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China Travel Permit for Foreigners: Who Needs One

Last updated: 19 October 2026

Who needs a China travel permit for places not open to foreigners, what to submit, how group tours are approved, the fee and the processing limit.

What a travel permit is, and when it applies

Every rule and figure on this page is read from one page published by China's National Immigration Administration: the "Service Guide on Issuance of Travel Permits for Foreigners", page dated 1 April 2021 and retrieved on 19 October 2026. NIA's own notice on that page states that the English version is for reference and that the authoritative version is the Chinese one.

Most paperwork for foreign visitors to China is about the border: a visa, or one of the visa-free schemes, decides whether you may enter. A travel permit is different. It is an internal document. It decides whether you may go to a particular place inside the country, and it exists because some places in China are not open to foreigners.

The NIA guide states the condition in one sentence: a foreigner's travel permit with a prescribed period "may be issued to foreigners who apply to travel to places not open to foreigners and provide relevant identification documents as required in due course". Two things follow from that wording. The permit is tied to a destination area, not to the whole country. And it is not automatic: the office assesses the reason you give for going.

If your question is about entry rather than internal travel, the pages to read first are the visa-free entry schemes and the residence permit guide for staying beyond a visit. If you are already inside China and your stay is running out, the visa extension guide covers the deadline and the fee schedule.

Who decides, and where you apply

The guide names the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China as the legal basis, and then sets out a two-tier arrangement for who accepts the application.

Tier	Who accepts the application	Condition
Default	Exit-entry administration authorities of public security organs at and above prefecture level, including districts and counties under the administration of municipalities directly under the central government	NIA has entrusted these authorities to accept and handle foreigners' applications for travel permits
County level	Exit-entry administration authorities of public security organs at county level	Only where the provincial exit-entry authority has requested it and NIA has approved the authorisation

The practical reading is that you apply where you are, at the exit-entry office that covers your location, and that a county-level office may or may not be able to take the application depending on whether it holds that authorisation. The guide does not publish a list of which offices hold it, and it does not publish a list of the places that are closed to foreigners. Neither omission is an accident of translation: both are decided administratively, and the office that handles your application is the authority on both.

That is why the sequence matters. Ask the office that will process your application whether your intended destination needs a permit and whether that office accepts the application, before you book transport or accommodation in the destination area.

What you submit as an individual

An individual applicant submits "evidentiary materials related to the reasons for staying in the destination area". The guide does not prescribe a fixed document list beyond that phrase, and it does not name a form number. What it does do is tie the evidence to the reason, which means the file you bring has to explain why you are going to that place, not merely that you are a genuine visitor.

Because the guide leaves the evidence open, the useful preparation is to assemble the documents that would answer the question the officer is required to ask: is the stated reason for this trip real, and is it consistent with the rest of your stay? Documents that connect the destination to the purpose — an invitation, a booking, a work or study connection, a family link — do that work. A generic itinerary that could describe any trip does not.

Document you may hold	What it can establish	How it relates to the guide
An invitation from a host in the destination area	Who is expecting you, and why the trip is tied to that place	Bears on the stated reason for staying in the destination area
A booking or appointment in the destination area	That the trip has a date and a purpose beyond passing through	Bears on the stated reason, and on timing
A work, study or family connection to the destination	A continuing relationship rather than a one-off visit	Bears on the stated reason, and is separately checkable
Travel and identity documents for the whole trip	That the itinerary is coherent with your visa or stay	Supports the nationality confirmation described in the review stage

The table describes preparation, not a document checklist: the guide prescribes the evidentiary standard, not the paper. An office may ask for something not listed here, and the one-time notification rule means that a missing item is raised once, at acceptance, rather than discovered later.

What a tour group submits, and the 60-day rule

Groups are handled through the travel agency, and the guide sets out a separate procedure with a hard timing rule.

• The travel agency submits a reception plan to the exit-entry administration authority of the provincial-level public security organ in its own location.
• The reception plan must be submitted 60 days before the group arrives.
• The authority then verifies whether the tourist routes pass through regions where foreigners are prohibited from entry.
• For routes that are clear of those regions, no approval procedures are required.
• For routes that pass through those regions, approval procedures apply, and the agency submits the reception plan, a list of the relevant personnel, and copies of the foreigners' valid passports and visas (or permanent resident ID cards).

