Question

Asked by Val Flavell from australiaflavel | Jun. 07, 2019 00:28

About:240-Hour Visa-Free Transit

Eligibility for 144 hours visa free transit

We fly to Shanghai on the 16th. August, and board Majestic Princess on the 18th. August for a cruise around Japan, coming back to Shanghai on the 26th. August. We are doing back to back cruises with Princess, and leave Shanghai on 26th. August for a cruise back to Australia. You previously advised (May 10) that we were eligible for the 144 hour visa free transit, but we are getting conflicting advice from Princess saying that we need to obtain a Visa as it will be more than 144 hours between when we leave for the cruise around Japan, until we come back to Shanghai for our cruise back to Australia. Please help

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Answers (2)

Answered by ZUPAN | Jun. 10, 2019 01:04

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Part one:

Trust me, it is always such a waste of time contacting mostly useless customer services of any kind. The only, but really the only relevant persons are those at the airport because they have Timatic at their disposal and they can find out what you should or should not have within a period of just a few minutes. I will explain...

Your first itinerary:

Australia - Shanghai - Japan

You are eligible for 144 hours visa free transit and this particular convenience expires at the very moment when you exit China, i.e. when you board the cruise. This is 100% sure. There is nothing, but literally nothing within the visa free transit law that says that you have to return to China during the time of theoretical duration of your first 144 hours TWOV, to be allowed to take your second cruise on visa free scheme. In reality, there is no any kind of limitation on time between the two visa free transit schemes and there is no limit how many times you can enjoy visa free scheme as long as your citizenship and your itinerary are qualified. I just hope that my explanation is clear because the customer service you have contacted is absolutely wrong.

Your second itinerary:

Japan - Shanghai - Australia

Your second itinerary is also eligible without any doubt, but as far as I have understood you properly, you will arrive and depart to/from Shanghai on the same day. There is no problem, but on this occasion you will be covered by 24 hours visa free transit and not by 144 scheme because your stay in Shanghai will be shorter than 24 hours. In reality there are no essential difference.

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Answered by ZUPAN | Jun. 10, 2019 01:05

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Part two:

Everything that matters regarding your itinerary beside you have mentioned in your post is the following:

- You flight to Shanghai should not have any additional landings in mainland China and Japan.
- Your first port call immediately after Shanghai should not be in mainland China (this is valid for both cruises) and in Japan (valid for your second cruise), but Hong Kong is fine.
- Your last port call after your cruise to Japan, immediately before Shanghai, should not be in mainland China.

So, just take a look at your flight and your cruise itineraries and you will see whether all the mentioned conditions are satisfied, although I'm more than certain they are.

Just do not hesitate to ask for some additional clarifications because there is no need to obtain Chinese visa since Chinese laws guarantee that you don't have to do that!

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