Arrival card
Rehearse the China arrival card before you fly
Since 20 November 2025, China takes its arrival card online — you can file it before you travel instead of juggling a paper slip over a tray table. The form is free and takes minutes, but a few of its fields reject what travellers naturally type. Practise here first, with every field explained.
Facts on this page were last verified against official sources on 2026-08-31.
Free, and official-channels only. Filing the arrival card costs nothing and there is no paid fast-track. The immigration authority has warned about fake websites charging money to "process" arrival cards. The official form lives at s.nia.gov.cn (desktop) and s.nia.gov.cn (mobile), plus the NIA 12367 app and official WeChat/Alipay mini-programs. Nothing on this page files anything for you — it is practice, on your device, and what you type never leaves your browser.
What the arrival card is
China’s digital arrival card (often searched as "CDAC") replaces the paper entry card for most foreign visitors. You photograph your passport, confirm the extracted details, describe your trip and where you will stay, and present the result at border control. Paper cards and airport kiosks still exist as a fallback — but filing online before departure is the version of this process that does not involve a pen at 2am.
It is an immigration form, separate from customs declarations, and it applies on every entry route — including visa-free entry and 240-hour transit.
Practice the form, field by field
The same structure as the official form, with what each field is really asking, a passing example, and the mistake that actually trips people. Type into it if you like — it is rehearsal, not the real thing, and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
This is a free practice tool by an independent guide. The only official way to file is via the National Immigration Administration — and it is free: official form (desktop) · official form (mobile) · NIA 12367 app (移民局12367) · official WeChat/Alipay mini-programs.
1 Your travel document
The real form starts by asking you to photograph your passport data page. Its OCR fills these fields for you — your job is to catch what it gets wrong.
Which document you will show at the border. Nearly every visitor travels on an ordinary passport.
Example: Ordinary Passport
Watch out: Picking anything other than “Ordinary Passport” by accident — the other categories trigger different requirements.
On the official form you photograph the passport data page and it auto-extracts your details. This practice page never asks for a real photo.
Example: A flat, glare-free photo of the full data page.
Watch out: Trusting the OCR. It confuses 0/O and 1/I in passport numbers — re-read every extracted field against the passport in your hand.
Your surname exactly as printed in the machine-readable zone of your passport.
Example: GARCIA LOPEZ
Watch out: Using a preferred or married name that differs from the passport. If the passport says two surnames, enter both.
Given names as in the passport — middle names included if the passport prints them.
Example: MARIA CARMEN
Watch out: Dropping a middle name the passport shows, or entering a nickname.
The document number from the data page.
Example: K12345678
Watch out: Typing the book/inventory number printed elsewhere in the passport, or mixing up 0 and O after the OCR did.
As in the passport.
Example: 1990-07-14
Watch out: Day/month swapped — check against the passport, not memory, after OCR.
The country that issued your passport. The form also asks separately if you hold other citizenships.
Example: Spain
Watch out: Dual citizens: answer for the passport you will actually present at the Chinese border.
2 Visa or visa-free route
The form asks whether you hold a visa or other entry permit. If you answer no, it makes you pick which visa-free policy you are entering under — so know your route before you start.
With a visa you enter its type and number. Without one you must select an entry policy — 30-day visa-free, 240-hour transit, Hainan 30-day and similar schemes appear here.
Example: No — I am entering visa-free
Watch out: Not knowing which scheme covers you. Check your route first — see our visa-free checker — because a wrong policy selection here means re-doing the card.
3 Entry and itinerary
How and where you arrive, and where you are going. Have your booking confirmations open.
The service that actually crosses the border into mainland China.
Example: CA988
Watch out: Codeshares — enter the operating carrier’s number from your boarding pass, and use the final leg into China, not your first departure flight.
The date you land in China, local Chinese time. The form currently accepts dates up to 3 months ahead.
Example: Your landing date — mind overnight flights that arrive a day later than they depart.
Watch out: Entering your departure date. A flight leaving on the 10th often lands in China on the 11th.
The airport, land crossing or sea port where you clear immigration — chosen from a list on the real form.
Example: Shanghai Pudong International Airport
Watch out: Cities with two airports (Shanghai, Beijing) — pick the one on your ticket.
These are the official form’s own categories. Tourists pick Sightseeing/Leisure.
Example: Sightseeing/Leisure
Watch out: Overthinking it. A holiday with one business meeting is still whichever purpose is primary — and it must match your visa type if you have one.
The main cities you will stay in. The form also asks which city you will spend the longest time in.
