Hainan Visa on Arrival. I have a US Passport, staying in Hainan for 3 days.

Part one:

My suggestion is that you simply forget about Hainan VOA because even the Chinese authorities are downplaying this scheme in favor of 30 day visa free access. In other words, I strongly encourage you to go after this 30 day visa free access because you are eligible for this scheme and it also guarantees that you will travel to Hainan with complete peace of mind. Here are the steps you will have to follow regarding this process:

- You are supposed to determine how many days you will spend in Hainan province
- You should also take care of your flight tickets and here one warning... You are not allowed to arrive to Hainan by taking a flight through some other mainland Chinese airport. The best option is Hong Kong, but keep in mind that this flight has to be nonstop and not again through some of mainland Chinese airports. Also, you are not allowed to leave Hainan on a flight that has a stop in mainland China.
- After you have determined the above mentioned, you will write down your short itinerary in English language that will have most of your details that you will do while in Hainan, but very shortly.
- You will contact a relevant agency that supports a correspondence in English language. You can find a list of Tour Operators in Hainan in the upper left part of this site or you can find some other agency on your own.
- Keep in mind that during your correspondence you will be offered several services and you are supposed to accept one or more of them according to your preferences. The mentioned offers range from an airport transfer to multi day trips.

Part two:

You are supposed to start your correspondence with the agency well in advance, so that you have enough time to clarify all the necessary details. Some visitors to Hainan prefer to start their correspondence with the agency even before they have bought their tickets and accommodation because they want to have everything clear before their first move.

When you apply for this visa free option, you will soon receive a positive reply from the agency where it will inform you that the relevant authorities have given a positive answer to your application.

It can appear at first to be a bit complicated, but in reality it is not. Just start a correspondence with the agency and you will realize how easily everything is resolved.