The 60-day figure is the one deadline on this page that is measured from arrival rather than from application, so it is the one most likely to be missed. A group that decides on a route inside the 60-day window has no compliant path under this procedure, whatever the individual merits of the case.

How the application is processed

The guide sets out four stages, and two of them involve checks that applicants routinely underestimate.

1. Application. The foreigner completes the procedures in person at the exit-entry administration authority of the public security organ. Where the application meets the relevant regulations, a travel agency may apply on the applicant's behalf to the exit-entry administration authority of the provincial-level public security organ under the local government.
2. Acceptance. An eligible application is accepted and a receipt of acceptance is issued. The decision on issuance is then made within the validity period of that receipt. Where procedures or materials are incomplete, the authority must tell the applicant, at one time, what formalities to complete and what materials to supplement.
3. Review and verification. The authority verifies the authenticity of the stated reasons "through interviews, telephone inquiries, field investigation and other means", and confirms that the applicant is of foreign nationality.
4. Decision. Where the application meets the conditions and criteria, the decision-making authority decides to issue the permit.

The interview clause carries a consequence that is easy to overlook. Where an applicant, or a relevant entity or individual, is notified to attend an interview and fails to attend at the agreed time without justifiable reasons, the application may be denied by law. A missed interview is therefore not a scheduling inconvenience that can be fixed later; it is a ground on which the application can be refused.

The applicant's side of that review is stated as an obligation: submit the materials and reflect the facts truthfully, take responsibility for the authenticity of the substantive content, and cooperate with verification by interview, telephone inquiry and field investigation.

How long it takes, and what it costs

A decision is made within 30 working days from the date of acceptance. That is a longer window than the 15 working days NIA's residence-permit guide gives for a residence permit, and it is measured from acceptance rather than from the day you first walk into the office — so the practical timeline starts when your file is complete enough to be accepted.

The fee is CNY 50 for a travel permit for foreigners. The charging basis named in the guide is the Ministry of Public Security's "Notice on Adjusting the Fees for Visas and Documents of Foreigners", Gong Tong Zi [1996] No. 89. The guide prints no other amount for this document: no expedited fee, no per-person variation and no additional charge for the permit itself.

Because the fee basis dates from 1996 and the guide from 2021, treat the figure as the published standard and confirm the amount payable with the office at the time of application. Fees for visas and other documents are set out separately in the visa fee schedule, which is a different document with different charging bases.

Collecting the permit

An approved permit is not posted. The guide states that it "shall be collected by the applicants in person at the relevant exit-entry administration authority of public security organs with the acceptance receipt". Two consequences follow: the acceptance receipt is a document you have to keep, and a plan that assumes the permit will reach you by courier will fail at the last step.

What this page does not tell you

Three things are deliberately left out, because the source does not state them.

• Which places are closed to foreigners. The guide uses the phrase without publishing a list. Any list you find elsewhere should be checked with the exit-entry office before you rely on it.
• Which offices accept applications at county level. The guide describes the authorisation mechanism, not the outcome of it, office by office.
• Processing times in practice. The 30 working days is the decision limit in the guide, not an observed average.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

All sources retrieved 19 October 2026. This page is an independent reading of the sources listed; the official pages themselves are the specification.

Fact used on this page

Source

S1 — The complete guide used on this page: the scope; the legal basis (Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China); the two-tier accepting-authority arrangement (prefecture level and above by NIA entrustment; county level only on provincial request with NIA approval); the application condition for travel to places not open to foreigners with identification documents; the individual evidence requirement tied to the reason for staying in the destination area; the group-tour reception plan submitted 60 days before arrival, the route check against prohibited regions, the no-approval outcome for clear routes and the approval package for routes passing through them; the four processing stages including in-person application, agency filing where regulations are met, the acceptance receipt and the one-time notification of missing materials, the review by interview, telephone inquiry and field investigation with the missed-interview refusal consequence, and the decision; the 30-working-day decision limit from acceptance; the CNY 50 fee and the charging basis Gong Tong Zi [1996] No. 89; collection in person with the acceptance receipt; the applicant's rights and obligations; and the notice that the English version is for reference only

National Immigration Administration, "Service Guide on Issuance of Travel Permits for Foreigners", page dated 1 April 2021; retrieved 19 October 2026 https://en.nia.gov.cn/n147423/n147478/n147715/c158260/content.html

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