• long running

30 Days Visa-Free Entry to China for Australian & New Zealand Passport Holders

5598

Thank you Scrooge McDeal for the original 15 day deal.

Good news for travelers from the many countries benefiting from China’s unilateral visa-free policy: from November 30, 2024, visa-free stays in China will be extended to 30 days, instead of the current 15.

Also good news for me as I was planning a bit longer trip to China early next year and was dreading the visa application process.

These are now the current countries enjoying the 30 day visa free entry

Andorra Australia Austria Belgium
Brunei Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus
Denmark Estonia Finland France
Germany Greece Hungary Iceland
Ireland Italy Japan Latvia
Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malaysia Malta
Monaco Montenegro Netherlands New Zealand
North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal
Romania Slovakia Slovenia South Korea
Spain Switzerland

Related Stores

VisasNews
VisasNews
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia

Comments

            • +3

              @Lbara: this is the stupidest argument I have ever heard

            • +2

              @Lbara: It was part of UN, till they recognise PRC as the official China, as per resolution 2758. UN Decides to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China.

              That’s all, stop with all the misinformation feed out by CCP. It doesn’t enshrine Taiwan as part of China, there’s no mentioning of Taiwan belongs to China in any reference.

              • +2

                @spc12go: So what is the official name of Taiwan? Republic of CHINA, I suppose, ahhhh

                • +1

                  @ytdarin: So, are North Korea and South Korea (or DPRK and ROK) two independent countries? I'm sorry, the county's name is also irrelevant.

                  • @Albert10: Agreed, name is irrelevant. This is satire when people say Taiwan is not part of China.

                • -1

                  @ytdarin: Taiwan is the official name. As per Chinese foreign affair spoke person. Taiwan. As per all the official representatives around the world, Taiwan.

                  Oh when PRC was first formed it was called Chinese Soviet Republic. So it Was part of Soviet. So it belongs to Russia? Using your analogy. I get it now, that’s why they called Russian father.

                  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Soviet_Republic

                  • @spc12go: A typical Taiwanese mind. Please read ROC's constitution. https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=A00000…

                    • -1

                      @ytdarin: Thank you for proving my case. Taiwanese not Chinese. Case closed.

                      Typical Chinese mind. Be careful you will be report to the CCP. according to Chinese doctrines, ROC no longer exist. Roc included inner and Outer Mongolia and north west of China

                      • @spc12go: hilarious

                        • -2

                          @ytdarin: Ignorance is a bliss is hilarious, learn to read and think and apply logic. View things from the worlds view.

                      • @spc12go: It was funny when all Taiwanese passport covers were written in ROC.

          • @Albert10:

            Taiwan is an independent country with its own government,

            On what date did Taiwan declared independence? Can you prove it?

            • -2

              @Creamsoda: When did China become independent?

              Most countries in this world didn’t become independent, unless you were colonise or occupied by another country’s people. One way or another.

              • +3

                @spc12go: err because Taiwan was a province of China prior to ROC losing the civil war. In the Taiwanese constitution states it's still part of China and the rightful owner of China. Thus they need to declare independence and change the constitution so they can become Taiwan to get rid of anything to do with China. Have they done it? If so when?

                • -2

                  @Creamsoda: Taiwan was part of Japan prior to the war not ROC. After losing the war ROC moved to Taiwan. The ROC constitution doesn’t state it as part of China. ROC constitution state it is China. However ROC have ceased to exist, it is now Taiwan. Why does Taiwan have to get rid of anything to do with China? It has nothing to do with the CCP China. It got rid of China the day they left it behind 1949.

                • -2

                  @Creamsoda: So Taiwan is part of CCP China, under CCP control. Have they controlled it? Have they represented it? If so when?

                  If Taiwan is part of China, how come it doesn’t pay taxes to Beijing? It has its only flag, military force, currency, foreign policy, its own foreign offices. It’s own national anthem. How come? Pls explain.

                  Also why do Chinese National need a visa to go to Taiwan? And the government official can’t go to Taiwan when they wish or land their military jets in Taiwan or dock their ships? Can you explain?

