China Expands Visa-Free Entry for Vietnamese Citizens

China Unveils New Visa-Free Options

China has introduced expanded visa-free policies for Vietnamese citizens, effective from 20 August. Under the new regulations, Vietnamese ordinary passport holders with confirmed interline passenger tickets for a third country or region may enter China through any of its 65 ports and stay for up to 240 hours, or 10 days, without requiring a transit visa.

Additionally, Vietnamese citizens are now eligible for a 30-day visa-free entry to Hainan Province in south China, with this policy also commencing on the same date.

Pham Thu Hang, spokesperson for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Vietnam welcomes China's decision to include its citizens in both the 240-hour visa-free transit programme and the 30-day visa-free entry policy for Hainan.

Cost and Time Savings for Vietnamese Travellers

These policy changes are set to provide tangible benefits for Vietnamese travellers. Nguyen Mau Xuan Kieu, a Vietnamese student in China, noted that the new rules would simplify travel plans for her sister visiting from Vietnam, potentially saving around 3 million Vietnamese dong (approximately US$117) on a transit visa.

She also highlighted potential airfare savings of 1 to 2 million Vietnamese dong (about US$39 to 78) on routes such as Ho Chi Minh City to Shanghai and then to Seoul.

Huynh My Yen, general director of a Vietnamese travel company, explained that the 240-hour visa-free transit programme removes paperwork and processing time for transit visas, allowing for a more streamlined “one journey, two countries” travel approach.

Growing Visa-Free Arrivals in China

The expansion of visa-free access for Vietnamese citizens aligns with a broader trend in China's inbound travel. The National Immigration Administration (NIA) reported that China recorded 17.82 million visa-free entries by foreign nationals during the first half of 2026.

This figure represents a 30.6 per cent increase year-on-year and accounted for 77.7 per cent of all foreign entries into the country during that period.

The NIA also indicated that Vietnam ranked as China's fourth-largest source of inbound foreign travellers in the first half of 2026, following South Korea, Russia, and Malaysia, underscoring the importance of the Vietnamese market for Chinese tourism.

Expanded Transit Tours and Regional Impact

For Vietnam's tourism sector, the new policies are expected to open up additional avenues for travel products that combine China with onward destinations. Huynh My Yen, from the Vietnamese travel company, stated that transit tours through China currently constitute about 10 per cent of her company's total outbound international business.

She anticipates that bookings for transit and multi-destination tours could increase to between 30 and 40 per cent in the second half of 2026. Her company is actively promoting and consulting on these new options, including expanding routes and offering stopover tours in cities like Beijing for passengers on long-haul flights to destinations such as Russia.