When Taiwanese Allowed to Visit China Again

First published: 22 March, 2021
Last updated: 12 May, 2022

To help keep the travel industry up to date and informed, we're tracking all the latest developments and regulations regarding travel into and out of mainland China. This post will be regularly updated with any new or changing policies.

Have we missed something? Please feel free to send questions or comments to communications@dragontrail.com

Outbound

-"China's top immigration authority announced on Thursday it will strictly restrict citizens from traveling abroad for 'non-essential reasons,' as the country expands its stringent virus-control measures under the 'zero-COVID' policy," reported Sixth Tone on 12 May 2022. Previously, non-essential outbound travel was strongly discouraged, but not restricted by the National Immigration Administration, except in the case of group and package tourism.

– China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism required Chinese travel agents to stop the sale of outbound group and package travel (from a minimum of a flight + hotel package) from 27 January, 2020. This ban was last reiterated in a press conference on 30 March 2022.

– In September 2021, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) advised against international travel over the Mid-Autumn Festival and October National Day holiday period (source). This reiterated an announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on 25 May, 2021, reminding Chinese citizens that they should not leave the country for any non-essential reason. (Source)

– On 6 August, 2021 a spokesperson from China's National Immigration Administration said that the issue or renewal of passports would only be prioritized for Chinese studying or working abroad, and those without the urgent need to travel internationally should postpone any plans to do so. (Source) This suspension of passport renewals for the purpose of leisure travel was confirmed again by China's National Immigration Administration in February 2022.

-In a mid-November interview, leading Chinese pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan predicted that Chinese would be able to travel abroad independently by the end of 2022.

– In December 2021, Ctrip Chairman James Liang said the OTA predicted that China would relax international travel restrictions in six months.

– As of 10 January 2022, the China Tourism Academy is projecting a 20% growth in outbound and inbound tourism in 2022, recovering to 20% of 2019's level. This is the most official source of information indicating that a reopening is planned for 2022.

– On 15 February 2022, Chief Epidemiologist at China's CDC, Wu Zunyou, said that Chinese scientists were looking at ways to adjust China's COVID prevention policies to allow for the resumption of international exchange. He said he was cautiously optimistic about the pandemic ending in 2022. (Read more)

– Another leading epidemiologist, Zeng Guang, has called for China to start thinking about opening up. He posted about this on Weibo on 28 February 2022, and in a later interview with Caixin, expressed that "In the near future, at the right time, the roadmap for Chinese-style co-existence with the virus should be presented." However, speaking to Beijing News, he said there was "no need to open the country's doors at the peak of the global pandemic." (Read more)

– As of March 2022, state media in China have also started referring to a "dynamic zero-COVID policy", leading to speculation that some changes may be on the way. March policy changes in epidemic control and prevention include: 1) The requirements for recovered COVID patients to be released from hospital or quarantine have been eased. 2) Patients with mild cases will now be sent to quarantine facilities rather than hospitals; 3) Those released from hospitals can now complete their 7 days of post-infection quarantine at home rather than in a quarantine facility.

– These other factors and events all have potential to affect China's reopening: COVID cases in China; the spread and severity of the virus outside of China; the 20th National Party Congress in October-November 2022. Previously planned for September 2022, the Asian Games in Hangzhou have been postponed to a date tbd.

– Macau is the only destination outside of mainland China to which Chinese citizens can travel for leisure, with no quarantine on arrival or return. Adjustments to this policy are made regularly, based on if there are any outbreaks of COVID-19 in mainland China – if there are, then travelers who have recently been in those areas are required to quarantine when they arrive in Macau. Travelers to Macau are allowed in through the Individual Visitor Scheme, so group tourism from mainland China is not operating yet as of March 2022.

– Plans to reopen the Hong Kong-mainland border for quarantine-free travel in December 2021 were put on hold indefinitely with the arrival of the Omicron variant.

Inbound

– While it's getting easier for Chinese (and other nationalities) to visit destinations around the world by spring 2022, at the same time, rules about entering China are generally getting stricter. This includes requirements for more tests, and/or tests taken closer to one's departure time. You can find a country-by-country list of requirements here.

– Anyone arriving in mainland China from any overseas destination, with the exception of Macau, is required to undergo 14 days of hotel quarantine. This is often followed by 7 days of at-home quarantine, followed by 7 days of health monitoring – the "14+7+7 model", implemented in January 2021.

– As of 11 April 2022, eight Chinese cities have relaxed their quarantine-on-arrival policies from 14 days in hotel quarantine plus 7 days of health monitoring at home, to 10 days in hotel quarantine plus 7 days of health monitoring at home. The cities are: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao, Chengdu, and Dalian. (Source)

– Foreigners can only enter China with a valid residence permits for work, personal matters, and reunion.

Vaccinations

China's 2021 end-of-year vaccination target was of 85% of the population. 82.5% were vaccinated by December 11, 2021 (source).

Destinations outside of China are mixed in whether they recognize WHO-approved Chinese vaccines, which could impact future outbound travel if travelers are required to be fully vaccinated. Countries including the US and Finland accept all WHO-approved vaccines, but others do not, meaning that Chinese visitors would either need to quarantine on arrival, or might not be able to enter at all.

Effective 1 March 2022, the EU has recommended that member states accept all EU- or WHO-approved vaccines for non-essential travel. However, the EU has also stated that member states could choose to require negative PCR tests and/or quarantine for vaccines that are only WHO-approved, which includes Sinovac and Sinopharm. Ultimately, the decision will be up to member states, with Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain already accepting Chinese vaccines. Switzerland also accepts these vaccines.

The UK accepts all WHO-approved vaccines for quarantine-free entry as of 22 November 2021, including Sinovac and Sinopharm. For travelers from mainland China to be exempt from 10 days of self-isolation on arriving in the UK, however, the UK will need to start recognizing Chinese vaccine certificates, which is not yet the case.

Canada started accepting Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines for quarantine-free entry from 30 November 2021.

Flights

– Introduced in March 2020, China's "Five One" policy limited international air carriers to flying one route, once per week, with suspensions for carriers if any passengers tested positive for the coronavirus on arrival. This has been loosened for many airlines, with additional weekly flights added, but carriers are still being strictly reviewed. As of May 2021, the rules have been relaxed so that flights with more than five but fewer than 10 positive COVID-19 cases on board will be required to operate at reduced capacity for two weeks, as opposed to being fully suspended. Flights with 10 or more positive cases will still be suspended for two weeks.

– Direct UK-China flights were resumed in March 2022, following a trial in February.

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Source: https://dragontrail.com/resources/blog/chinese-outbound-and-inbound-travel-rules-roundup