China to resume 15-day visa-free entry for Singaporeans from Jul 26

THE Chinese government will resume a 15-day, visa-free facility for Singaporeans travelling to China from midnight on Wednesday (Jul 26), more than three years after it was suspended.

These include visas for tourism, business, visiting relatives and friends, and transit purposes, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore announced on Sunday morning.

Visas which have been issued to Singapore citizens are still valid, and visa applications that have been lodged before will be processed normally, it added.

China stopped issuing visas to foreigners in March 2020, just after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and also suspended the 15-day visa-free facility for Singaporeans.

The Chinese government resumed issuing all types of visas to foreigners in March this year, but kept the visa-free facility suspended. Those seeking to travel to China faced long lines and long waiting times for appointments at a designated visa centre in Robinson Road.

In May, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had expressed hope that China would restore the visa-free arrangement, during his first official visit to the country as DPM.

He said then that visa arrangements had been discussed in his meetings with Chinese leaders, noting that both sides recognised the importance of people-to-people exchanges.

The Chinese authorities ended the regimen of mass testing, lockdowns and long quarantines in December 2022.

At the time, Beijing kept in place visa restrictions on foreigners, but said that inbound travellers to the country would no longer need to undergo quarantine from January.

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Welcoming the announcement on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Facebook post that the visa-free arrangement will facilitate people and business flows between Singapore and China, and pave the way for deeper bilateral cooperation.

Singapore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China’s chairman Ong Tze Guan said the resumption of the visa-free facility for Singaporeans will have a positive impact by making it easier for tourists, enterprises and youths to travel to China for tourism, business, and cultural and study exchanges.

“This will boost ties between the two countries and provide more opportunities for Singaporeans to explore and engage with China,” said the Beijing-based businessman.

International travellers to China will also be able to navigate in a largely cashless country with greater ease, after Tencent’s WeChat Pay, one of two major mobile payments provider, last week allowed visitors to link their foreign credit cards to its platform.

The other big mobile payments player, Alibaba’s Alipay, also allows for credit cards to be linked to its digital wallet.

The move by both companies is aimed at facilitating an influx of tourists and visitors as the country gears up for the Chengdu World University Games starting Jul 28, and the Hangzhou Asian Games opening on Sep 23. THE STRAITS TIMES