Reply To: China 144 hour visa free transit?

[The real Swiss Tony]

We have also had problems with this on two separate occasions. The first issue was TIMATIC being structured in such a way that it only gave the right answer if the agent said it was a transit in China not a stopover as I recall.

The second issue was on arrival in China, knowledge of the scheme seemed very scant. However we were staying at the Hyatt in Beijing and had paid for a transfer which included a meet & greet (it was something like £70 for the 5 of us!). So we were met at the end of the jetbridge by airport staff. As we walked to immigration I explained what we were doing, so the lady took us to the right desk then explained all this to the agent in Chinese. We were stamped in relatively quickly.

Bad form if they’re randomly deciding that a certain stamp black balls you, mind…