                  • @spc12go: ROC (Taiwan) operates independently from China mainland but considers that it is part of the same country (including mainland), with different leadership. That is, both PRC and ROC consider themselves as running the same territory (the entirety of China). Essentially you could say they are still at war over the territory but no one is fighting (similar to some Russian / Japanese islands from WW2).

                    ROC has never said it is an independent country from the mainland of China. Officially it states it is one and the same country. If they were to declare independence and consider themselves a separate country, you may see PRC attempt to take the island.

        • +4

          Taiwan needs to take back China

        • -2

          Taiwan is a part of China

          Knew there would be a chinese nationalist nutcase like this here.

        • +2

          China is part of Taiwan actually

        • only in the sense that North Korea and South Korea are both Korea.

      • -2

        Taiwan and west taiwan

    • +2

      Taiwan is its own country

  • +52

    Just came back from China (Beijing-Shanghai visit). Man the place is amazing. Super safe as well. Completely changed my mind since western media mostly talked about the bad stuff there

    Now I’ve been seeing lots of post about Chongqing and that immediately became my next bucket list destination.

    Just need to put aside your political views (every country has bad political practice anyway)

    • +5

      Idk why you got downvoted since you’re only sharing your “travelling” exp. So let me upvote

    • +4

      100% go to Chongqing. I went there for the first time last year and went again this year. Incredible place, great food, culture and people.

      I am slightly more concerned with the recent spate of public incidents with people injured or killed but wouldnt hesitate to go again, id just be more aware of my surroundings.

    • Im in Shanghai for work next week and have a couple days free. Is it better to explore shanghai or head to Beijing for the spare days?

      • Can you split and spend time in both?

      • +2

        If it’s just a couple days Shanghai is better IMO. Beijing is just a big economic spot and apart from Tiananmen Square and that area, I think Shanghai has a lot more interesting spot to visit.

      • +1

        Beijing is a bit of a mixed bag, it's big and crowed but not as travel friendly as Shanghai. Recommend Hangzhou it's close to Shanghai. For Chengdu / Chongqing if you have the time to travel a bit further west

      • Hangzhou and Suzhou are great day trips from Shanghai.

        But Beijing would only be a few hours by train too.

    • Chongqing

      Yep this is my next trip. Even during the day it looks amazing. Looks like you can fly there for about $500 rtn these days as well. Haven't been to China since 2018 so keen to go back.

    • +1

      If time permits, suggest going to both Chongqing and Chengdu. Only an hour apart using high speed rail. Chongqing is built on mountains so is very unique, and quite compact so everything is within walkable distance. Go see the giant pandas in Chengdu!

    • -2

      You won't share a thing since your internet is censored

      • actually ozbargain works in china without vpn. just a little slow…

        tell us you havent been to china, without telling us you havent been to china.

    • +1

      My experience too. I went for a week holiday on the way to Tokyo, but was a little wary and expected a sense of pervasive communist dread.

      But I really enjoyed Shanghai and ended up staying 15 days in China. It felt much closer to Korea or Japan than SE Asia, and safe and easy. Nothing at all like it gets portrayed here

    • I've got a trip with the fam next April for Hong kong, shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu and Beijing. Can't bloody wait! We were going for about three weeks which meant we would have to have gotten a visa, but this deal is perfect (except for my British wife who will still have to apply for a visa).
      Any recommendations for Chongqing? That and Chengdu are the only cities I hadn't been to yet

    • +2

      jiuzhaigou is amazing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiuzhaigou

      long ass bus to get there though

      • So glad to see this comment! It’s so beautiful.

        10 years ago I went in March, took the bus all the way to the top of the mountain, then spent the next 6 hours slowly walking down.

        At the time it was still snowing at the top of the mountains (Virgin Forest it was called), then as you walked down you experience the four seasons in reverse. Magical.

