Nationality check
Thai passport holders do not need a visa for China
Thailand’s route in is the most durable one China offers, and it is not the one most travel guides describe. It is a treaty, not an announcement, and that difference is the whole point of this page.
No visa. 30 days per entry, 90 days in any 180.
China and Thailand hold a mutual visa-exemption agreement for ordinary passport holders, in force since 1 March 2024. It is a bilateral treaty, so it carries no expiry date and does not lapse when China’s unilateral scheme does.
Entry facts on this page were last verified against official sources on 2026-09-14.
A treaty behaves differently from a policy
The 30-day scheme that dominates coverage of China’s visa rules is a unilateral announcement covering 50 countries, renewed annually and currently running to 31 December 2026. Thailand is not on it and does not need to be.
Instead Thailand is one of 29 countries with a mutual exemption treaty. The terms are set by the agreement rather than by an annual decision: 30 days per entry, and no more than 90 days total within any 180.
The 90-in-180 ceiling is the part worth counting. Two full 30-day stays and a third shorter one inside six months is fine; three full-length visits back to back is not.
Not covered: work, study, journalism or settling — the treaty text names these explicitly — and any single stay over 30 days. Each needs the matching visa arranged before you travel.
Why the 10-day transit scheme does not apply
Thailand is not among the 57 nationalities on China’s 10-day transit scheme, and a good deal of English-language coverage gets this wrong by listing the transit countries as though they were the visa-free ones.
It makes no practical difference to you. The treaty is longer, covers all of mainland China rather than 24 provinces, requires no onward ticket, and cannot expire. There is no situation in which a Thai traveller would prefer the transit route.
You still have to file the arrival card
The treaty removes the visa, not the arrival card. Everyone entering mainland China on a foreign passport files it — free, online, and worth rehearsing once because a few fields reject the format travellers naturally use.
After the border
Entry is settled by the treaty. The three things that still catch Thai travellers are the same three that catch everyone:
- Mobile payment is assumed almost everywhere — Alipay and WeChat Pay for visitors.
- Several apps you use daily are unreachable on a mainland connection — what to arrange before you fly.
- High-speed rail books out days ahead in season — tickets and ID.
Questions people get wrong
Does the treaty expire when the 30-day scheme does on 31 December 2026?
No. They are separate instruments. The 30-day scheme is a Chinese policy announcement with an end date; the Thailand exemption is a bilateral treaty in force since 1 March 2024 with no end date. Nothing that happens to the former affects you.
How is the 90 days in 180 counted?
As a rolling total of days spent in China across any 180 period, not as a calendar allowance that resets on a fixed date. Count backwards from the day you plan to arrive.
Can I extend a stay beyond 30 days once I am there?
The exemption is not a status you extend. A stay longer than 30 days needs the matching visa arranged before you travel.
Does this cover Hong Kong and Macao?
No. Both run their own immigration, with their own arrangements for Thai passport holders, and travelling to either from the mainland is an exit from the mainland.