seconds to about 15 seconds, according to NIA pilot data from Beijing Capital and Guangzhou Baiyun airports.
![China rolls out national online Arrival Card for foreign visitors]()
Seven passenger groups—including holders of China’s Foreign Permanent Resident ID, direct 24-hour transitees who stay air-side, and crew on through-services—are exempt from filing altogether. Carriers have welcomed the change, noting that it reduces gate delays that have occasionally pushed wide-body arrivals into costly tarmac-holding patterns.
For corporate mobility managers the new system removes one of the most common causes of missed connections on China itineraries: incomplete or illegible arrival cards. Employers are being advised to build the QR-code link into pre-trip approval workflows so that staff complete the form alongside health-insurance uploads and hotel bookings.
The arrival-card overhaul is part of a ten-point immigration package announced this month that also expands 24-hour visa-free transit to ten additional airports and allows fully online renewal of mainland passports and Hong Kong/Macau travel permits in 50 pilot cities. Together, the measures aim to restore China’s inbound passenger volumes to pre-Covid levels by early 2026.
The digital card asks for the same information—passport data, flight number, address in China, health and customs declarations—but pre-submission allows border‐control systems to run security and public-health checks in advance. When the traveller’s passport is presented at an e-gate, the record is automatically pulled up, cutting inspection time from an average of 45 seconds to about 15 seconds, according to NIA pilot data from Beijing Capital and Guangzhou Baiyun airports.
Seven passenger groups—including holders of China’s Foreign Permanent Resident ID, direct 24-hour transitees who stay air-side, and crew on through-services—are exempt from filing altogether. Carriers have welcomed the change, noting that it reduces gate delays that have occasionally pushed wide-body arrivals into costly tarmac-holding patterns.
For corporate mobility managers the new system removes one of the most common causes of missed connections on China itineraries: incomplete or illegible arrival cards. Employers are being advised to build the QR-code link into pre-trip approval workflows so that staff complete the form alongside health-insurance uploads and hotel bookings.
The arrival-card overhaul is part of a ten-point immigration package announced this month that also expands 24-hour visa-free transit to ten additional airports and allows fully online renewal of mainland passports and Hong Kong/Macau travel permits in 50 pilot cities. Together, the measures aim to restore China’s inbound passenger volumes to pre-Covid levels by early 2026.