        • You must have had good winter clothes. The snow melting on made it freezing. The shuttle buses were a godsend

      • +3

        War mongering / TERRORISM lmao.
        Wait which country dragged australia into endless wars? derp

      • +3

        What are you smoking buddy? No one here is shilling for USA in this post

    • -5

      Guess you weren't watching tv, like foreign news, only for "transmission difficulties" to appear when they start discussing anything the Chinese government doesn't want you to know (just normal stuff, not state secrets). Then the transmission difficulties magically disappear when they get to the next story. Or of course tried to visit internet sites - like Google - that give you access to information China doesn't want you to see.

      Yes, China has a lot of impressive, progressive things and its people are industrious, and nature and history of interest. But at the same time it exerts a level of control and takes away freedoms that are taken for granted here. And which its citizens here enjoy the benefit of - yet protect that they can't have them there. And that leads to the mistreatment and deprivation of rights of journalists and others that China doesn't want to be heard. And its support of a country - Russia - murdering and taking away rights of another sovereign country just because they want to be a bully. That's not just "politics" but actually about life itself.

      The neg is for this not being a bargain, but just a PSA/Forum note. There is already visa free travel to China, and I don't see posts on longer visa free travel to multiple other countries here.

  • +19

    We went to China early this year and enjoyed our trip so much. It's much more relaxed than many people 'assume' and 'seem to think they know'. People are friendly, kind and helpful. The condition of infrastructure (bullet trains, roads, skyscrapers, internal flights etc) is well above the usual standards of a western country (in comparison to USA which I felt like a rundown homeless state). Bullet trains were right on time (even in Japan we experienced delays but in China - none whatsoever). Conditions of bullet trains and other public transport facilities were more similar to Japan but not rushed as such (no ques or trains full of people for example - not in the ones we went anyways). Domestic planes were newer and cleaner (we did a few trips via different Chinese airlines). These flights were a massive contrast to domestic flights here down under (statistics: Qantas average age of fleet is 15 years, that of Air China - which has a much larger fleet by the way - is just 9 years). It's a massive country and most of the tourist places are crowded (understandably) mostly with local tourists. International tourists are much rare in many places (except for perhaps a few places where we saw quite a few foreigners). Really nice country that we would definitely visit again…

      • +10

        Not sure where you went mate.. I was the weirdest guy around with a massive camera hanging on my neck and NEVER came across any hostile people or police or military asking questions etc. I'm kind of a guy who'd take photos of anything and everything. Once we were walking to find a place to buy a water bottle for my kid, asked a police officer where the nearest shop was, he immediately gave us one from his motorbike. They were extremely helpful and kind everywhere we came across them.

        In comparison, I felt what you described in Vatican city (metal detectors everywhere, and yes passport is required as well, rude people etc) and Italy in general (not in rural Italy though, which was much nicer).

        • +6

          ah but if you have anything positive at all to say about china you are either a paid off influencer, CCP bot or an amoral child murderer. so which one of these would you like to be today?

    • Mainland China is the first country I visited that i was happy to leave. Shanghai was much better than Beijing.

      The never ending food scandals in China would me me wary of ever going back.

      Anyone who enjoys the devil's cabbage, or other recreational habbits, will need to understand that if you're picked for testing you can be arressted foir consumption outside of China - recently China arressted and then deported a senior VW execujtive for drug use while he was in Thailand for a holiday. He was likely targeteted as a shot over the EV tarrifs the EU has brought in.

    • +2

      You must have been unlucky in Japan with bullet trains. I've caught more than 50 of them over the years and not once faced a single minute delay.

  • +1

    politics aside, its good news. always love to see visa free travel for tourism, it will benefit some people

  • Interesting some asian counties are on the list, shouldn't they have a default 30 days visa free in they are part of Asia?

    • Same reason only NZ in Oceania can come to Aus visa free

      • Technically everyone that wants to come to Australia needs a visa (except the monarch). It’s just that some are free of charge while most attracts a fee.

        NZ citizens are granted a visa at arrival, called Special Category Visa, the difference is that it allows the NZ citizens rights to work and live indefinitely. It’s still a temporary visa and it ceases when the NZ citizen leaves Australia. This visa can be subject to refusal or cancellation if the NZ citizen doesn’t meet the character requirement, as with other citizens.

    • +2

      Lol, you expected every asia country to speak English? Sure culture wise they aren’t the friendliest people, but they are not being rude it’s just their culture. Just need to adapt to that and not expect every country to have the same level of courteousness

      Don’t know what you mean with air pollution, its mostly electric cars. Not sure how you even know about gutter oil…

      • -1

        It’s mostly electric cars? Are you joking now? The vast majority of cars are not electric vehicles and besides that the pollution comes mainly from factories and construction. It’s very common and the use of gutter oil is mentioned in many travel blogs and magazines. Are you CCP chill? Surely.. The people are rude in comparison to Japanese, Korean, thai, and many others in Asia yes that is extremely obvious as soon as you get there. My friends thought the same that have been…

        • +4

          Nope definitely a lot of electric cars. Just came back from Shanghai and Beijing last months. They are pretty easy to spot, all EV has green plates. Bicycles everywhere. Roads are very quiet

          I don’t know about other area but at least in those two major cities I found it at the same level of cleanliness compared to Singapore.

          Travel blogs and magazines always highlight the bad stuff but they aren’t the norm.

        • +2

          I was in Hangzhou for 2 weeks last month. Can confirm that the majority of vehicles are electric - BY FAR. Not even close. All public transport plus taxis are electric.

          • -2

            @Cheese86: No they are not even official statistics show combined EV + plus plug in ( the majority) is about 30-40% that’s not majority and as said the majority pollution comes from factories, coal power plants etc. it’s very bad in terms of air pollution. Why don’t you just look up right now it’s accessible information

        • +2
          • mostly electric cars
            yes, in most top tier cities, cars are electronics

          • that the pollution comes mainly from factories and construction
            that's true. it is not good season to visit cities like Beijing in northern part of China. For cities like Guangzhou, HK, Shenzhen, the air is fine. Cannot say as good as Sydney, but still better then Beijing/Tianjin etc in winter.

          • Are you CCP chill
            How does CCP come up here :lol It is about tourism in China…

          • The people are rude
            Can you show any evidence? TBH most people in China are really friendly to foreigners. There are plenty of youtubers' video and they all have positive experience.

        • +1

          Gutter oil? Wtf, lol.
          And yes, it is electric cars, buses etc everywhere you look. You are being pedantic about majority but it actually is the majority:
          https://carnewschina.com/2024/08/07/chinese-new-energy-vehic…

          Pollution can be bad in some months, from factories. Depends when you travel and where you travel.
          There's quite a lot of countries with worse pollution though: https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries

          It honestly sounds like you have not been to China.

    • +6

      Now I’m sure you’re a Western media puppet, or paid by the Taiwanese cyber warfare department.

      Member for a month and already over 150 comments lol.

      • Yes I am a staff member of Taiwanese cyber warfare department. For saying China is heavily polluted and unfriendly. Literally the most obvious things ever.

  • +7

    I’ve been a vocal critic of some CCP policies (as well as those of illiberal western governments) but would absolutely love to visit China for so many reasons (the history, the nature, the culture, technology etc).

    I’m not deluded enough to think I’m on some kind of Chinese government dissident watchlist for a few anti-communist Ozbargain comments over the years, as others here seem worried about lol.

    • -4

      The nature? lol Chinese go overseas to see nature. Like Australia… they come here and say things like wow I never seen green trees like that, blue skies etc.. all the major cities are very polluted.

      • +4

        Wrong. Chinese people tour their own countries… you see lots of them travelling around their own country. It is a big country

      • +6

        This may come as a shock to you, but China is a very large and geographically diverse country with areas worth visiting outside the major cities.

      • +3

        Chinese mountainscapes are unbeatable. We have nothing of the sort in Australia.

        • -2

          With 300 AQI 2.5 pm fine pollution it’s like smoking 30 packs of cigarettes walking up any mountain there.

      • +1

        is your go-to Chinese dishes lemon chicken and black pepper beef only?

      • +1

        Plenty of cities in China that have more/better trees and environments than here

        • +1

          Honestly I haven't been to a more GREEN country than China

      • +2

        Nah mate. You're just BS-ing.
        When I was in Hangzhou, I climbed mountains, walked through bamboo forest, went on so many beautiful green hikes through tea fields, as did SO many of the locals. They definitely do know how to enjoy their nature, especially the elders. I mean, 40c for a bus ride from the city to the mountains to explore to your heart's desire.
        So yeah, I call bullsh*t on you. Just stop l already.

