William S

I am asking this question if this is still in effect because my local embassy claims (Oslo, Norway) that this policy no longer exist and you will need a visa no matter what. TIMATIC still shows though that Norwegians can transit without a visa for up to 24 hours (48 hours in PVG). Yeah I know about the Nobel Peace Prize and stuff which the Chinese goverment can't seem to get over. They have been implementing strange policies for Norwegians during the last year or so it doesn't surpise me the Chinese embassy says the TWOV option doesn't exist.

tauphi

I guess we won't know for sure until some brave Norwegian tries it out

It's certainly still in force for other nationalities.

1stClassFamily

For US passport holder, TWOV is still good. We did just that this past week. One caution though: you must stay at the same hotel you declared on your arrival card. The public police at Shanghai apparently called my hotel to inquire if all of us indeed stayed at the hotel. We had three of us traveling together, and at check-in, the front desk people only took my passport copy( I presented all three at time of check-in). They later got really nervous when they got a call from police on this to check if all three of us are staying at the hotel. They called us multiple time to request us to give them copy of the other two passports.

jiejie

With respect to the Norwegian situation specifically, I think there is no way to get absolutely correct real-time information. It is possible that this is a Consular official either willfully or in ignorance, making up their own pronouncement. I certainly have not heard any cases/anecdotes of Norwegians at PEK being turned back upon arrival or of TWOV privileges being rescinded for Norwegians from this end. Given that the incident that provoked the Chinese happened months ago, I would think think that if there was a specific withdrawal of privileges just for Norwegians, we would have heard of it by now.

TWOV for 24 hours pretty much applies as a blanket allowance for any nationality showing up. If the TIMATIC information is VERY recent (i.e. latest version) then in OP's shoes, I'd definitely take my chances and go for the TWOV. The airline will follow that, so they should let you board. My guess is that as long as you board and fly, then upon arrival in China, when you use the Intl transit desks and show your onward, that it will be uneventful and the Immigration officer will stamp you through as if you were a Finn, Swede, Dane, or any other European.

But ultimately, it depends on your own comfort factor as to what you want to do.

With respect to the issue raised by the other poster about registration: If the hotel does not automatically do so, PLEASE INSIST at check-in that the passports of ALL members of your party (even the kids) are correctly recorded and copied by the hotel, not just that of the lead member. The hotel is required to take down the information for every foreigner with a passport, not just the "team leader" and to produce a Certificate of Temporary Residence for each individual. This is a slip of paper you likely will not see unless you ask for or need for some specific purpose like a visa extension. Getting this squared away at check-in will save you hassles of having to interrupt your schedule and come back to the front desk when the hotel figures out it has made itself a problem.

As above poster found out, the Public Security Bureau definitely does random spot checks for foreigners using TWOV privileges and staying overnight. This is more likely to happen with foreigners in Shanghai who are eligible for 48 hour transits and who are using that allowance to the max. Or for anybody they secretly "flag" at transit immigration as a "person of interest" that needs a police check to hotel of record for follow-up. Generally though, most of the overnight transit passengers already know where they will be doing overnight stay and have their hotel booking which is then fulfilled as per the form. Occasionally a booking is screwed up or something happens requiring a real-time change of lodging during transit. Not a disaster, just have Hotel Y make a notation on the margins of the form that original booking was supposed to be at "Hotel X" but got moved. The PSB/police will find you if they need you.

SK2868

Worked as a charm for me two days ago (with a Norwegian passport).