jiejie

deleted

jiejie

The officer has two defacto choices: give you the transit stamp and let you pass, or refuse you entry (for transit which in this case = at all). The net outcome of the latter is essentially a denied entry--you'd be detained briefly and then escorted by Immigration Police to the boarding gate of your airline to return you from wherever you just flew in from. I cannot imagine the latter happening if your onward itinerary meets the time limits of VFT and you bring no sidebar issues (contraband, interpol criminal warrants, etc.). There's just no reason the Chinese would want or need to hassle travelers in this manner.

There is no option for the officer letting you pass for transit but not giving you the transit stamp--at least not at any Chinese airport's international arrivals that I'm aware of. For one thing, how would you explain your present at exit immigration with no stamp of any kind? I think when you see how the Chinese do intl incoming/outgoing people processing, it will become clearer. If the Chinese ever decide to do a bit of physical rearrangement of their process and just have international transit passengers go through a "side door" that leads directly to the airside departure area and allow complete bypassing of immigration (similar to how NRT or ICN deal with intl transit passengers), then things might be different and one could remain theoretically stamp-less. Currently not the policy though.

moondog

To summarize jiejie's post:

no worries

chuckd

Great thread. I have a 23-hour layover in CAN in August and was just about to start making Visa preparations so I could go downtown. Now I can save the time and trouble.

lubo_lou

This is great! I am also in the same boat in June. I will go to the city visa free! Thanks to all! Also, OP please tell us how did it go...

trooper

I spoke to the Chinese Embassy visa section here in Canberra.. and they were admant that if I want to "leave the airport" in Beijing I must have a proper visa..

Grrr... I would NOT be at all surprised to find better info here on FT... but it IS still worrying...

jiejie

You gotta go with your comfort level as to how you want to proceed. Here is the direct excerpt (relevant to you) from the TIMATIC database that nearly all airlines use to figure out whether you can board or not. Underlining is mine. Note that once you leave the transit area, you are on the nonsecure side and therefore there is no control mechanism either airline or Chinese police/immigration to keep you hanging around.

TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
- All transiting passengers are subject to passport control.
- Those passengers continuing their journey within 24 hours (or within the same day at Guangzhou - CAN) to a third country by the same or first connecting aircraft, and holding documents and confirmed tickets for their onward journey. Leaving the airport transit area is allowed. Overnight facilities are available outside the airport:
<snipped>

trooper

Thanks for that...

I'd be more comfortable if it didn't have that "same or first connecting aircraft" bit in it..

..as I am intentionally (of course!) tweaking the booking to give the max time under 24 hours... I am clearly NOT on the same or first connecting aircraft!

I'll give this some thought...

Thanks again for all the advice!!!

moondog

That verbiage only applies to Guangzhou (not Beijing) and even then, doesn't really mean anything.

lubo_lou

This info below is not true at all!!! I just connected there and after the passport control was not allowed to leave but was sent back to the terminal. I even asked to go out and was told, no visa no exit! What is funny, China Southern airline agent when approached asked me "do you speak Chinease?" I replied "I don't but you speak Englich, right?" She said not really, but we communicated after all.

The terminal is actually very small with limited options for food. THERE IS NO ATM!!! Drinks in the restaurants cost 2-3 time more than in vending machines, but if you don'y have chinease currencies you are out of luck. Go to a store and ask to convert money. The echanged mine US$ for 6 Y so I was able to keep buying cheap drinks. One store at the very end of the terminal has also drinks for cheap (including beers), but don't take credit cards, but takes US $

TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
- All transiting passengers are subject to passport control.
- Those passengers continuing their journey within 24 hours (or within the same day at Guangzhou - CAN) to a third country by the same or first connecting aircraft, and holding documents and confirmed tickets for their onward journey. Leaving the airport transit area is allowed. Overnight facilities are available outside the airport:
<snipped>[/QUOTE]

moondog

The agent in question was wrong.

anacapamalibu

[QUOTE=lubo_lou;16577489]This info below is not true at all!!! I just connected there and after the passport control was not allowed to leave but was sent back to the terminal. I even asked to go out and was told, no visa no exit! QUOTE]

Was your connecting flight on the same day?

After the passport control, who tells you that you can't leave?

benzemalyonnais

you forgot to slip a few hundred rmb into your passport

jiejie

Agreed.

I'd like to know this also. Was it an immigration agent, an airline agent, a security guard, or what?

Not funny, and in the context of this thread, not adviseable to even write this--some people reading this might actually believe you.

lubo_lou

I first came to the immigration control. The agent sent me to the airline desk near by. There they issued a boarding pass for connecting flight which I didn't get in Hanoi.

Then I went back to the immigration line where they sent me after stamping my passport to the very first desk on my left which had created a pathway going directly back through a side via an one way elevator to terminal security.

Yes, I had a connection same day within 9 hours. I even went back to the normal immigration control and asked agents to leave. After they found one who spoke english, he told me I can't leave as I don't have visa. I explained him I have 9 hours and I knew otherwise. He jsut laughed at me...