Answered by ZUPAN | Oct. 26, 2019 07:23
Actually, Xi'an offers only 72 hours visa free transit, but the good news is that starting from December 1, it will be extended to 144 hour visa free transit.
If you want to enjoy 72/144 hour visa free transit in Xi'an, you have to know that the immediate points before and after Xi'an have to be in different countries or eligible territories. In other words, you would not be allowed to take a flight, even if the one has existed:
New York - Xi'an - New York
Your flight has to look like this (just a sample):
New York - Hong Kong - Xi'an
Xi'an - Macau - Hong Kong - New York
This option allows you to travel to Hong Kong first by direct flight from New York or through China and after that to travel from Hong Kong to Xi'an and to return from Xi'an to Hong Kong, but by really flying to Macau that is close to Hong Kong. Like this, your itinerary becomes eligible for 72/144 hour visa free transit. You can also use other airports around mainland China like those in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
In the end, you should always make a good calculation because the efforts to travel visa free could end up being more expensive than obtaining a Chinese visa. The good thing for US citizens is that they are eligible for 10 year multiple entry Chinese visa and that could be in good percentage of visits to China more affordable than trying to create a visa free transit itinerary.
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