Shenzhen with a 144-hour Visa Exemption?

Travel International Travel
1

I have two passports - a US passport and a non resident Taiwan passport. I am currently in Taiwan.

I need to take a business trip to Shenzhen. I’ve read that you can have a 144 hour visa exemption for transit, and this can be used for a business trip. However, I do not have a residence permit linked with my American passport. I do have a multiple entry permit on my Taiwan passport.

My plan is:

  • Exit Taiwan with my Taiwan (NWOHR) passport.
  • Enter China at Shenzhen using my American passport.
  • Conduct business for three days.
  • Leave Shenzhen with a stopover in Hong Kong
  • Fly back to Taipei and enter with my Taiwan passport.

Would this work? Would there be any chance that I could be denied the 144-hour permit?

2

you can also get a visa for shenzhen if you cross the border from hong kong. never done it but i don’t think its that difficult.

3

Using an American passport is fine, but if they find out you have Taiwanese passport I would not be surprised you run into problems. I would get my paperwork done before stepping on the plane, if I was you.

4

I’m curious in how this works. If they process the Taiwanese passport when you leave here in Taiwan, and you arrive in China handling a US passport that doesn’t show a departure location, wouldn’t there be some issues in the system?

5

I have no idea, I guess it depends on the person handling your passport.

6

Before I was travelling to Guangzhou getting visa on arrival in the train station, by using business invitation letter. I did it for years without any problems. Then one day they changed the staff, and they refused me the same visa that I had been issued 20 times before. I had to go back to Hong Kong and pay for a regular visa.

7

There are 3 groups at play here.

  • The airine
  • Taiwanese customs
  • Chinese customs
  1. You buy the ticket with tour american passport
  2. Exit Taiwan and into the international area of the airport via Taiwanese passport
  3. Use American passport from here on

I did a similar thing this year with different passports. Taiwan doesn’t care where you’re going. Airline only cares that you have permission to enter where you’re headed, and Chinese only care that you have a valid document to enter. The airline has no need to know about the Taiwanese passport and Taiwanese customs won’t be telling anyone how you exited.

8

Get a Taibaozhen just in case.

Taiwanese passport is not really recognized and China doesn’t ordinarily grant Americans visa free… maybe visa on arrival for certain port of entry.

Taibaozheng makes things a lot easier, you can enter China 3 months at a time with it.

9

I can’t get a Taibaozheng because I don’t have a Taiwan ID number.

According to this, US passport holders can get Visa-Free, but they said it’s up to the official at the aiport who can ultimately decide if you can enter or not.

10

Might be safer to fly to HK, and then get a port visa at luohu border

1 Like
11

If you have an onward ticket that say Hong Kong it should be fine I guess. Because you can’t return to your original destination to get the 144 hour visa. It needs to be a third country (HK, Macau and Taiwan are considered third countries).

What you can do is buy a return ticket Taipei Shenzhen. And then buy a refundable ticket Shenzhen to Hong Kong.

12

There are SZ to HK flights?

They might call you out on it if you bend the A-China-B rule of the visa free

13

Apparently not a direct one… Maybe choose another destination like Singapore or Japan…

Kind of makes sense that there would not be a direct flight, else it’s take of and land in 5 minutes…

14

Maybe you could take a ferry or direct train from Shenzhen to Hong Kong.

15

You could, but you’d not get a flight transfer visa for that as far as I know. Fly to Hong Kong first and then get a port visa in luohu would be safer. Also getting a visitor visa before you leave is also safer

16

You cannot fly in and 100% get the VOA from Taiwan. It’s tricky and risky with different agencies saying different things. Your return ticket has to be out of China but don’t get caught out by thinking a return ticket to Taiwan counts as they consider Taiwan to still be inside China.
To be safe just pay their extortionate visa fee, you can get a 10 year multipleventry visa if you’re often going to go there on business. They told me I had to go through at the Hong Kong border despite the airport in Shenzhen saying on their website you can get a VOA

17

They treat HK Macau and Taiwan as separate territories for customs and for immigration. So it’s ok, but it has to be territory A to China to territory B. No transfer visa for return flights

18

I have done the 144 hour visa thing in Guangzhou airport. There is a special lane for it. You just need to show them the onward ticket. Without an outbound ticket to a third destination it’s not going to work I believe. But the rules have changed and there are more entry points now. Maybe you can do the same with a ferry ticket now, as I think some of those entry points are included now as well.

19

As of May 1, 2019, Guangdong province expanded the 144 hour visa exemption policy to cover every international airport in the province – Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao-an, and Jieyang Chaoshan – as well as four railways, eight land entries, and 15 ports. Travelers who obtain a transit visa exemption in Guangdong can travel freely throughout the province for the duration of the exemption.

20

And also, if the rule is new the airline staff may not be aware of it, and they can refuse you to board the airplane in Taipei, if they don’t know about the rules…