        • -1

          Yea that’s inaccessible country side. You are obviously Chinese who has some connection there because as a foreigner travelling to those areas is IMPOSSIBLE nobody can speak English you are totally on your own lost there. This is not accessible to the average tourist

        • The nature? lol Chinese go overseas to see nature
          There are 1.4 billion people in China. Every year millions of them will travel oversea, like Japan, Singapore, AU/NZ, EU, etc… But also lots of them travel in domestic. There are lots of places for visiting in China, like Xin Jiang, Xi Zang for snow mountains, lakes(quite like lakes in south island in NZ), Changbaishan in Changchun, Guilin in Guangxi, etc.. During public holiday, hot tourism spots are busy with domestic travellers.
        • -2

          Yes these people are poor and have no choice but to travel domestically. Every Chinese I’ve met in north east Queensland says we don’t have nature like this clean, blue skies. Green trees… I guess these are all wrong hm

  • That's getting interesting. Already many flights selection to china. And sometime even cheaper than domestic flight.

    • Australian domestic air travel is a joke

      • When you have a qantas / virgin duopoly.. (really it's a qantas monopoly) it becomes a real joke

        • -2

          Their gov wants people from other countries to love China like their own citizens do. So that it's more likely these newly recruits will be on China's side if anything / rumour happens.

  • +5

    My friend does photography as a hobby. Before Covid hit, he went to China, specially Tibet, and planned to hire a motorbike to travel from there, then cross to India and Nepal because that's what he does whenever he has the chance. He also summit Himalaya once hence that's a proof that he's not there for any political reasons.
    Long story short, as soon as the Chinese custom officer saw his photography gears, he was detained for 48 hours. No food. No communication. Vietnamese passport and Aussie passport were both taken away. All they ask was if he is a journalist. Of course he said no but after 48 hours, he was forcefully taken by armed guards to a commercial plane flying back to Australia, and he's banned for 5 years iirc.
    So I would say do your homework, and be smart

    • Get permission from the Chinese authorities before traveling to Tibet.

      • -1

        He did

  • +1

    Typical CCP pretent to be a great nation and cover all the bad news.

    This would have taken out so much business from their visa centre goldern egg. Love to see the face of the executive who run those visa centre.

    This is basically CCP effort to get free propaganda and cover up how broke it is.

    • +3

      So it was bad that they made you pay for a visa…

      …and now it's bad that they don't make you pay for a visa?

      • -2

        Did I say its bad? Please quote?

        Quick lesson for u in the VISS of china saga. Long time ago it was done by embassy. It was easy, quick and cheap. Then started at Canada someone see this as a goldern egg and gets it his way by opeing visa centres. They charge a extortion amount for the visa which most pocketed by the centre. The model soon spread toany coutries including Australia.

        I donr care if they charge or visa free, its a bad goverbemnt so wouldnt be going back.

        • +4

          “visa centre goldern [sic] egg” = paid visas bad

          “CCP effort to get free propaganda and cover up how broke it is” = free visas bad

          • -2

            @Ozybargdias: No I am against the idea some AH pocket the fee.

            Uk and Europe visa is expensive and I never against. It goes to the country and contribute to the country, not to some individuals bank account.

            BTW CCP free visa, I am not sure its good or bad but beggar can't be chooser.

    • +2

      So letting people to visit the country experiencing themselves instead of getting fake news from the media is propaganda for you?

    • +1

      So I take it you're happy to learn about the world via ABC News and Channel 7? You're brainwashed and you don't even know it. Lmao
      Fine, if that suits you. Stay in your safe lil bubble where China Bad!!1 The rest of us will go see things for ourselves.

      • -2

        You sound like you're there already

  • +1

    Recommendations for VPN that would work there? Nord was intermittent. Prefer not using roaming.

    • Some wifi blocks VPN so better roam

Login or Join to leave a comment