Example: Shanghai, Hangzhou
Watch out: Listing every day-trip. Name the cities where you sleep.
A travel-history question — answer from your passport stamps.
Example: Yes
Watch out: Forgetting transit stops that stamped your passport.
4 Departure plans
The form asks whether you have a confirmed departure itinerary. For visa-free transit routes this is not optional — your departure date must sit inside the policy’s time limit, and the form enforces it.
Departure date, city and flight number. Visa holders may set a date up to two years out; visa-free transit travellers are capped by their scheme — 10 days for 240-hour transit.
Example: Yes — flight, date and departure city from your onward booking.
Watch out: Transit travellers entering a departure date outside their window — the form rejects it, and this is where people discover their itinerary never qualified.
5 Address and contacts
Where you will stay and how to reach you. The address is the field that trips up the most travellers — our Address Helper below is built for exactly this.
The real form splits this in two: you pick province, city and district from dropdowns, then type only the street-level detail. Official example: “No. 6 East Chang’an Street”.
Example: Park Hyatt Beijing, No. 2 Jianguomenwai Street
Watch out: Pasting the whole booking-site blob — country, postcode and room type included. Paste your address into the Address Helper below to see what to trim.
Your usual mobile number with country area code.
Example: +34 612 345 678
Watch out: Leaving the area code off.
A number reachable in China — your hotel’s phone works if you will not have a Chinese number.
Example: Hotel front desk: +86 21 5049 1234
Watch out: Panicking about not having one. Use the hotel number from your booking confirmation.
Where any confirmation goes.
Example: [email protected]
Watch out: Typos — this is the one field OCR cannot fill for you.
One person can add companions and file for the family in one go — the form keeps up to 10 frequent companions.
Example: Add your children as companions instead of separate cards.
Watch out: Each parent separately filing for the same child.
Your readiness checklist
Before you sit down with the real form, have these ready:
- Passport, physically in handYou will photograph the data page, then correct the OCR against it — especially 0/O and 1/I in the passport number.
- Your entry route decidedVisa number if you have one; otherwise know which visa-free policy covers you — check your passport here.
- Arrival flight number and landing dateThe flight into mainland China, and the date it lands there — overnight flights land a day after they leave.
- Departure booking, if you are transitingTransit schemes cap your departure date and the form enforces the cap — 10 days for 240-hour transit.
- Hotel address in form-ready shapeStreet-level detail only; province and city are dropdowns. Run yours through the Address Helper.
- Phone numbers with country codes, and an emailYour own number, plus a reachable number in China — the hotel front desk works.
- Mobile data that works on landingYou may need to show or re-open your card at the border, and arrival halls before immigration rarely have usable wifi — sort an eSIM before you fly. How connectivity works in China.
Fix your hotel address for the form
The address field rejects more travellers than any other — because what a booking site gives you is not what the form wants. On the official form, province, city and district come from dropdowns; the text field wants only the street-level part, like the form’s own example: "No. 6 East Chang’an Street".
This is a free practice tool by an independent guide. The only official way to file is via the National Immigration Administration — and it is free: official form (desktop) · official form (mobile) · NIA 12367 app (移民局12367) · official WeChat/Alipay mini-programs.
Rule-of-thumb checks, done entirely in your browser — nothing you paste is sent anywhere. Following them makes your address more likely to be accepted; the official form has the final say.
Before and after: real booking-site addresses
Pasted from a booking sitePark Hyatt Beijing, 2 Jianguomenwai Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100022, China
Ready for the formPark Hyatt Beijing, No. 2 Jianguomenwai Street
Country, postcode, city and district all come from the form’s dropdowns — the text field only wants the street-level part.
Pasted from a booking siteThe Bund View Hotel — Superior King Room — Free cancellation — Breakfast included
Ready for the formThe Bund View Hotel, No. 99 Nanjing East Road
Room type and rate conditions are booking-site marketing, not address. Find the street line in your confirmation email.
Pasted from a booking siteMarriott Bonvoy | Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre
Ready for the formShanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre, No. 555 Xizang Middle Road
Loyalty-programme prefixes mean nothing here, and a hotel name without a street is incomplete.
Pasted from a booking siteCozy loft 5 min from West Lake ★4.9
Ready for the formLakeside Apartments, Building 3, No. 18 Beishan Road
Short-stay listings hide the real address until you book — message the host for the street address. Private stays also mean registering at the local police station within 24 hours.
