What the China Arrival Card is
The China Arrival Card is the entry form foreign travellers complete for China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) when they arrive in mainland China. It used to be a slip of paper handed out on the plane. Since 20 November 2025 the same card can be filled in online before departure, so the details are already in the system when you reach the passport desk.
Two points are often mixed up. The card itself is required for foreign nationals, apart from seven exempt groups. The online channel is optional: the NIA's own announcement says travellers may fill it in online in advance, and anyone who has not done so can still complete it at the border. It makes no difference whether you enter with a visa, under a visa-free arrangement or in transit — the card is the same. Your entry rules themselves are on our China page.
- Permanent residents: Holders of a People's Republic of China Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card.
- Hong Kong and Macao residents with a Mainland Travel Permit: Non-Chinese citizens holding a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents.
- Group travel: Travellers on a group visa, or eligible for group visa-free entry.
- Direct transit within 24 hours: Passengers who transit directly within 24 hours without leaving the restricted area of the airport or port.
- Cruise passengers: Travellers entering and leaving on the same cruise ship.
- Fast-lane entry: Travellers entering through the fast lanes at the border, such as the automated e-channel gates.
- Transport crews: Foreign crew of aircraft, ships and other vehicles crossing the border.
Ways to file it
Online before you fly — two paths to the same card. The NIA's own channels are free: its website (the arrival card form runs in any web browser), the government service platform, the NIA 12367 app, and NIA mini programs inside WeChat and Alipay. The website needs no app, no account and no Chinese phone number, and the form is available in Chinese, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese — you upload the passport photo, choose the entry category and complete every field yourself.
The alternative is a guided arrival card service that takes your details in your language, checks the passport data and trip details before they are submitted, and charges a service fee for that help — the card itself stays the same. For families travelling together, for a first trip to China, or for anyone who would rather not work through a government form in a foreign language, where a missing detail can cause trouble at the border, the guided path is the more comfortable choice.
At the border, on your phone. Arrival halls display a QR code that opens the same form on your own phone, so you can complete it while waiting in line.
At the border, on a terminal or on paper. Smart self-service devices at the port and the classic paper card are still available. Filling in at the border works, but it adds a step at the busiest moment of the journey — the online form is the calmer option.
- 1Have the details ready: A photo of your passport's data page as a JPG or PNG of at most 100 KB, your flight, train or ship number and arrival date, the full address of your first accommodation, your visa number if you have one, and your return journey if it is booked.
- 2Read the notice and agree: The first page lists the exemptions and warns that leaving out or withholding information can lead to refusal at the border. Continue with “I AGREE”.
- 3Upload the passport page: The form reads your name, date of birth, passport number and nationality from the photo. Check the recognised passport number character by character before you go on.
- 4Choose how you are entering: “Visa-Free Policy” for visa-free entry, “Ordinary Entry Filling” with a visa, or the visa-free transit option if you are in transit. If your details do not fit the option you picked, the form says so.
- 5Add your trip: Contact details, the purpose of the visit from a fixed list — “Sightseeing/Leisure” for a holiday, “Conference/Business” for meetings — your arrival, the cities you will visit and your address in China.
- 6Companions, declaration, signature: Up to ten travellers of the same nationality can be added to one submission, each with their own declaration. Confirm the details, sign in the signature field and submit. The confirmation — the “Entry Declaration Receipt” — can be downloaded or sent by email; keep it on your phone. Customs and health questions are not part of the card: the customs declaration is a separate step.
Official, guided — and fake
On its own channels, the NIA does not charge for the card. Two weeks after the launch, in December 2025, it warned about counterfeit websites that imitate the official form and pretend to be the Chinese authorities in order to take payment. Those sites are the problem: they hide who they are.
A guided service is something else. It says openly that it is a service, names its fee and what the fee covers — help, checks and support — and files the same official card. Whether you file yourself on the NIA's website, app or mini programs, or let a guided service do it, avoid any site that presents itself as the Chinese government and asks for money.
When to fill it in
There is no official deadline or advance window. The NIA asks only that the information be given before or on arrival; claims of a fixed window, such as a set number of hours before landing, do not come from the Chinese authorities. The practical moment is once your flight and your first night's address are confirmed.
Because the card describes one arrival — its flight, its date, its port — every new entry into mainland China needs its own card, including a return from Hong Kong or Macao during the same trip.
After you land: registering where you stay
The arrival card is not the only formality. Foreigners staying anywhere other than a hotel — with friends, in a rented flat — must register their accommodation with the police within 24 hours of arrival, or have their host do it. Since 21 September 2026 this works online nationwide, in the same NIA 12367 app and mini programs, with the same legal effect as registering in person; the local police station remains an option. Hotels register their guests themselves.
And the information on the card has to be accurate. China's revised exit-entry rules treat false statements seriously — what that means for travellers is set out in our report on the new regulation.
Yes. The card applies to foreign nationals whatever the basis of entry — a visa, a visa-free arrangement or transit through the border. Only seven groups are exempt, such as permanent residents, group travellers and passengers transiting within 24 hours without leaving the airport's restricted area.
No. The card is required, but filling it in online is optional. Travellers who have not done it in advance can complete it at the border by scanning a QR code with their phone, on a self-service device or on a paper card.
The NIA does not charge for the card on its own channels — the website, the NIA 12367 app and the WeChat and Alipay mini programs. A guided service charges a fee for taking your details in your language, checking them and filing the card for you. Avoid sites that pretend to be the Chinese government: the NIA has warned about such fakes.
NIA — online arrival card form
The official arrival card form of China's National Immigration Administration, in the browser.
NIA — announcement on online arrival card filling
The announcement that opened the online service on 20 November 2025, with the seven exempt groups.
NIA — warning about counterfeit arrival card websites
The notice confirming the online service is free and naming the official channels.
Prefer to have someone guide you through the China Arrival Card, step by step?
Get help with the China Arrival Card