rkfrench

To people familiar with China's 72/144-Hour Visa-free Transit Policy...


I want to go to Shanghai the 16th to 19th... I don't have time to get a Chinese Visa, and I don't want to take time to actually go to a 3rd country.



What would happen if I had a Seattle-Shanghai round trip ticket, and also bought a one way flight from Shanghai to Taipei,Taiwan -- that I didn't actually get on?

SJOGuy

You'll be discovered when you try to board your PVG-SEA flight.

moondog

I don't think we can definitively state that he'll be discovered, but attempting this is a really bad idea these days.

Scifience

You can easily get a ~90 min connection in NRT or HKG and stick to the letter of the rule. Why risk it?

JPDM

Forget it. Don't assume that they won't know.

GinFizz

Your entry into China will be logged, as will your exit. There is a chance the person at the exit immigration desk will not notice that you are flying back to the origin of your incoming flight. Then again, there is also a chance they will. Not forgetting also that you will have to convince the airline you are flying with to China to let you board in the first place, which they may not if they see you only have a one way ticket to a third country but still hold the return from China. So basically don't even think about doing this.

The only workarounds that are guaranteed to work for "not having time to get a visa" are (i) arrange one of your inbound or outbound routings to include a transfer in a 3rd country e.g YVR-NRT-PVG-YVR so that your stay is TWOV-compliant, or (ii) book a return trip to a 3rd country from Shanghai and actually make the trip.

Seoul and Taipei are both a 2 hr flight from Shanghai, but Hong Kong at 3 hours flight time is a better option given the larger number of flights and later/earlier departure/arrival possibilities. You could fly PVG-HKG at night (around 9pm), and back again first thing the next morning if you don't want to give up too much of your daytime hours in Shanghai.

cxfan1960

I am not sure about Seattle. I live in San Jose, CA, and can ask a visa service to get a visa in 24 hours (usually 4 days). If you apply now, you should be able to have it before your trip.

Don't try to make false statements to immigration. They may discover when you depart. BTW, even for a real transit, you need a round-trip ticket to Taiwan, not one-way.

ajeleonard

You only need to fly back vone way a third country, it can even be on the same ticket

e.g SEA-HKG-PVG-SEA

anacapamalibu

No time...no problem
No money...problem

Rush
3 business days

$ 160 consulate fee

$ 199 processing fee

$ 29 return fed ex
TOTAL 388

Emergency
24 hours

$ 170

$ 259

$ 29

24 hours
TOTAL 458

sinoflyer

Foreigners must register with their passports when they check into their hotels, so Chinese immigration will know exactly where you've been during the 72 hours. I presume it's their choice whether or not to enforce the 72 TWOV at departure. Personally, I'm not interested in finding out yes or no.

moondog

I honestly don't believe that they connect those dots, let alone during the course of 72 hours. PSBs tend to be quite decentralized IME.

anacapamalibu

Possible consequences even when mistake of fact.

"The friends then said they were escorted, with their luggage, to an immigration van, which drove them to a high-security “detention centre”, with armed guards and barbed wire, just outside the airport.

They were put in separate rooms.

“It was very scary … not a nice place at all. We were made to feel like prisoners,” Ms de Jong said.

Two hours later, they were ferried back to the airport and told the 10-hour flight back to Istanbul would cost them 300 ($530).

During their 11-hour ordeal, they were given no food or water."

When they asked for water, airport staff refused their request.



http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ed-from-china/

889

On occasion, the PSB can be understanding of foreigners who innocently get caught up in the mire of Chinese immigration rules. Though even that is hardly a sure thing.

But once they find you were purposely trying to subvert the system -- as those unused tickets will demonstrate -- the gloves will probably come off.

Please take the warnings here seriously.

anacapamalibu

^

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

But we know that the authorities do discover these things at least some of the time (how often we don't know)... and have been known to remove pax even after they have boarded the aircraft.