Visa requirement for China trip

[Grotto]

Hello!

To anyone who has taken the China trip in the past year, how did you deal with getting a Visa? Some recent info seems to imply that if you are on mainland China for less than 240 hours, you do not need to obtain a Visa. Hong Kong days do not count and best I can tell, you do not need a Visa for Hong Kong. The 240 hour rule also requires that you enter from one country/district (in this case Hong Kong) and depart to another (in this case, US). So does this mean you can do AbD China without a Visa?

 

[Eastridge]

Talk to a Vacationista, but it's safest to get a visa, and my experience with ABD is that they are conservative in this area.

On my Costa Rica trip, one of my family had a passport that would expire in less than 6 months but more than 3 months from the start of the trip. I know Costa Rica doesn't require 6 months validity beyond the trip date. But the Vacationista insisted that the passport had to have 6 months. So I ended up having that person get a new passport. Also I didn't want the airline to deny booking, which they might even if you were correct on the entry requirements.

I've heard similar stories with China, where a passenger was denied boarding since they didn't have a visa, even though they didn't need one with the new entry requirements.