China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) has issued an urgent nationwide order to every land, sea and air checkpoint to prepare for the largest holiday surge since the pandemic. According to the circular, daily cross-border passenger volume during the 2026 Spring Festival “golden week” is expected to average 1.85 million, up 9.5 percent on last year, with peaks at Beijing Capital, Shanghai-Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun and Chengdu Tianfu airports as well as the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge and Shenzhen and Zhuhai land crossings. (nia.gov.cn)
To keep queues manageable, border-inspection units have been told to roster maximal staffing, open every inspection booth, and guarantee that Chinese citizens will not wait more than 30 minutes. Temporary e-gate banks, mobile counters and multilingual “green channel” teams are being installed at 26 major ports. Airlines and ferry operators have been asked to stagger arrival banks, while local transport bureaus must coordinate shuttle buses so that air-to-rail connections are not missed.
Meanwhile, travelers who find they need a new visa at short notice—or simply want peace of mind about China’s evolving entry rules—can turn to VisaHQ. The service’s China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides real-time guidance on visa exemptions, fast-track processing options and bulk-application tracking for corporate mobility teams, helping ensure that passports come back stamped well before those peak holiday flights.
![China Deploys Extra Border Officers to Keep Spring Festival Wait-Times under 30 Minutes]()
For businesses moving staff in and out of China, the directive provides welcome clarity. Corporate mobility managers can advise travellers that peak outbound days are forecast for 28–30 January (Lunar New Year’s Eve to second day) and peak inbound days for 3–4 February. The NIA will publish live wait-time dashboards on its 12367 hotline and WeChat mini-app so that assignees can adjust departure times.
The agency also reminded travellers to check passport validity and, where relevant, confirm that any visa-free stay (30 days for 45 nationalities, 10-day transit for 55) still covers the intended itinerary. Failure to present onward tickets or hotel confirmations has been the chief cause of refused entry this season, officials said.
Although the measures are temporary, officials hinted they could become the template for future “golden week” operations—evidence of Beijing’s determination to balance rising cross-border demand with predictable service levels. Mobility teams should therefore expect similar traffic-management protocols to appear around China’s May Day and National Day holidays.
To keep queues manageable, border-inspection units have been told to roster maximal staffing, open every inspection booth, and guarantee that Chinese citizens will not wait more than 30 minutes. Temporary e-gate banks, mobile counters and multilingual “green channel” teams are being installed at 26 major ports. Airlines and ferry operators have been asked to stagger arrival banks, while local transport bureaus must coordinate shuttle buses so that air-to-rail connections are not missed.
Meanwhile, travelers who find they need a new visa at short notice—or simply want peace of mind about China’s evolving entry rules—can turn to VisaHQ. The service’s China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/) provides real-time guidance on visa exemptions, fast-track processing options and bulk-application tracking for corporate mobility teams, helping ensure that passports come back stamped well before those peak holiday flights.
For businesses moving staff in and out of China, the directive provides welcome clarity. Corporate mobility managers can advise travellers that peak outbound days are forecast for 28–30 January (Lunar New Year’s Eve to second day) and peak inbound days for 3–4 February. The NIA will publish live wait-time dashboards on its 12367 hotline and WeChat mini-app so that assignees can adjust departure times.
The agency also reminded travellers to check passport validity and, where relevant, confirm that any visa-free stay (30 days for 45 nationalities, 10-day transit for 55) still covers the intended itinerary. Failure to present onward tickets or hotel confirmations has been the chief cause of refused entry this season, officials said.
Although the measures are temporary, officials hinted they could become the template for future “golden week” operations—evidence of Beijing’s determination to balance rising cross-border demand with predictable service levels. Mobility teams should therefore expect similar traffic-management protocols to appear around China’s May Day and National Day holidays.
