Question

Asked by Josie Cox from australia | Dec. 31, 2019 14:31

About:Visa on Arrival

Applying for Shenzhen 144 hrs or 72 hrs Visa

Hi, I’ve read somewhere that you must be flying into Shenzhen or other cities in China to be eligible for a visa, not eligible if traveling by train or bus. Is this true

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Answers (5)

Answered by Josie | Jan. 01, 2020 14:34

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Thanks Zupan, but I am still confused. Please just tell me whether I can enter Shenzhen from Hong Kong my train if I hold an Australian Passport.

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Answered by ZUPAN | Jan. 01, 2020 03:49

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Part one:

Actually, this is not entirely correct when we talk about 144 hour visa free transit. You can also use to arrive in China:

- scheduled shipping lines on regular routes from Taiwan, Japan and Korea
- cruise ships from any country in the world
- conventional (not high speed) through trains from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai

Anyway, we can easily conclude that 90% of all the travelers who plan to enjoy 144 hour visa free transit really arrive in China by plane. As far as 72 hour visa free transit is concerned, it has remained only in Harbin, Guilin and Changsha and indeed, this option allows only arrivals by plane.

Here you have to know that the shipping and train connections are not eligible if you are arriving in mainland China from Hong Kong or Macau with the exception of earlier mentioned two trains from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai. Anyway, many of the shipping and train connections are eligible for exit the southern province of Guangdong in direction to Hong Kong and Macau.

To be more precise, if your first destination in China is Shenzhen, you have no other option, but to fly there. Anyway, you are not limited to Shenzhen only because you can also fly to Guangzhou and after that take a train or anything else to Shenzhen. This is allowed because the entire Guangdong province is accessible for those traveling on 144 hour visa free transit - without restrictions. You are also allowed to arrive at Guangzhou and depart from Shenzhen, if you only want.

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Answered by ZUPAN | Jan. 01, 2020 03:50

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Part two:

The most important detail is that your itinerary is eligible, i.e. the countries (or eligible territories like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau) before and after your Chinese destination have to be different. For example:

Australia - Guangdong province (Shenzhen or Guangzhou airports) - Vietnam

or

Australia - Guangdong province (Shenzhen or Guangzhou airports) - Hong Kong

One more detail. You should use correct terminology because it is 144 hour visa free transit and not 144 hrs visa or similar. There is no visa involved at all and all the above is totally free of any charge.

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Answered by ZUPAN | Jan. 02, 2020 14:31

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Josie, you cannot take a cross border train, but you take a train up to Lo Wu border crossing and after that a metro to Shenzhen. Here is my answer to your previous question:

By far the best way is to take a train from Hong Kong to Lo Wu border crossing. This is Hong Kong crossing where you will clear Hong Kong immigration formalities and there you will tell them that you are traveling to Shenzhen and that you intend to stay in Shenzhen on 5 day Shenzhen VOA.

You will walk about 100 meters after that and you will encounter Luohu, mainland Chinese crossing where you will apply for a 5 day Shenzhen VOA. The price for Australian citizens is 168 CNY. Probably the best option is to bring a Chinese cash that you can easily obtain at one of many Hong Kong money changers. You can also bring a passport size photo.

After your visa is granted, you will proceed to the center of Shenzhen by metro. Just try to avoid a morning and late afternoon rush hours.

After your stay in Shenzhen, you can return to Hong Kong by every mode of transport and my preferred way is to take a direct high speed train from Shenzhen to West Kowloon station in Hong Kong.

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Answered by ZUPAN | Jan. 02, 2020 22:09

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By the way, a Shenzhen VOA is limited to Shenzhen city limits only.

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