Do you need a China arrival card in 2026?
Yes, unless you are in an exempt group. China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) announced online filling of the foreigner arrival card in its announcement No. 4 [2025], dated 3 November 2025. It took effect on 20 November 2025. The announcement calls what you submit "entry information" (入境相关信息). The simple route is to fill it in on NIA's website before you fly. If you can't, there are on-site options at the port.
The sections below cover where to fill it in, what it costs, what happens on arrival, who is exempt, and the 240-hour transit and visa-free cases.
China arrival card online: the official website and other channels
The official filling website is s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC/. It sits on NIA's Government Service Platform. NIA prints this address in the announcement itself, as Appendix 4. This is the only web address you need.
NIA names five channels in all, and they are all NIA's own:
- NIA's official website
- the NIA Government Service Platform
- the "NIA 12367" app (移民局12367)
- the WeChat (Alipay) mini program
- scanning the arrival-card QR code with your phone
The announcement says foreigners may fill in the information online before coming to China. It gives no limit on how many days ahead, and neither does the filling system's notice page.
The filling system has a language switch. Its notice page, which you see before the form, tells you to photograph the data page of your international travel document to fill in your passport details. So have your passport at hand. The same page warns that omissions or false information can lead to refusal of entry or transit.
Is the China arrival card free? Fake filling websites
Yes, it is free. NIA's warning page, dated 2 December 2025, says online filling "does not charge any fees" (不收取任何费用). The same page says overseas fraudsters have copied the filling website to charge travelers. NIA tells people to use an official channel or scan its official QR code.
Rule of thumb
If a site asks you for money to fill in the China arrival card, it is not NIA's channel. Go back to s.nia.gov.cn.
Can you fill in the arrival card at the airport? Is the paper card still available?
Yes, there is an on-site route. NIA's wording is for foreigners who cannot fill in online in advance. At the immigration inspection site of a Chinese port, they can do one of three things:
- scan the QR code with a mobile phone and fill in the entry information online;
- use the smart devices on site to fill it in online;
- fill in a paper arrival card.
NIA's warning page of 2 December 2025 repeats the on-site options: smart devices at the port, or the paper arrival card. The Chinese Embassy in Barbados says online completion applies "at all ports nationwide". The US embassy notice says "ports of entry" instead.
NIA's announcement doesn't say where the paper cards or the QR codes are placed in an arrival hall, or whether you may simply choose the on-site route if you could have filled in online earlier. We'd fill it in online before the flight, since that is the route NIA describes for people who can.
Who is exempt from the China arrival card?
NIA's announcement lists seven kinds of foreigners who may be exempted:
- holders of a valid People's Republic of China Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card;
- holders of a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents who are not Chinese citizens;
- holders of a group visa, or those eligible for group visa-free entry;
- passengers in 24-hour direct transit who stay in the restricted area of the port;
- cruise passengers entering and leaving on the same vessel;
- travelers entering through the E-channel (the Chinese text says 快捷通道; the NIA English page says "fast lanes");
- foreign crew of exit-entry transport vehicles.
The filling system's own notice page lists eight groups. It has the same ones in slightly different words, and adds people who qualify for courtesy handling where documents are checked collectively (符合集中交验出入境证件礼遇条件的人员). On that page, the group item reads as foreign tour group members on a group visa or group visa-free entry.
Read the list literally. The 24-hour exemption covers only direct transit where you stay inside the restricted area of the port. Having a normal tourist visa is not itself an exemption.
Do you need an arrival card for 240-hour visa-free transit?
Yes, as the rules are written. Condition III in Appendix 1 of the same announcement says the traveler must hold an onward ticket with confirmed dates and itinerary, fill in the Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners (填写临时入境外国人入境卡), and cooperate with immigration inspection. The 240-hour case is not on the exempt list. The filling system's notice page also says travelers in transit who stay within the 24-hour or 240-hour limit and need to leave the port can fill in through the system.
NIA's announcement and the filling system's notice page do not say whether the ‘Arrival Card for Temporary Entry Foreigners’ is a separate form from the one on s.nia.gov.cn, and they don't describe a dedicated counter or card colour. For where the 240-hour policy applies, see China's 240-hour visa-free transit, province by province.
What about 30-day visa-free entry?
Group visa-free entry is on the exempt list. Individual visa-free travelers are not. If you enter under the 30-day visa-free policy on your own, the exempt list does not include you. NIA's text does not discuss visa-free travelers separately.
What do you show at immigration after filling it in?
NIA's announcement and the filling system's notice page only say that you fill in the entry information online. They do not say what you receive after submitting, whether it is a QR code or a confirmation, or whether you need to print or screenshot anything. They also don't say how to correct a mistake or change your itinerary after you submit.
The announcement doesn't list the form's fields either. The one detail the notice page does give is the passport data page photo, covered above.
Questions about the arrival card, and what comes after
NIA names one contact for questions about the announcement: the China Immigration Service Hotline 12367.
The arrival card is entry information. Registering where you stay once you are in China is a separate topic; see online accommodation registration for foreigners. The announcement applies at ports nationwide, so it covers the main entry cities too: see our guides to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. NIA's announcement and the embassy notices don't describe arrival halls, kiosks or queues at any airport.
We can help you plan the trip around your arrival, with flights, hotels, train tickets, a local guide or a private car. The arrival card itself is something you fill in on NIA's channels.
