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China Arrival Card Online (2026): Who Files, When to File, How
China's arrival card moved online on 20 November 2025. Most foreign visitors can now complete it before flying — free of charge — through the National Immigration Administration's own website, its 12367 app, or its WeChat and Alipay mini-programs. The paper card has not disappeared: it sits at the port alongside the online version, and pre-filing is optional rather than a condition of entry.
There is no published deadline for filing. The official notices say the card may be filed "before coming to China" and stop there, so the practical rule is to file once your flights and your first night's address are fixed — usually in the last few days before departure. What matters is that the flight number and the address on the record match what you actually present at the border.
The short answer
- Who files: foreign nationals arriving by air, land or sea who pass through immigration control — including visa-free tourists and travellers using the 240-hour transit scheme.
- Who does not: seven listed categories, including permanent residence card holders, group visa or group visa-free arrivals, 24-hour airside transit passengers, same-vessel cruise passengers and fast-track entrants.
- When: any time before arrival. No minimum window is published; filing in the last few days keeps the flight and address details accurate.
- Where: NIA website and government service platform, the 移民局12367 app, the 12367 WeChat mini-program, the 12367 Alipay mini-program, or the official QR code.
- Cost: nothing. Any site charging for it is not official.
What actually changed on 20 November 2025
The arrival card is the small immigration declaration you hand to the officer at the border: who you are, which flight you arrived on, where you are staying and why you are visiting. It has existed for decades as a paper form handed out on the plane or stacked on a counter in the arrivals hall.
The change is that the same declaration can now be lodged online, in advance. That is the whole of it. The card is not a visa, it does not replace a visa, and it does not change what your passport is allowed to do — it sits on top of whatever permission you already hold, whether that is a visa, the 30-day visa-free arrangement, or the 240-hour transit scheme.
Who has to file — and who does not
Everyone arriving through immigration files a card unless they fall into one of the seven exempt categories below:
- Holders of a valid Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card of the People's Republic of China.
- Non-Chinese nationals holding a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents.
- Travellers entering on a group visa, or under group visa-free arrangements.
- Passengers in 24-hour direct transit who stay inside the port's restricted area.
- Cruise passengers who enter and leave on the same vessel.
- Travellers entering through the fast-track (e-channel) lanes.
- Foreign crew members of exit-entry transport vehicles.
Two of those are routinely misread. The transit exemption is a 24-hour connection where you stay airside and never clear immigration — it is not the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme, which exists so that you can leave the airport and travel. The group exemption covers organised group visas and group visa-free arrivals; a family travelling together on individual passports is not a group arrival.
How far in advance should you file?
This is the question the official notices answer least directly, so here is what is actually written down and what is not.
What is published: the card can be filed online before travelling to China. No lead time, expiry window or "must be within X days" rule appears in the NIA or embassy notices. Any blog quoting a hard number is adding it themselves.
What that means in practice: file after your tickets are issued and your first accommodation is booked, because the form asks for the flight or vessel number and the address in China. Filing three months early just creates a record that has to be corrected later.
If your plans change after you file — different flight, different first hotel — file again with the new details. The card is a declaration of what you are doing on this entry, not a fixed permit, and there is no fee for filing a second time.
If you leave it to the airport, nothing breaks: the official fallbacks are still in place (next section). You will simply spend a few extra minutes in the immigration hall, which matters mainly when several long-haul arrivals land at once — Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou included.
The official channels — and the one you should avoid
The National Immigration Administration lists five official routes. All of them feed the same record; pick whichever you can actually use:
- NIA website and government service platform — a normal browser, no app install, no WeChat account: s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC.
- The 移民局12367 mobile app — iOS and Android.
- The 12367 WeChat mini-program — inside WeChat, no separate install.
- The 12367 Alipay mini-program — the same form inside Alipay.
- The official arrival-card QR code — published by the NIA and displayed at ports of entry.
The route to avoid is a search result or an advertisement that offers to "process" your arrival card for a fee. The NIA has published a formal warning about exactly these sites: the service is free, and no third party files it on your behalf. The scam works because the policy is new and most travellers have only half-heard of it, so a polished copycat page can outrank a government notice written in Chinese.
Two habits close it off. Reach the form through the NIA's own domain or the official QR code rather than through a search engine, and treat any request for payment as proof you are on the wrong page. The same applies to anything that pressures you about "not having filed yet" — that pressure is the product being sold.
What the form asks for
The declaration is short, but it is assembled from details travellers often have scattered across three apps. Have these ready before you start:
- Passport details — number, issuing country, expiry, exactly as printed.
- Flight, train or vessel number — the inbound service, not the booking reference.
- Address of your first night in China — hotel name and street address. A phone screenshot is fine; you do not need it in Chinese characters.
