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Jul 16, 2024 | 5:32 am

#16

akl_cat

Join Date: Sep 2017

Posts: 404

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbiddle

Speaking of the new visa free entry has anybody got any real life experience of this yet or seen many posts from people who have used it?

I know the Chinese embassy in Australia has details (Answers to Frequently Asked Questions?on Visa-free Policy to?Ordinary Passport Holders of Australia_Embassy of the People?s Republic of China in the Commonwealth of Australia) but the NZ site doesn't even mention this yet.

I'm curious as to how it will work at the HK/Shenzhen border and whether it will now be possible to catch the high speed train to Shenzhen rather than crossing at the Lo Wu port. You can use this from HK if you have a Chinese visa, but can't use this from HK if you're applying for a Shenzhen SEZ visa on arrival.

There is a poorly-presented but somewhat informative FAQ page on the Chinese Consulate in Auckland's site: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions?on Visa-free Policy to?Citizens?of New Zealand and Other Countries

EDIT: It is the same FAQ as the one you shared from the Aussie site, just a blanket replacement of all references of AUS to NZL.

And to answer your question, according to the FAQ yes you can enter China using this scheme via any land/sea/air border post opening to foreigners, which would include the West Kowloon high speed rail station. Back in the pre-COVID days I had a long layover in HKG and out of sheer curiosity took a joyride on the high speed train to Shenzhen, and had no problem crossing that border with no Chinese visa but just an ABTC. I highly suspect the experience under this visa-free scheme would be similar.

Last edited by akl_cat; Jul 16, 2024 at 5:48 am

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