China’s experiment with unilateral and reciprocal visa-free entry is rapidly reshaping inbound mobility. New National Immigration Administration (NIA) figures show that 8.32 million foreigners entered China without a visa between January and March 2026—almost one-third more than in the same period last year. In total, foreign nationals made 21.33 million trips, a 22.3 % increase, outpacing growth in traffic by mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents. Because visa-free travellers now account for 77.9 % of all foreign entries, corporates report sharply shorter lead-times for executive visits, plant audits and after-sales service calls. The change is the culmination of a two-year campaign by Beijing to restore global people-to-people links after the pandemic. Thirty-day visa-free stays have been rolled out to passport holders from 15 European countries, the UK, Canada and Malaysia, while the 144-hour transit-visa waiver now covers 60 ports. Business groups such as the European Chamber say door-to-door trip planning has been cut from three weeks to three days on average, allowing companies to redeploy technicians and sales teams on short notice. Tourism operators are also benefiting; C-trip reports inbound package bookings are up 87 % year-on-year.
![Visa-free policies drive 30 % jump in foreign arrivals to China in Q1 2026]()
Amid these shifts, third-party visa consultants like VisaHQ are seeing a surge in queries from corporate travel teams. The platform’s China desk (https://www.visahq.com/china/) offers real-time updates on eligibility, step-by-step checklists for Z-visa conversion and an online tool to confirm whether a planned itinerary qualifies for the 144-hour waiver, helping companies avoid costly last-minute changes.
Behind the headline numbers, the NIA is quietly digitising ancillary processes. Since March, foreign visitors who stay in private accommodation—common for short-term assignees and remote workers—can register their address via the “NIA 12367” mini-program in seven pilot provinces. This eliminates a tedious police-station visit and will be rolled out nationwide later this year. The same platform handled 51 million information requests in Q1 alone, underscoring pent-up demand for English-language guidance on visas, work permits and tax issues. Corporate mobility managers should note that overstays still attract fines of RMB 500 per day and that visa-free entry does not confer work authorisation. Short-term business activities such as meetings, equipment commissioning and trade-fair attendance are permitted, but anything deemed “productive labour” requires a Z-visa and work permit. HR teams are advised to audit assignment scopes carefully and to keep download links for the accommodation-registration app in their pre-departure kits. With China targeting 80 million annual foreign arrivals by 2030, analysts expect further liberalisation. Negotiations on mutual visa exemption with major ASEAN and Latin American trading partners are said to be in the “final stages”, and authorities are studying a pre-travel electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system modelled on Singapore and the EU.
Amid these shifts, third-party visa consultants like VisaHQ are seeing a surge in queries from corporate travel teams. The platform’s China desk (https://www.visahq.com/china/) offers real-time updates on eligibility, step-by-step checklists for Z-visa conversion and an online tool to confirm whether a planned itinerary qualifies for the 144-hour waiver, helping companies avoid costly last-minute changes.
Behind the headline numbers, the NIA is quietly digitising ancillary processes. Since March, foreign visitors who stay in private accommodation—common for short-term assignees and remote workers—can register their address via the “NIA 12367” mini-program in seven pilot provinces. This eliminates a tedious police-station visit and will be rolled out nationwide later this year. The same platform handled 51 million information requests in Q1 alone, underscoring pent-up demand for English-language guidance on visas, work permits and tax issues. Corporate mobility managers should note that overstays still attract fines of RMB 500 per day and that visa-free entry does not confer work authorisation. Short-term business activities such as meetings, equipment commissioning and trade-fair attendance are permitted, but anything deemed “productive labour” requires a Z-visa and work permit. HR teams are advised to audit assignment scopes carefully and to keep download links for the accommodation-registration app in their pre-departure kits. With China targeting 80 million annual foreign arrivals by 2030, analysts expect further liberalisation. Negotiations on mutual visa exemption with major ASEAN and Latin American trading partners are said to be in the “final stages”, and authorities are studying a pre-travel electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system modelled on Singapore and the EU.