Pasted from a booking siteno.10 jianguo rd gz
Ready for the formNo. 10 Jianguo Road
Write the street out in full and pick Guangzhou in the city dropdown rather than abbreviating it into the text.
No accommodation booked yet? Then there is nothing to put in this field — the form wants a real address, and hotels register you with the police automatically, which private rentals do not. What else to sort before you fly.
When can you fill it in?
Travel sites contradict each other here — some say 24 hours before arrival, some say 72. Neither matches the official form, which currently accepts arrival dates up to 3 months ahead (we checked the form itself on 2026-08-31).
This is a free practice tool by an independent guide. The only official way to file is via the National Immigration Administration — and it is free: official form (desktop) · official form (mobile) · NIA 12367 app (移民局12367) · official WeChat/Alipay mini-programs.
The three-month window is what the official form accepts today rather than a number from a written announcement — it can change without notice, so verify on the form itself. File once your flight and hotel are fixed: the card should match your actual trip, so filing at booking time and then changing plans just means doing it again.
The practical answer: do it at home the week you finish booking, on a proper connection — not in the check-in queue. And make sure your phone will have data on landing in case you need to open anything at the border: set up an eSIM before you fly.
Who is exempt
Eight categories of traveller do not file an arrival card — this list is translated from the official system’s own notice (many articles list seven; the official list has eight):
- Holders of a valid Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card
- Non-Chinese holders of a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao residents
- Travellers transiting within 24 hours who stay inside the port area
- Members of tour groups entering on a group visa or group visa-free arrangement
- Foreign crew — flight crew, ship crew, drivers and other transport staff
- Cruise passengers entering and leaving with the same cruise ship
- Persons qualifying for courtesy border-inspection arrangements
- Foreigners entering through e-channels (fast lanes)
Not on the list: visa-free entry. Entering under the 30-day scheme or 240-hour transit does not exempt you — the form even asks which policy you are using. If you are unsure of your route, check your passport first.
Departure dates the form will accept
The form validates your departure date against how you are entering. Read from the official form’s own rules:
| Entry policy | Latest departure date the form accepts |
|---|---|
| 24-hour transit | 1 days after entry |
| 72-hour transit | 3 days after entry |
| 240-hour visa-free transit | 10 days after entry |
| Hainan 30-day visa-free | 30 days after entry |
| Regular visa holders | Up to 2 years after entry |
This is where transit travellers discover a problem: if your onward booking sits outside your scheme’s window, the form will not take it — and the itinerary never qualified for that scheme in the first place. How the 240-hour transit clock really works.
What other guides get wrong
- "You can only file 24 (or 72) hours before arrival." The official form currently accepts arrival dates up to three months out. The 24/72-hour claims appear nowhere in the official notices we checked.
- "The address must be in Chinese or pinyin." The official form’s own example address is in English — "No. 6 East Chang’an Street". The real trap is pasting booking-site clutter, not the language.
- "Use this site to file your card for a fee." Any site charging to file the card is a scam, per the immigration authority’s own warning. The official channels are free.
Common questions
What is the China arrival card (CDAC)?
Since 20 November 2025, foreign nationals entering China can file their arrival card online before travelling, through the National Immigration Administration’s website, the NIA 12367 app, or the official WeChat and Alipay mini-programs. Paper cards and self-service kiosks at the border remain available as a fallback.
Is the arrival card free?
Yes — completely free, with no paid fast-track. The NIA has publicly warned about fake websites charging fees to "file" the card. Only use the official channels: s.nia.gov.cn, the NIA 12367 app, or the official mini-programs.
How early can I fill in the arrival card?
The official form currently accepts arrival dates up to three months ahead (we checked the form itself on 2026-08-31). Many travel sites claim a 24-hour or 72-hour limit — that does not match the current form. Rules can change, so verify on the official form; and file once your flight and hotel are fixed, since the card should match your actual trip.
Who does not need to file an arrival card?
Eight categories are exempt, including holders of a Chinese permanent resident ID card, travellers transiting within 24 hours who stay inside the port area, cruise passengers returning with the same ship, foreign crew, group-visa tour members, and those using e-channel fast lanes. Visa-free entry is not on that list — most visa-free visitors still file.
Do visa-free visitors need the arrival card?
Yes. Entering visa-free (30-day scheme, 240-hour transit and similar) does not exempt you from the arrival card — the form even asks which visa-free policy you are entering under. Exemption is a separate, short list of eight categories.
Is the arrival card the same as the customs health declaration?
No. The arrival card is an immigration (NIA) form. China Customs runs its own declaration separately — one does not replace the other.