- Purpose of visit and length of stay — tourism, business, visiting family, transit.
You will also be asked for a contact number. A home mobile number with the country code is normally enough; the online routes do not require a mainland Chinese number to file in advance.
If you cannot file online: three official fallbacks
Pre-filing is convenience, not a gate. The authorities kept every previous route open, and all three are official rather than workarounds:
- Scan the arrival-card QR code at the port and complete the form on your own phone while you queue.
- Use the self-service devices in the immigration hall.
- Fill in a paper arrival card — the same form, the same pen, exactly as before November 2025.
So the honest answer to "what happens if I don't file in advance" is: you fill it in when you land. What the online version buys you is a shorter stop at the counter, and one less thing to do while jet-lagged.
At the border: the other two steps
The arrival card is one of three things that happen on entry, and mixing them up causes most of the confusion around this policy.
Biometrics. Fingerprints and a facial image are captured at the port for most adult travellers. This is long-standing practice, entirely separate from the arrival card, and it applies whether you filed online or not.
The 24-hour registration rule. Every foreigner staying overnight in mainland China must be registered with the local police within 24 hours of arriving at the address. Hotels do this automatically at check-in. If you are staying in a short-term rental, a friend's flat or a private guesthouse, you or your host must file it — and unlike a hotel, there is no front desk to do it for you. That is a different rule with different channels, and it applies however you entered the country.
If something goes wrong
The National Immigration Administration runs a service hotline on 12367 — the number its app and mini-programs are named after. It is the authoritative place to resolve a question about the arrival card or any other entry formality, rather than a travel post that may be a year out of date. Officers at the port can also help: if the form will not load, the paper card is still there.
What is not worth doing is paying a website to fix a problem that does not exist. There is no queue to jump, no approval to obtain and no fee to settle.
Frequently asked questions
Is the China arrival card free?
Yes. The National Immigration Administration states that filing the arrival card carries no fee, and it has published a warning about look-alike websites that charge for it. There is no paid tier, no expedited option and no legitimate third party that files it on your behalf. If a page asks for payment, it is not an official channel.
Do I have to file the arrival card before I fly?
No. Pre-filing is a convenience, not a condition of entry. If you do not file online you can scan the official QR code at the port, use the self-service devices in the immigration hall, or fill in a paper card exactly as travellers did before November 2025. Nobody is refused entry for arriving without a pre-filed card.
How many days before arrival can I file it?
The official notices say the card may be filed "before coming to China" and do not publish a minimum or maximum lead time. In practice, file it once your flights and your first night's address are fixed — for most travellers that means within the last few days before departure. If your flight number or first hotel changes after you file, file again so the record matches what you actually present.
I am entering visa-free for 30 days. Do I still need an arrival card?
Yes. Visa-free entry removes the visa, not the arrival card. The exemptions are specific categories — permanent residence card holders, non-Chinese holders of a Hong Kong or Macao residents' permit for the mainland, group visa or group visa-free arrivals, 24-hour airside transit, cruise passengers on the same vessel in and out, fast-track entrants and foreign transport crew. An ordinary tourist on visa-free entry is not on that list.
Does the 240-hour visa-free transit exempt me from the card?
No — and this is the exemption most often misread. The exempt case is a 24-hour direct transit where you never leave the port's restricted area: you stay airside and re-board. The 240-hour scheme exists precisely so that you can clear immigration and go into the city, and anyone who clears immigration files an arrival card.
Where this fits in a China trip
The arrival card is the last administrative step, not the planning one. If you are still working out whether you need a visa at all, start with visa, ETA or arrival card — what you need before you fly. If you are travelling on the visa-free arrangement and want to know how long it runs, see China visa-free entry: when does it end. If you are routing through Hong Kong or Macao, Hong Kong to mainland China: visa and border crossings covers the land crossings, and the 240-hour visa-free transit guide explains the scheme that still requires a card.
What the card does not tell you is how long to stay. Two full days covers the Bund, the former French Concession and one museum in Shanghai; three days adds Suzhou or a half-day in the water towns; five days makes Hangzhou and Huangshan realistic without spending the trip in a car. That is the part we plan for a living — the arrival card takes ten minutes, the route is the trip.
Arriving and moving on: compare airport transfers and rail connections in China on Trip.com — enter your own dates, then decide. We take no payment from the operator.
Private tours for this trip
Sources
- National Immigration Administration — arrival card filing portal: s.nia.gov.cn/ArrivalCardFillingPC
- Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States — notice on the online arrival card, 3 December 2025: us.china-embassy.gov.cn
- China National Immigration Administration service hotline: 12367 (the number its app and mini-programs are named after)
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