Macau - Beijing - HK

Your itinerary is definitely eligible for 144 hour visa free transit valid for wider Beijing area. However, you cannot use a train for Beijing to Hong Kong segment. The reason is in the fact that only the conventional, overnight trains were eligible for such an option because of the border crossing facility at the Beijing station where they departed from, however since the conventional trains were replaced by high speed trains departing from the station that does not have a border crossing facility, that trains are currently not eligible for this visa free transit option. They can be used for those using 144 hour visa free transit in Guangdong province to reach Hong Kong, but this is limited just for that particular region. In other words, you will have to fly back to Hong Kong. Have a nice journey.

Hi

Thanks for this. Would it be possible please to double check you can not exit Beijing on the train on a 144/72 visa please because I was told something completely different by the Chinese embassy in the uk and I’ve not seen this restriction anywhere printed. Appreciate you are probably right but could you double check please ?

I have double checked and I reconfirm that taking a train from Beijing to Hong Kong, under 144 hour visa free transit, is not possible. Formally, you would be able to see something like this as a possibility and even more, such a possibility is still listed in Timatic, however, those conventional trains that were departing from Beijing West Railway Station toward Hong Kong Hung Hom station are now gone. Simply speaking, currently the trains departing from Beijing toward Hong Kong are no more treated in Beijing as if they were exiting mainland China and that formally means that you would be traveling all the way until Hong Kong West Kowloon train station as a passenger in domestic transport and that is something that is not allowed.

Several years ago, when you were boarding the train in Beijing, you were crossing the exit immigration right at Beijing West Railway Station as if you were leaving mainland China. So, your later travel was, de jure, outside mainland China regardless of the fact that you were traveling through its territory for many hours after that. Today the Hong Kong bound trains are purely domestic and they become "international" only at Hong Kong West Kowloon station in Hong Kong where both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong immigration facilities are located "under one roof". Trust me, you cannot do that and I hope you will trust me. By the way, diplomatic missions are not the address for this subject because they do not have jurisdiction over the details that are treated by the Chinese immigration authorities. Totally different ministries. Please, buy your plane ticket out of Beijing toward Hong Kong and enjoy your time. Do not allow to be rejected. Have a nice journey.