China Extends Visa-Free Entry until December 2026 & Adds Sweden

Since 2023, China has been increasingly opening up to international tourism. What began with visa-free entry for citizens of five European countries was gradually expanded. In the meantime, the country can now be visited for up to 30 days (instead of 14) without a visa, and almost all European states are included (but still not the UK).

Most recently, December 2025 was communicated as the current expiration date of the regulation. Now, visa-free entry has officially been extended until December 2026. The rule now also applies to Swedish citizens.

Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is quoted as follows:

China has decided to extend visa-free policy to France and other countries to December 31, 2026. China has added Sweden to the visa-free scheme effective from November 10, 2025 to December 31, 2026
Nao Ming, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China according to gov.cn

Even though only France is mentioned, it can be assumed that the regulation will be extended to all of the European countries that had visa-free access in 2025. A corresponding confirmation can be found via the state news agency Xinhua:

On the same day, the Chinese foreign ministry announced that China will extend its unilateral visa-exemption arrangements for more than 40 countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, to Dec. 31, 2026. The current visa-free policy for nationals of some of these countries runs until Dec. 31, 2025 before the extension.
China Focus: China widens visa-free access in latest opening-up move | english.news.cn

Accordingly, digital arrival cards are also to be introduced from November 20. So it is finally no longer necessary to squeeze all countries visited in the past two years into a single line with a ballpoint pen. Filling out the online form will still remain voluntary, with paper forms still available. Until now, there had only been a trial run for selected airports.

Visa-free entry should now be available to nationals of the following countries: