From March 14 to November 30, China has implemented a pilot visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg. China’s visa-free “circle of friends” has been expanded again.

According to relevant arrangements, from March 14 to November 30, 2024, ordinary passport holders from Switzerland and other six countries who come to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit for no more than 15 days can enter China without a visa.

People from the above-mentioned countries who do not meet the conditions for visa exemption still need to apply for a visa before entering China.

my country has always been committed to promoting high-level opening up to the outside world. This time, six more countries have been added to the visa-free "circle of friends", which will further strengthen international exchanges and cooperation.

　　182 passengers arrived at Pudong Airport with passports from six countries

　　March 14 was the first day that my country implemented a pilot visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg. So far, a total of 182 passengers holding passports from the above countries have entered through Pudong International Airport. .

What are the specific conditions for visa-free entry?

　　Chen Yujiong, Chief of the Fourth Section of the Travel Inspection Section of the Customs and Travel Inspection Department of Pudong Airport: I am currently in the customs supervision area of ​​Terminal 2 of Pudong Airport. Since this year, the visa-free "circle of friends" has been expanded. March 14th is the day when my country will open a new window for Switzerland, Ireland, and Hungary. , the first day that Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg have implemented the visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders. At the same time, many favorable policies such as increased flights and routes have been superimposed. The number of inbound and outbound passengers has been running at a high level, especially the visa-free policy. The most intuitive feeling at the scene is that the proportion of foreigners among inbound and outbound tourists has increased significantly, and foreigners are more willing to come to China for business and tourism.

　　In order to create a better customs clearance environment, the customs has actively responded by relying on the smart travel inspection project.

The first is to actively study and judge the changing trend of passenger entry and exit volume, improve the plan to deal with large passenger flows, proactively strengthen the publicity and implementation of policies and regulations, and strengthen the promotion and application of the customs passenger fingertip service mini-program.

The second is to continue to release the dividends of smart travel inspection. Using advanced machine inspection equipment, passengers’ checked baggage is checked on the carousel before being picked up. The vast majority of passengers can clear customs quickly and without any sense after picking up, and the average customs clearance time can be reduced to 30 Within minutes, the compression range reaches 50% compared with the previous traditional supervision model.

The third is to optimize the on-site process and add international to international and international to domestic channels to facilitate foreign passengers to transfer directly in the terminal.

　　Frequent measures have made it more convenient for personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries

　　As of early March, China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passports with 157 countries, and has reached agreements or arrangements with 44 countries to simplify visa procedures.

Counting Singapore, Antigua and Barbuda, and Thailand, which have signed mutual visa exemption agreements with China this year, 23 countries have achieved comprehensive mutual visa exemption arrangements with China.

In addition, more than 60 countries and regions offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival treatment to Chinese citizens.

　　During the Spring Festival, tourists from countries with visa-free entry increased significantly.

　　After the introduction of optimized policies, the number of inbound and outbound passengers continued to increase.

During the Spring Festival this year, the number of inbound tourists from China reached 3.23 million. Tourists from France, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries that can enter China without visas increased significantly. The total number of inbound tourist orders during the Spring Festival from the above-mentioned countries doubled compared with the same period in 2019.

With more foreigners coming to China, new problems have arisen.

For example, mobile payment, which we are accustomed to, is a bit unfamiliar to "foreigners".

In order to make their lives convenient and feel at home, we continue to launch a series of practical measures.

The "Opinions on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Improving Payment Convenience" released on March 7 put forward a series of requirements in terms of improving the bank card acceptance environment, continuously optimizing the cash usage environment, and improving the convenience of mobile payments.

In addition, the People's Bank of China has guided Alipay and Tenpay to optimize their business processes and improve the efficiency of binding overseas bank cards; while effectively protecting the security of personal information, they have also simplified identity verification arrangements, etc.

　　What are the considerations for continuing to promote convenient exchanges between Chinese and foreign personnel?

　　Our country continues to optimize its policies on the exchange of people between China and foreign countries and improve the convenience of foreigners living in China. What are the considerations behind the introduction of these measures?

What signals are released?

Let’s hear what the experts have to say.

　　Huo Jianguo, Vice President of the China World Trade Organization Research Association: The six-country visa-free policy announced for Europe this time mainly reflects a specific measure of China's high-level opening up.

Because in the current international situation, the situation of trade protectionism and competition between major powers is very complex.

China firmly promotes high-level opening up and proactively implements visa exemption for six European countries, which is a positive signal.

Another reason is to further promote the exchanges between Chinese and European personnel, business personnel and civilian personnel, because visas can solve a facilitation problem. European investment in China is also relatively large, and there is a relatively large flow of business personnel.

This will solve many problems of facilitating the exchange of business personnel and will be conducive to the development of bilateral trade and investment between China and Europe.

(CCTV News Client)