Nobody's idea of a good time is a consulate website, so we read them for you. This page is the whole thing in one place: what your passport actually needs, and, if you're American, exactly how to get the visa, in order, with the bits that trip people up flagged.
It is far less painful than its reputation. Most of you have nothing to do at all.
Three groups, three completely different amounts of work.
China has waived visas for the Netherlands, Greece and most EU passports. You land, you get 30 days, and you arrange precisely nothing beforehand: no forms, no consulate, no fee. All you need is a passport valid at least six months past the trip.
The one asterisk: the scheme is authorised through the end of 2026 and has been renewed every autumn since 2023. We're watching it, and we'll confirm the moment it's extended into 2027. If it somehow isn't, a tourist visa from Amsterdam or Athens takes about four weeks, so there's room, and you'd hear from us in December, not March.
Americans do need a tourist visa. The good news is that it costs exactly the same whether you ask for a single entry or ten years of them, so for $140 and one afternoon you can walk away with a decade of unlimited China trips.
Everything below this point is written for you.
The visa-free list has grown quickly and keeps changing, which means half the advice online is out of date and confidently wrong. Don't guess, and don't trust a blog post from 2023.
Send us a message with your passport country and we'll look up exactly what you need and how long it takes.
Six steps. Realistically one evening on a laptop, one trip to the post office, and four days of waiting.
It needs at least six months of validity left and two blank visa pages. That's the whole requirement. And if it expires well before 2036, don't let that stop you: you'll still normally be issued the full ten years, and when you renew you simply carry both books. The visa in the old passport stays valid as long as the name details match exactly.
Two things expire on 31 December 2026: the reduced $140 fee, which goes back to $185, and the waiver that means you don't have to give fingerprints in person. Applying before New Year's saves you money and a biometrics appointment. On the form, explicitly request multiple entry with ten years' validity. It is the same price as a single entry, so there is no reason on earth to ask for less.
The application lives at cova.mfa.gov.cn. Give it 30 to 45 minutes: it wants your last few trips, your parents' details and your employer. When you're done, print the confirmation page and the Visa Application Statement, and sign both by hand. Actual ink, not a typed name.
One recent colour photo, 33 × 48 mm, white background, no glasses, ears visible. Note that is not the US 2 × 2 inch passport size, so don't just reuse the spares from your passport renewal. Any pharmacy or post office that does passport photos will print the Chinese format if you ask for it. Photo problems are the most common reason people get sent home to try again.
Applications go to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, or the consulate for your state: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco. Houston closed in 2020, so the southern states, Georgia included, now go through DC. You needn't travel there — private agencies will courier your passport and file for you, which is how Michael's parents did it from Atlanta. Send your passport, both signed printouts, the photo, proof of address, and any old Chinese visa. No flights, hotel, itinerary or invitation letter needed.
Standard processing is four business days; $25 more buys you two to three. The moment it's back in your hands, check the visa itself: it should say ten years, multiple entries. Note the duration of stay too — 30, 60 or 90 days is normal. If you've been given a single entry it will expire long before March, so tell us and simply reapply in January 2027. Rare, but worth the thirty seconds.
Approximate, and for a US passport applying in the US.
It's printed on the visa itself and it varies — 30, 60 or 90 days per entry, at the issuing officer's discretion. Michael's parents were given 90. Whichever you get is far more than the wedding needs, so check yours and plan inside it.
Not for a US tourist application. But we'll write you one gladly if it makes you feel better, or if an officer ever asks. Say the word and it's in your inbox.
One thing, and it's free: within 72 hours of your flight, fill in the China Digital Arrival Card on the official immigration site. Five minutes. Any site that charges you for it is a scam, and there are a lot of them buying search ads.
Yes. Bring a photocopy of the old visa; a clean history makes the ten-year approval more likely.
January 2027 still works, because processing is only four business days. You'll just pay $185 instead of $140 and you may have to appear in person for fingerprints. February is cutting it fine. March is a story we'd rather not live through together.
There is a 240-hour transit rule: Americans can enter China visa-free for ten days when travelling onward to a third country or region, and Hong Kong counts as that third region, so US → Guangzhou → Hong Kong → home is technically a legal, visa-free trip. We mention it so you don't find it yourself and wonder why we didn't. But it's granted at the border officer's discretion, the clock is ten days flat, and one missed connection turns it into a real problem in a country you'd rather not be improvising in. For a wedding you've flown 8,000 miles to attend: get the visa.
Everything on this page was checked in August 2026. Chinese entry rules have changed several times a year recently, so confirm the details on the official sites above before you pay anything. If they contradict us, believe them, then tell us so we can fix this page.
Still unsure about any of it? Message us. Between us we've done Chinese visas, Dutch visas, American visas and one memorably bureaucratic Japanese one, and we would genuinely rather answer your question than have you guess at it.
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