144 Hour Transit Without Visa - Hotel Question

[Duck In Blue]

We are going to Shanghai next February as part of a longer trip involving Singapore and Hong Kong. I've done a lot of reading and I am happy we will qualify for the 144 hour transit without visa in Shanghai from a flight and time perspective.

In Shanghai we want to split our stay between Disneyland and the city to save the commute between the two. Does anybody have any experience of doing this using the transit without visa? I can't see why it should be a problem and I've not read anything to say you can't, but it would be good for peace of mind to hear from someone who has done this!

 

[bkmanhole]

We just got back from Shanghai utilizing the 144 hour transit visa a couple days ago. We did not do a split stay - but the immigration officer did not ask to see any hotel confirmation although I had it ready. I've read that this has been the case for others as well when I was researching our trip.

Upon arrival you will need to fill out an arrival card for customs, this is the blue form. We were handed an orange one on the plane, and this was not the form needed as that form indicates your VISA number (which you won't have). On the form there's a place to put where you will be staying as well.

 

[Mandarinma]

Immigration only seemed concerned that we had a confirmed flight out within the timelimit. The Shanghai region for TWOV purposes is huge covering Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hangzhou and Nanjing. A split stay won’t cause issues.

 

[Duck In Blue]

We just got back from Shanghai utilizing the 144 hour transit visa a couple days ago. We did not do a split stay - but the immigration officer did not ask to see any hotel confirmation although I had it ready. I've read that this has been the case for others as well when I was researching our trip.

Upon arrival you will need to fill out an arrival card for customs, this is the blue form. We were handed an orange one on the plane, and this was not the form needed as that form indicates your VISA number (which you won't have). On the form there's a place to put where you will be staying as well.

Thanks for the information! I have seen comments to from people saying that they weren't asked for their hotel details, it is good to hear you had the same experience. I guess I would just put our first hotel down in the blue form, like you do on an ESTA when visiting the US and staying in different hotels.

 

[Duck In Blue]

Immigration only seemed concerned that we had a confirmed flight out within the timelimit. The Shanghai region for TWOV purposes is huge covering Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hangzhou and Nanjing. A split stay won’t cause issues.

Thank you, that is good to know and it seems to be a common thing which is great. When I was re-reading the rules after I posted, I did see the bit again about being able to freely move around the region and I did think then they would probably expect people to change hotels if they did.