Originally Posted by
pauldb
And I don't mean to offend either, but where exactly are you pointing me too?!
The issue doesn't seem totally clear cut. TIMATIC says I can leave the airport transit area. Beijing city would seem sensible as many transiters will need a hotel. But I thought leaving the city might be pushing it. The Tripadvisor folk think I could get into trouble.
This Thread, Post 3
The issue is quite clear cut, as long as your in/out intl flights meet the Chinese routing and time limit requirements for visa-free transit. TIMATIC is sort of correct--they just need to get rid of the words "transit area". In fact, I thought that the latest version of TIMATIC did, in fact, stipulate that one may leave the airport. Many people who don't understand current Chinese procedures can't seem to get it straight that
there is no option to just stay "in transit"--you MUST go through immigration even if only going from an incoming intl flight to an outbound intl flight. This is different from intl transit procedures at airports such as NRT, HKG, SIN, BKK, etc. And once you go through immigration and get that transit stamp in your passport (note, this is not a visa), you are free to head out the terminal doors and into the city. Only CAN is deviating from this, as far as our latest info goes.
I've seen a lot of bad info floating around TripAdvisor, including from some of the so called "Beijing experts" which is why I discontinued participating there for the most part. Your choice on who to believe.