Xi'an Visa-Free: China's 240-Hour Transit Rule Just Grew to 57

On 20 August 2026, China's National Immigration Administration added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to its 240-hour visa-free transit policy, bringing the total to 57 eligible countries and territories. If your passport is on that list, you can now fly into Xi'an, spend up to ten days seeing the Terracotta Warriors and the city wall without applying for a Chinese visa at all — as long as you're transiting to a third country or region, not doubling back home.

What actually changed on 20 August

China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) confirmed the expansion in an announcement covered by Global Times, China Daily and CGTN: citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam holding ordinary passports and confirmed onward tickets are now eligible for the same 240-hour transit exemption already open to 55 other nationalities, and for Hainan province's separate 30-day visa-free entry, which now covers 61 countries. Vietnam's own state media, Tuoi Tre, reported the same figures the same day. The 240-hour rule itself isn't new — it grew out of a 72- and then 144-hour transit exemption and was expanded to a full 240 hours in December 2024 — but 20 August is the most recent country addition, and it landed with no advance notice, the way most of these expansions do.

How the transit exemption actually works

The 240-hour clock starts at midnight the day after you arrive, not the moment you land, so a same-day arrival effectively buys you a little more than ten calendar days. To qualify you need: an ordinary passport valid for at least three more months, a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region with a fixed date, and entry through one of 65 authorised ports — a list that includes the major international airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Xi'an itself.

This is a transit exemption, not a tourist visa waiver. If your onward ticket takes you back to the same country you flew in from, immigration can refuse the exemption — you need a genuine itinerary through China to somewhere else. Activities that require prior approval — paid employment, study, journalism — still need a proper visa regardless of how short your stay is.

Where you're actually allowed to go

The 65 ports sit across 24 provincial-level regions, and the geographic rules aren't uniform. Eighteen regions — including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hubei and Shaanxi (Xi'an's province) — let you travel anywhere within the whole province or municipality on the transit exemption. Six regions restrict you to named cities only: Sichuan limits you to Chengdu and ten other named cities, Heilongjiang to Harbin alone, and similar city-level lists apply in Shanxi, Jiangxi, Guangxi and Yunnan. Because Shaanxi is on the full-province list, flying into Xi'an gives you the entire province to move around in for your 240 hours, not just the city itself.

Spending 240 hours in Xi'an

Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY) is the practical gateway, with the Terracotta Warriors Museum sitting about an hour east in Lintong District. The museum sells CNY 120 (roughly US$18 at the current 6.72 CNY/USD rate) adult tickets year-round — there's no seasonal price change, unusually for a major Chinese attraction — and that single ticket covers Pits 1 through 3, the Lishan Garden annex and the shuttle bus between them. The museum caps daily ticket sales at 65,000 and concurrent visitors at 13,700, and independent travellers should book online through the official channels or an authorised platform up to seven days ahead (extended to ten days around Chinese public holidays); foreigners who book online still need to exchange that reservation for a paper ticket at the gate using the same passport used to book.

Back in the city, the Xi'an City Wall — one of the best-preserved Ming-dynasty fortifications in China, wide enough to cycle along its full 13.7 km loop — charges CNY 54 (about US$8) for adults, CNY 27 for visitors aged 7 to 18, and admits children under 7 and adults 65 and over free. The South Gate (Yongningmen) is the usual tourist entrance, and bike rental stalls are spaced around the ramparts if you want to ride a section rather than walk it. Pair the two sites with a walk through the Muslim Quarter and the Bell Tower and you can realistically cover Xi'an's headline sights in two to three days, leaving the rest of your 240 hours free if you're routing onward to Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu — all reachable by high-speed rail without crossing into a restricted region. The fastest G-series trains cover the roughly 1,200 km between Xi'an North and Beijing West in about four hours ten minutes, with second-class fares running from roughly US$22 depending on the train and how far ahead you book, so a Xi'an-then-Beijing routing is a realistic way to use most of a 240-hour window without ever flying domestically.

What the exemption doesn't cover

The 240-hour rule replaces a visa application, not the paperwork China still expects from every visitor. You'll still go through the same immigration and customs process as a visa holder, you're still expected to stay within the permitted region, and if your plans change and you decide to stay longer or go somewhere off the approved list, you need an actual visa before that happens — the exemption doesn't convert into one after the fact. In the first half of 2026, visa-free entries (this scheme plus China's separate unilateral waivers) accounted for 77.7% of the roughly 22.9 million foreign arrivals the NIA recorded, so immigration officers are used to processing this exact itinerary, which in practice makes the actual border crossing fast.

Because you're only in the country for up to ten days and won't be registering for a local number the way a resident would, a pre-installed China eSIM avoids the passport-and-real-name registration paperwork that comes with buying a local SIM card, and lets you land with data already working for maps and translation apps. Check your device's compatibility on Roameo's eSIM compatibility page before you fly, since not every phone model supports eSIM.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the 240-hour transit exemption require me to already hold a visa for my next country?

No, but you need a confirmed onward ticket with a fixed date to a third country or region — officials can ask to see it at the border, and if your onward leg returns you to your country of departure rather than genuinely transiting onward, they can deny the exemption.

Can I extend my stay past 240 hours once I'm in China?

Not under this exemption. If your plans change and you need more time or want to leave the permitted region, you need to apply for an actual visa before that happens; the transit exemption doesn't convert into a longer stay after the fact.

Is Kyrgyzstan or Vietnam eligible for anything beyond the 240-hour rule?

Yes — both nationalities also became eligible on 20 August 2026 for Hainan province's separate 30-day visa-free entry scheme, which now covers 61 countries total, though that scheme only applies within Hainan and has its own rules distinct from the 240-hour mainland transit exemption.

Do I need to book Terracotta Warriors tickets before I land?

You don't have to, but the museum caps daily sales at 65,000 and limits concurrent visitors to 13,700, so booking online up to seven days ahead (ten during Chinese public holidays) is the safer route, especially in the busier March-to-November season.