I entered on a residence permit, a Q1. I went through pretty quickly, as I told them I've been living in Shanghai for the last 19 years and just left to escape the Shanghai lockdown.

Is the APEC lane open?

Sorry, I didn't notice. But if there's a huge line I would show my APEC card to see if I can get special treatment.

APEC lanes were open in Taiwan and Japan though.

It was open when I went through in July so it’s likely open now.

High Speed Rail services between HK and mainland is resuming on January 15. The quota initially would be 5000 tickets both ways per day, and you’re exempt from any form of reservation as long as you’re a ticket holder. In addition to current Futuan, Shenzhen North and Guangzhou South services, there’ll be a new service terminating at Guangzhou East (in the city center) via Dongguan, but further services out of Guangdong isn’t resumed for now. 144h TWOV still isn’t available at West Kowloon.

A note on tickets, Chinese HSR tickets are now completely digitalized. Enter and leave the station with the ID you used for ticket purchase, and there’re machines to print out travel details in case you forget your seat. MTR website’s purchase portal is no longer available and it’ll redirect you to China National Rail’s 12306 portal. You can still use credit cards, and there is an English version of the website and app. You can still but your tickets at the station as before.

Again no news on L-visa validities, and China’s suspended the issue of short-term visitor visas and TWOV rights for Korea and Japan as “countermeasures against unfair and discriminative COVID-related travel restrictions”. Korea did suspend visa applications in China amid the pandemic surge before the country countered back.

A few links on HSR that might be of use:
Resumption Announcement
Ticketing Options
Ticket Availability

As airlines start to make announcements for resumption of flights, for Beijing routes does the forum have any insight how many will go to PEK or PKX. How much traffic has Daxing been getting, and is there a strategy how traffic might split between these two airports?

Isn't it still based mostly on alliance? I guess the alliances have changed quite a bit since PKX opened, there are non-affiliated airlines, and I'd be shocked if CA, at the very least, doesn't end up serving both.

ETA: It looks like most major CAAC airlines already have PKX flights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijin...port#Passenger
I've actually yet to fly there, not because I don't want to, but because it's never worked out for me schedule/location wise.

CA does serve both, but there aren’t any international routes out of PKX, just a handful of regional domestic routes operated by narrow-bodies.

It’s not entirely based on alliances, and pre-COVID arrangements seems unchanged for now, and honestly it’s a bit of mess. BA, DL, AA and AI will return to PKX once services resume, LOT will entirely transfer to PKX in S23. No news on other carriers yet. Of course CZ and MU’s international operations are entirely based at PKX starting last weekend.

UNCONFIRMED information on Chinese social media: Chinese Embassy in the U.S. has started re-issuing certain types of 10-year visas (e.g. Q) to qualified foreigners whilst the applicants’ existing L visas are voided.
Source

If you can make your customers pay twice for the same product, why not? :rolleyes:

Can applicants chargeback the previous purchase? :p

It's Q2 not L.

Amended

I just changed my passport. I wonder if it's worth a prorated $70 or so to not have to carry 2 passports around for the next few years.

LX (SWISS) is supposed to move to PKX also....starting 3/28/2023:

Tue,Thu,Sat 17:35 Zurich (ZRH) 09:35 Daxing, Beijing (PKX)
LX 196 Non-stop Airbus A330-300 (333) 10:00 Effective from 2023-03-28
The flight arrives 1 day after departure.

Does the form think that PKX will become the main Beijing airport, with PEK relegated to a secondary role?

Can I use US-issued credit cards?

Not for now, and probably not until the traffic gets a lot busier, where we might see a similar approach to SHA and PVG with an expansion of PKX.

The opening of PKX did allow more slots for CA and vigorous expansions for MU and CZ in the Beijing market, but both airports handle their respective passengers and flights for now and years to come just fine.

Don’t see why not

In spite of the fact that PEK and PKX are only 40 miles apart, I almost regard them as separate markets, so I'd expect both to remain important in the eyes of Papa Bear.

PVG is a little different because many people/airlines wouldn't have moved if they hadn't been forced to.

Anyone tried the max 144hr TWOV recently? Can one do JFK-HKG-HGH-HKG-JFK without visa and stop at HGH for 144 hrs? What about JFK-HKG-HGH-PVG-NRT-JFK? Thanks.

https://www.chinadiscovery.com/chine...visa-free.html

No to the first itinerary. Yes to the second.

I am a bit surprised why first one isn't a Yes as well? HKG is now considered part of mainland?

HKG-HGH-HKG is not allowed because you are returning to the location you just departed.

How so if HKG is considered outside mainland? Are you saying JFK-NRT-PVG-NRT-JRK is also not allowed with entry and stopover PVG for 144hrs?

NRT-PVG-NRT is not allowed because you going from Japan back to Japan. There has to be a third country involved.

ah thank you.

​​​​​​
Correct - but to be more precise, the country where your departing flight from China lands must be different to the country where the flight that brought you into mainland China took off from, to be classed as transit by the Chinese authorities.

This applies even if, for a multi-leg trip, the country you start from is different to the country you end the ticket in - only the flights bookending the stay in mainland China are of relevance (so for example JFK-NRT-PVG-NRT-LHR is also not eligible for TWOV)

Old Chinese Visas Invalidated
 

I have been obsessively checking the Iata website and this forums for updates. I just noticed today that the message for China changed to "Visas issued on or before 28 March 2020 are no longer valid". I believe it previously temporarily suspended. So it looks like all of us who didn't get an emergency visa or have an APEC card will be applying for new visas. The DC embassy apparently is taking applications starting on January 25th.

Doesn't help me too much as I have a flight out of the country on January 27th. Anyone have any experience applying for a Chinese visa from a 3rd country?

I got a few of my earlier visas in Hong Kong, which was pretty easy. I don't have any recent data points, but iirc a stipulation on 10-year visas for US citizens was that they need to be issued in the US.

No, the Hong Kong Visa Office was giving 10-year visas to Americans resident and non-resident in Hong Kong. Will have to see if that practice continues.

By the way, the actual language on the Embassy website posted a week ago does hold a bit of promise: "Please note: At the current stage, multi-year multiple-entry visas issued before March 26, 2020 are still suspended of use."

http://us.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zytz/202206/t20220614_10702581.htm

The fact that they are actually asking for explicit consent (as opposed to just cancelling upon application) before cancelling existing 10-year visas implies that they are planning for them to be restored at some point.

I was the second person getting this visa at HGH since Jan 8 reopening. I guess that the first person must be another FTer. 😄😄CX agent at HKG had no clue on TIMATIC, including those in Assistance Desk. They eventually faxed over my itinerary at 8:00 am and got approval after 2.5 h waiting (at 10:30 am for 12:15 pm flight).
If you get directly from USA and return through HKG, you will have much better experience.

144 hour transit
 

would SFO PVG then PVG NRT be permitted?

has anyone done something like this at PVG ?

Did they issue you a visa? If so, is it a full (passport) page sticker?

Yes. The US and Japan are different countries.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chin...er-thread.html

It should like like this:

https://www.travelcodex.com/wp-conte...China-TWOV.jpg

Right that's what we've seen in the past, and is not a visa. But, the OP said he was issued a visa at HGH. PRC visas are almost all stickers these days, though I think stamp visas still exist in some missions.

Oh, that sucks. I am not really relishing the thought of applying again. Still had many years of validity left.

No fun. We are normally visiting relatives, should we do Q2 or L1?