China Resumes Visa Issuance on Wednesday

Beijing says it will reopen its borders to international visitors as it resumes issuance of all travel visas on Wednesday as it seeks to boost both the economy of the Asia country alongside its tourism. 

AP reports that the announcement was made on Tuesday after it declared what it termed “decisive victory” over COVID-19 in February.

According to the report, all types of visas will resume from Wednesday just as visa-free entry will also resume at destinations, including the Hainan island as well as cruise ships entering Shanghai that had no visa requirement before COVID-19.

The report added that foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020, that are still valid will be allowed to enter China while visa-free entry will resume for foreigners entering Guangdong in southern China from Hong Kong and Macao. However, no specification is given to whether or not vaccination certificates or negative COVID-19 tests would be required for entry. 

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, China had “optimized measures for remote testing of people coming to China from relevant countries," allowing pre-boarding antigen testing instead of nucleic acid testing.

“All these have been well implemented, and the epidemic risk is generally controllable,” Wang said at a daily briefing," Wenbin said. 

A notice on the websites of numerous Chinese missions and embassies added further that the relaxation move would “further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel”. 

China evolved the rather harsh “zero-COVID” measure, including sudden lockdowns and daily COVID-19 testing, to try to stop the virus from spreading rapidly across the country. In December however, it abandoned most aspects of the policy amid growing opposition.

The new rule is coming on the heels of China's approval of outbound group tours for its citizens, a move which proved positive following overall improvement in pandemic conditions.

“China will continue to make better arrangements for the safe, healthy and orderly movement of Chinese and foreign personnel on the basis of scientific assessments and in light of the situation. 

“We also hope that all parties will join China in creating favorable conditions for cross-border exchanges," Wenbin added.