144-Hour Visa-Exemption Travel to Shanghai

If you travel extensively, or have friends who do, you have probably heard some travel war stories.  Like the friend who shows up at the airport with an expired passport.  Or the family member who has a midnight flight and shows up 24 hours too late!  The latter story is one I have heard more than once.  But my personal favorite is the daughter who reminds her mother, on the way to the airport, headed for Shanghai, that her Chinese visa is in her old passport, the one that was stolen!!

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Shanghai Disneyland!  I did a lot of research before I went.   Or as much as I could, considering it has been open less than a year.  Several of the articles started out by saying that Americans need a visa to visit China.  They would then describe the options and process.  I always felt smug when skimming over those sections.  After all, my family all have 10-year multi-entry visas to China.  I could cross that item off my to-do list.  Or so I thought...

We turned the car around and went back home to come up with a solution.  Joe, my husband, was on his way to Shanghai to meet us.  The park tickets, airline tickets, and hotel rooms were paid for.  I had to make it work!  I started calling around.  Joe's assistant told us of a 144-hour visa option I had read of.  It was considered a transit visa and we would need an airline ticket going to a third country.  Savannah and I were flying direct from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai.  We would need return tickets on another airline, one that had a layover in a third country.  The assistant got to working on that.  We headed back to the airport.  The ticket agent for Air Asia asked to see our booking number for the flight out of Shanghai.  Unfortunately, we did not receive the booking before our flight took off, and we missed the flight.  We rebooked for the next day.

This 144-hour visa is a new thing.  As of January 2016.  I called my friend Mark, who works at the US embassy in Beijing, and he had never heard of it.  I was just feeling nervous and wanted some confirmation that when we landed in China, everything would be okay.  So the next morning, I went to the China Visa center in KL.  Well, guess what?  They knew nothing about it either.  So, what to do?  I checked the internet, and found some information.  But I was still nervous.  Our flight was scheduled to land after midnight.  Could we take care of it that late?  Is a one-hour layover in Hong Kong good enough to qualify?  Well, let me tell you what happened.

We landed in Shanghai and went to immigration.  Off to the left, we saw this sign.  Great!

Except... it was late and the whole section was closed!  What now?  Savannah and I found an airport official and asked where to get the 144-hour visa.  We told her there was no one at the counter.  She immediately sent someone over.  A nice man took our information, after we had filled out a short form.  He got a visa for Savannah and then processed both of our passports.  We actually got the visa  taken care of and did not have to go through the huge normal immigration line!  Problem solved and prayers answered!!

Here are some things you need to know if you want a 144-hour visa, or technically visa-exempt travel, to Shanghai:

* This is only open to citizens of certain countries. For a list of the countries eligible and more detailed information, CLICK HERE.

*  This is only good for Shanghai and the surrounding areas listed above.

*  You must have a confirmed transportation ticket, with a booking number and assigned seat.  Bring a printed copy.  This ticket must be to a THIRD destination.  In our case, it could be KL to Shanghai to Hong Kong to KL, but NOT KL to Hong Kong to Shanghai to Hong Kong to KL.  You can't come to Shanghai from and return to the same country.  (I hope I haven't confused you.)  And the date of travel has to be within 144 hours.

*  Printed copy and address of where you are staying.

*  You must have a visa (if needed) for the third country!  This was another point of concern for me, since I was doing all this at the last minute.  But fortunately, Americans do not need a visa for Hong Kong.

*  You must inform your ticket agent when you check in at your starting airport.  They will contact Shanghai and inform them of your need for the 144-hour visa.  This is very important!  The ticket agent the first day knew all this and is why she couldn't let us continue without the confirmed booking.  On the next day, our ticket agent had no idea what I was talking about.  I had to go to Air Asia service center to get it sorted out.  (Can you understand why I was so stressed??)

* This visa is free, unlike a conventional visa for China.

I just hope to alleviate some of the stress if you are attempting to get this visa in an emergency situation.  Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section of this blog post.  And, you don't have to be in an emergency situation to use this visa option.  It is free and easy to do in the right circumstances, and much simpler than a standard visa. 

I will now get to work on my blog post on Shanghai Disneyland!  That just takes longer as I have to sort through lots and lots of pictures.  Well, have a magical day!!