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Asked by Bill from canada | Jul. 30, 2025 18:54
About:240-Hour Visa-Free Transit

Minimum Stay?

Hello,

I was wondering is there any "minimum" stay with the 240 hour visa in Guangzhou? Can I fly from Canada to Guangzhou, get the VOA at the airport and then exit to Hong Kong within 3 hours of arriving?

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Answered by Borut | Jul. 31, 2025 03:19
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Well, 240 hour visa free transit is not a VOA. It is visa free transit and there is no any kind of visa involved at all. Also, there is no any kind of VOA in Guangzhou. As far as your question is concerned, the minimum time you need to qualify for 240 hour visa free transit is 24 hours + 1 minute. Everything less than that belongs to 24 hour visa free transit. In other words, you can rely on 24 hour visa free transit to perform your planned journey, again visa free. It is highly advisable to use a flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, when using 24 hour visa free transit, because of very poor wording in Timatic where the explanation implies exactly that - flight, regardless of the fact that under 24 hour visa free transit taking a train or ferry is equally eligible. In other words, it is not up to Chinese authorities upon your landing that will make you some problem if you plan to continue by train or ferry from Guangzhou, but you run a risk that the Canadian authorities (check-in personnel) could give you quite a hard time. If you fly with a Chinese airline (I know that China Southern flies from Toronto to Guangzhou), in that case you could be quite relaxed because they are better informed and also willing to check the details more in depth. In any case, you can use 24 hour visa free transit to travel Canada - Guangzhou - Hong Kong. If you plan to take a train or ferry from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, you should be aware that you will have to buy a ferry or train ticket in advance, even before you depart from Canada because you will be asked to present one at check-in in Canada and upon landing in Guangzhou. Have a nice journey.
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