eligibility for the 144 hr visa

Question

Hi, I have a US passport. I will be leaving USA on August 17, make connection (on the same ticket) in Korea and arrive to Beijing in the morning of August 19th (ATL-Seoul-PEK). I will stay in Beijing and leave on August 23rd through the same airports (PEK-Seoul-ATL). My overall stay is less than 100 hours and I am not leaving an allowed area but I am worried because my first outbound connection will be in the same country (Korea) as my last inbound connection. Do I qualify for the 144 hour visa free transit? Or does it require that both the last airport on the way to China and the first airport on the way out of China be different?

Borut · Answer

Unfortunately, your itinerary is not eligible for any kind of visa free transit schemes. You have correctly pointed your doubts because the very basic rule of visa free transit clearly states that the immediate points regardless of their nature, have to be in two different countries or eligible territories (eligible territories: Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau). In other words, you will need a visa obtained in advance for your journey or you will make necessary changes to meet the requirement of 144 hour visa free transit. For example, you could maybe use southern Japan as a place to make your itinerary eligible like:ATL - Seoul - PEKPEK - Fukuoka (Japan) - Seoul - ATL

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Eligibility for the 144 hr visa