One day before the opening of China’s annual “Two Sessions” parliament, the National Immigration Administration (NIA) confirmed it has wrapped up work on 194 law-maker motions from 2025 and folded many of the ideas into a brand-new package of 10 mobility measures(news.cn). The reforms—aimed squarely at what officials call “high-level opening-up and high-quality development”—touch every stage of the traveller journey, from pre-arrival paperwork to land-border processing.
Among the headline changes is a commitment to further expand China’s popular 30-day unilateral visa-waiver programme and the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme, which already accounted for 30 million inbound visits in 2025. New third-country nationals and additional seaports, rail hubs and land crossings will be added “in the coming months,” the NIA said, signalling that corporate mobility managers should expect more routing flexibility for fly-in installation teams and short-term assignees.
Corporate travellers grappling with these evolving visa categories can streamline the paperwork through VisaHQ, an online platform that walks applicants through China’s latest requirements, double-checks documentation and even arranges expedited submissions where possible. Its step-by-step wizard at https://www.visahq.com/china/ is updated as soon as new NIA circulars drop, allowing mobility teams to off-load manual form reviews and focus on trip logistics.
![China’s Immigration Authority Unveils 10 New Measures to Boost Cross-Border Mobility]()
A nationwide e-arrival-card system—piloted last year at 65 ports—will be switched on by the end of Q2. Travellers will be able to complete the QR-code form in 13 languages up to 72 hours before departure, trimming minutes off border formalities and giving airlines earlier visibility of inadmissible passengers. Carriers that presently use manual entry-card checks will need to update DCS training manuals and boarding-gate SOPs.
For businesses that move people and goods across the Pearl River Delta, five additional Guangdong road and sea checkpoints (including Hengqin) gain authority to issue 240-hour transit exemptions. This is expected to cut costly detours via Guangzhou Baiyun or Shenzhen Bao’an airports for Southeast-Asian project teams transiting onward to Hong Kong or Macau.
Finally, the NIA pledged to “deepen institutional opening-up” by releasing consolidated immigration guidance in English, French, Russian and Arabic. Global HR teams should watch for the new material on the 12367 mobile app and migrate internal China-travel FAQs to the new terminology once it appears.
Among the headline changes is a commitment to further expand China’s popular 30-day unilateral visa-waiver programme and the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme, which already accounted for 30 million inbound visits in 2025. New third-country nationals and additional seaports, rail hubs and land crossings will be added “in the coming months,” the NIA said, signalling that corporate mobility managers should expect more routing flexibility for fly-in installation teams and short-term assignees.
Corporate travellers grappling with these evolving visa categories can streamline the paperwork through VisaHQ, an online platform that walks applicants through China’s latest requirements, double-checks documentation and even arranges expedited submissions where possible. Its step-by-step wizard at https://www.visahq.com/china/ is updated as soon as new NIA circulars drop, allowing mobility teams to off-load manual form reviews and focus on trip logistics.
A nationwide e-arrival-card system—piloted last year at 65 ports—will be switched on by the end of Q2. Travellers will be able to complete the QR-code form in 13 languages up to 72 hours before departure, trimming minutes off border formalities and giving airlines earlier visibility of inadmissible passengers. Carriers that presently use manual entry-card checks will need to update DCS training manuals and boarding-gate SOPs.
For businesses that move people and goods across the Pearl River Delta, five additional Guangdong road and sea checkpoints (including Hengqin) gain authority to issue 240-hour transit exemptions. This is expected to cut costly detours via Guangzhou Baiyun or Shenzhen Bao’an airports for Southeast-Asian project teams transiting onward to Hong Kong or Macau.
Finally, the NIA pledged to “deepen institutional opening-up” by releasing consolidated immigration guidance in English, French, Russian and Arabic. Global HR teams should watch for the new material on the 12367 mobile app and migrate internal China-travel FAQs to the new terminology once it appears.
