China lifts visa restrictions on foreigners imposed during the pandemic

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Travelers walk inside Beijing airport, China Tingshu Wang/REUTERS China will resume issuing various types of visas to foreigners on the 15th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday (14), thus suspending the restrictions in place since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic In this way, the country takes another step towards reopening to the world, a few months after starting to dismantle the restrictive strategy “covid zero”, imposed for almost three years due to the pandemic. In addition to reviewing and approving new travel documents, visas issued before March 28, 2020 that are still valid will be valid to enter China, according to a note published on social media by the ministry’s consular affairs office. Similar announcements were posted on the websites of several Chinese diplomatic representations abroad, including embassies in the United States and France. Chinese President Xi Jinping during Chinese Communist Party meeting Ng Han Guan/AP The new policy will also reinstate the possibility of granting visa-free entry to certain types of travellers, such as visitors arriving on cruises to Shanghai or groups tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and some countries in Southeast Asia. Before the adoption of confinement due to the pandemic, China received 65.7 million international visitors in 2019, according to the World Tourism Organization, linked to the UN. But while most countries reopened their borders to international travelers much earlier, China began to abandon the drastic measures of the “covid zero” policy in late 2022, after public protests against the restrictions. The demonstrations at the end of November called for more freedom and some people even called for the resignation of President Xi Jinping, an opposition to the communist regime that had not been registered since the pro-democracy revolt that the army suppressed in 1989. People walk in the street with masks in Beijing, China, on February 15, 2023. Mark Schiefelbein/ AP In early December, Chinese authorities announced the end of the large-scale testing system, confinements and prolonged quarantines, but the decision led to a significant increase in cases from covid. Beijing announced at the end of December that visitors from other countries no longer needed to comply with a quarantine period, but continued with visa restrictions for foreigners. At the time, the government stated that it “would continue to adjust its visa policy for foreigners visiting China in a scientific and dynamic manner, in accordance with (…) the pandemic situation”. Queue at Beijing airport shows people with suitcases and masks CCTV via REUTERS It has also resumed the processing of Chinese passports for “tourism” or “visits of friends abroad”. The reopening announcement comes after an important session of the controlled national parliament, which confirmed Xi Jinping’s third term as president and named his ally Li Qiang as prime minister. Li admitted on Monday that achieving the target of growth of “around 5%” in 2023 will not be “an easy task”.

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