China has eased the visa application rules for tourists from the United States in an attempt to boost tourism to the country.
Announcing the news, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the US said that since January 1, 2024, fewer documents will be required for Americans applying for a tourist visa to enter China for tourism purposes, VisaGuide.World reports.
To further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, starting from January 1, 2024, the Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General in the United States will simplify the application documents required for a tourist visa (L-visa).
In line with the new rules that became effective this Monday, Americans applying for a Chinese tourist visa will no longer be required to submit three documents.
Americans are now able to apply for a tourist visa to China without submitting proof of having purchased a roundtrip flight ticket.
Moreover, Americans are no longer required to provide proof of having booked a place to stay in China. They are also exempt from the requirement to submit their itinerary or an invitation letter.
Tourist visa applicants within the United States will no longer be required to submit a round-trip air ticket booking record, proof of hotel reservation, itinerary, or invitation letter.
By simplifying the tourist visa application rules, China wants to attract more Americans to the country and thus help revive its travel and tourism industry.
While China has only eased the visa rules for the US, the case is not the same for si countries. On December 1 of last year, China decided to drop the visa requirements for France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia.
The lifting of the visa requirements for these six countries had an immediate effect on the country’s travel and tourism industry. Within the first three days of the new visa-free policy, around 7,000 travelers from the six countries mentioned above entered China without a visa.
The number of arrivals from these countries continued to remain high throughout the whole of December. China’s National Immigration Administration said that a total of 118,000 visitors from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia entered the country visa-free in December alone.
As the authorities revealed, most of those entering China visa-free while holding ordinary passports (91,000) were traveling for tourism and business purposes. This category of travelers accounted for 77.3 percent of the total.