Australians Can Now Visit China Visa-Free

China has temporarily removed the visa requirement for eligible Australian citizens visiting for up to 15 days.

The change was announced during the Chinese Premier’s recent visit to Australia, and came into effect on Monday (1 July 2024). At this stage, the visa-free policy will be in place until 31 December 2025.

Under the new policy, Australians using ordinary passports (i.e. not diplomatic or official passports) can enter China without a visa for up to 15 days when travelling for business, tourism, transiting or visiting family. Visa-free entry is available at airports, sea and land borders.

The Chinese embassy in Australia has published a notice outlining the change.

The news has been welcomed by Australians looking to visit China, as it removes the hassle of needing to apply for a visa ahead of travel.

Australians were already able to access visa-free transits in China for up to 144 hours, depending on the airport, but this came with various limitations. For example, you needed to be in transit to a third country and couldn’t travel to other parts of China besides the city where you were transiting.

Which nationalities can visit China without a visa?

Australia is now one of 15 countries whose citizens can access visa-free travel to China until December 2025, for stays of up to 15 days. Here’s the full list as of 1 July 2024:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Poland
• Spain
• Switzerland

Citizens of many other countries can still transit without a visa under certain conditions.

Flights from Australia to China

Qantas is currently the only Australian airline flying between Australia and mainland China. However, the flying kangaroo announced in May that it will suspend its sole route from Sydney to Shanghai from 28 July 2024, citing low demand.

“Since COVID, the demand for travel between Australia and China has not recovered as strongly as expected. In some months, our flights to and from Shanghai have been operating around half full,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said at the time.

“We’ll continue to maintain a presence in China through our partners and our existing flights to Hong Kong and look to return to Shanghai in the future.”

Australian Frequent Flyer asked Qantas if the recent visa changes could cause the airline to reconsider suspending flights to Shanghai, but the airline declined to comment further.

Besides Qantas, there are currently 26 non-stop services available between Australia and mainland China on Chinese carriers. Here’s a full list of airlines and routes as of July 2024:

You can earn and redeem Qantas points when flying on China Eastern.

Virgin Australia also partners with Hainan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines. Velocity Frequent Flyer members can earn points, status credits and receive reciprocal status benefits on these airlines. However, Velocity redemptions on its Chinese partners remain suspended since 2020.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.