Landing in China: the airport arrival process, step by step

Updated 2026-10-13: Wildfire near Mongolia-China border in Inner Mongolia, 2,000 firefighters deployed.

Three things happen between the aircraft door and the taxi rank: your arrival card is filed, an immigration officer takes your fingerprints and stamps your passport, and customs decides whether to look inside your bags. The health declaration form is gone — customs stopped requiring it on 1 November 2023.

Before you land

Since 20 November 2025 the arrival card can be filed online before you fly, through the National Immigration Administration website or its Government Service Platform, the "NIA 12367" app, or the WeChat or Alipay mini program. If you can't manage it in advance, you can scan the QR code at the port, use an on-site smart device, or fill in a paper card. None of this costs money: the online service is free, and a site asking for a processing fee for a Chinese arrival card is a scam.

Seven groups are exempt: holders of a Chinese Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card; holders of a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (non-Chinese citizens); group visa holders and group visa-free arrivals; passengers in 24-hour direct transit who stay within the port's designated area; cruise passengers entering and leaving on the same ship; travellers entering through the e-channel; and foreign crew of exit-entry transport vehicles.

Insurance is not an entry requirement, but a hospital visit in China is paid up front, and policies differ on evacuation cover and pre-existing conditions, so compare all before you choose one.

At the airport

1. Immigration inspection. Follow the Arrivals signs to the inspection area and queue for the foreign-passport counters. Hand over your passport and your arrival card or the QR code from the online filing, and have the address of your first night written down — officers ask for it.
2. Fingerprints. Foreigners aged 14 to 70 are fingerprinted at the counter. Exempt are diplomatic passport holders and people holding Chinese diplomatic or courtesy visas, nationalities covered by reciprocal arrangements, and travellers whose ten prints cannot be recorded.
3. Visa-free transit arrivals. If you are entering under the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, you need a valid travel document plus a confirmed onward ticket to a third country or region with a set date and a reserved seat. The eligible-country list is nationality-specific and keeps changing: the National Immigration Administration named 55 countries and 60 ports when it expanded the policy in December 2024, and a provincial listing updated in August 2026 names 57. Check your own passport against the current NIA list, and note that the airport and the province you land in both have to be on it.
4. Baggage and customs. Collect your bags, then pick the green channel if you have nothing to declare or the red channel if you do. Cash is the limit most people trip over: you must declare if you carry more than 20,000 yuan, or foreign currency worth more than US$5,000, and go through the red channel to do it.
5. Health. No form to fill in, but if you have fever, cough, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhoea, a rash or unexplained bleeding, tell a customs officer voluntarily and expect quarantine procedures, including a temperature check.

Last checked: 2026-10-13