Can we do without Chinese visa?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Annette’s route in and out of Shanghai could present a problem (iStock)

Q We are going on a cruise from Singapore to Vietnam, Thailand and Hong Kong then on to Shanghai, where we are staying in hotel for three days for Chinese New Year. We are flying from Manchester to Hong Kong and on to Singapore, and flying home from Shanghai to Hong Kong then back to Manchester.

Do we need a visa, or will we be OK for the 144-hour free one? We have been told so many different things, and are just so mixed up. Please help.

Annette H

A As you no doubt appreciate, getting a Chinese visa is no fun: the process is both highly bureaucratic and very expensive – upwards of £150. Therefore the 144-hour visa-free transit permit, which Shanghai and an increasing number of other Chinese cities allow, is an extremely useful option: you just turn up with proof of your origin and destination and are allowed in with few formalities.

The key word, though, is “transit”. The rule is that you must arrive in the Chinese city from foreign country A and stay no longer than 144 hours (six days) after the day on which you arrived, before departing for foreign country B. For the purposes of the scheme, Hong Kong counts as a foreign country.

I am afraid to say that the air route you have chosen, via the Cathay Pacific hub in Hong Kong, excludes you from the visa-free option. Your itinerary indicates you are arriving by sea from Hong Kong and returning there by air. The mode of transport is irrelevant. Therefore you do not qualify for the visa-free transit permit and must apply for a Chinese visa.

Had you chosen another air route, for example on Emirates via Dubai or Qatar Airways via Doha, you would certainly qualify: you would be in transit between Hong Kong and the Gulf.

I imagine you put together the itinerary yourselves, sourcing the flights and cruise separately, because any decent travel agent would have warned you of the peril of booking flights with Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong, and suggested a hassle-free alternative that did not require you to get a Chinese visa.

In the unlikely event that you did book through a travel agent which is a member of ABTA, I suggest you contact them to say that they have breached the association’s code of conduct by failing to provide you with essential visa information, and invite them to pay for your visa

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder