passports

Barriers Falling for Travellers on Chinese Passports

More countries providing visa-free access

Traveling on a PRC passport isn’t exactly easy, as we told you earlier. Just a month ago, China only had visa-free access to 74 countries, making it only the 45th most convenient passport to travel on, behind Brazil, Mexico and Russia. But wow, what a difference a month makes.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry now says Chinese people have visa-free access to 99 countries when using a PRC passport, with a simplified visa procedures for many more.

Barring any changes made to the passport power ranking we told you about earlier, this development signifies that the Chinese passport has leaped up the list to occupy 37th position, right behind Honduras and overtaking the Russian Federation, Guatamala, and Montenegro.

The United Kingdom and Belgium recently announced a one-stop visa service will be provided to Chinese citizens in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou starting July 1st.

Chinese Foreign Ministy spokesperson Lu Kang pointed more and more people have been traveling abroad in recent years. Over 100 million Chinese citizens left the country for travel last year, if you count Hong Kong and Taiwan as foreign destinations.

China still has a way to go to reach 147 countries, the highest visa-free access that belongs to the USA and the UK.

Charles Liu

The Nanfang's Senior Editor