shanghai transit visa

Question

I am an American and in November, I will be flying from New York to Hong Kong to Shanghai (4-hour layover in Hong Kong) and boarding a cruise ship out of Shanghai that will make 2 port calls in Japan and ending in Hong Kong. After disembarking in Hong Kong, I will be flying to Tokyo for a few days before returning to the US. Will the 144 hour visa be sufficient as I will only be in Shanghai for approximately 27 hours? What confuses me is the explanation regarding the eligible transit route. You mentioned that Country A and Country C should be different. I’ll be entering Shanghai from Hong Kong but I’m not sure if Country C would be Japan (first port stop), Hong Kong (final embarkment from the cruise), or Tokyo (final destination before returning to the US).

Borut · Answer

Hello, your itinerary is definitely eligible for 144 hour visa free transit in Shanghai and you do not need any kind of visa. In the case of your itinerary, if you have presented it precisely, the situation that is important for the Chinese authorities is the following segment:Hong Kong - Shanghai - X port (city) in JapanThe very basic rule of 144 hour visa free transit clearly states that only the immediate points before and after your mainland Chinese destination matter. Those immediate points have to be in two different countries or eligible territories. Eligible territories are Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. In other words, those eligible territories act as a country for this purpose.So, the situation is that Hong Kong acts as country A, Shanghai in mainland China is in country B and Japan is country C.All the requirements are satisfied and you can enjoy your entire trip absolutely visa free.

Shanghai Transit Visa

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