Business Travel in China: Visas, Fapiao, Registration and What to Pack

A short business trip to China — client meetings, a factory visit, a trade fair — usually comes down to three decisions. First, your entry route: many passports now get 30 days visa-free for business, others can use 240-hour transit, and everyone else applies for an M (business) visa. Second, the paperwork your finance team will want: official invoices called fapiao (发票, fāpiào), which are now mostly electronic, plus rail e-invoices from the 12306 railway system. Third, running the trip: your hotel handles police registration, your phone and payments need setting up before you fly, and your bag needs a few China-specific items. This guide walks through each part in order, so you can have everything ready before departure and get down to business within a day of landing.

One rule to keep in mind from the start: business visits are allowed visa-free, but working in China is not. That boundary is covered in the first section.

Do you need a visa for a business trip to China?

Start by checking which of three routes your passport gives you.

Route 1: 30 days visa-free (if your country is on the list)

China's unilateral visa-free policy lets ordinary passport holders from 50 countries enter without a visa for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges or transit, for up to 30 days. Business is named in the rule itself, so a trip for meetings, negotiations or supplier visits fits. Trade fairs and exhibitions are also covered, as long as you stay no more than 30 days.

UK and Canadian passport holders qualify, as do Australian, New Zealand, Japanese, South Korean and most EU passport holders. For most listed countries, including these, the policy currently runs until 31 December 2026, so check for an extension if your trip falls after that date. US citizens do not qualify; they use 240-hour visa-free transit or an M visa, both explained below. For the full country list, check your own passport in our do you need a visa for China guide or the visa-free and transit policies overview before you book.

How the 30 days work in practice:

• The count starts the day after you arrive, and you can stay 30 calendar days in a row. Land on 1 March and your first counted day is 2 March.
• You can use it again and again. There is currently no cap on the number of visa-free entries or on total days, and you do not need to tell the embassy in advance. Frequent visitors doing several short trips a year can rely on this.
• The border officer checks your purpose. If your reason for coming does not match the allowed purposes, you can be refused entry, so carry proof that fits your trip: an invitation letter, flight and hotel bookings. For a business trip, the invitation or meeting confirmation from your Chinese contact is the most useful paper you can have in your bag.
• More than 30 days needs a visa. If you plan to stay longer, get a visa before you travel; if something unexpected keeps you longer after a visa-free entry, you apply for a stay permit at the local exit-entry office.

Separate from this list, China also has mutual visa-exemption agreements with 28 countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE and Qatar, and the allowed stay depends on each agreement. Singapore's agreement, for example, covers business for up to 30 days.

Route 2: 240-hour visa-free transit (including US citizens)

This route is useful mainly for US citizens, or for anyone whose trip does not fit the 30-day route: you can come for up to 240 hours (10 days) without a visa, as long as you are travelling on to a third country. The scheme covers ordinary passports from 57 countries, including the United States, Canada and the UK, and you enter through one of 65 designated ports in 24 provinces. You need a passport valid for at least three more months and a confirmed onward ticket, with date and seat, to a different country or region within 240 hours. The clock starts at midnight after the day you arrive.

Business is allowed on this route. The official rule says you may travel, do business, visit and see family during a transit stay; work, study and journalism still need a visa. Two limits matter for business planning: you must stay inside the permitted provinces and cities, and the trip has to be a real transit: your onward destination must be different from where you came from, though Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan count as onward destinations. Arriving from the US and flying back to the US does not qualify; US → Shanghai → Tokyo or US → Beijing → Hong Kong does. The current country and port lists are on the National Immigration Administration's policy page, and our 240-hour visa-free transit guide explains the routing rules and port list in detail.

Route 3: the M visa (business visa)

The M visa is China's business and trade visa, one of 17 ordinary visa types. You need it if your passport qualifies for neither route above, if you will stay longer than the visa-free limits, or if your itinerary does not fit a transit routing.

The core document is an invitation letter from your trade partner in China. According to the Chinese Embassy in the United States, the letter must include your details (name, sex, date of birth, passport number), the trip details (purpose, arrival and departure dates, places to visit, your relationship to the inviting company, who pays), and the inviting company's details (name, address, phone, company seal, signature of the legal representative or inviter, date), all written in the body of the letter. Send that list to your Chinese contact early — a letter missing any of these, such as the company seal or your passport number, can be sent back.

For applicants in the United States, the process starts online in the embassy's COVA system, after which you or an agent hand in your passport at the visa office. Your passport needs more than six months' validity and at least two blank visa pages. Regular processing is four working days from the day the passport is handed in, and express is three, with the embassy noting these times are for reference only. The fee for US citizens is USD 140 regardless of entries, under a reduced-fee measure that runs until 31 December 2026. Whether you get a single-entry or multi-entry visa, and for how long, is decided by the consular officer, not by what you ask for. Applicants elsewhere follow their local embassy or visa centre's process — see how to apply for a China visa and the visa types overview.

Where business ends and work begins

Visa-free entry covers business, but people coming to work, study or report are outside it, and you may not do activities that do not match your purpose of entry. Working in China requires a work permit; even for a job of 90 days or less, you apply for a Z (work) visa using a Notification Letter of Foreigner's Work Permit. Working without a work permit and work-type residence permit counts as illegal employment, with fines of 5,000 to 20,000 yuan and, in serious cases, detention.

In practice, meeting clients, negotiating and signing a contract, inspecting a supplier's factory, attending or exhibiting at a trade fair, and visiting your company's Chinese office all sit comfortably on the business side. The grey zone is hands-on work for a Chinese company: installing or repairing equipment, running a training course for a client's staff, or doing a project that a local employee would otherwise be paid for. If your trip looks like that, ask your Chinese host to confirm with the embassy which visa applies before you travel, because the law penalises both the foreigner and the company that hires them.

What to do in your first 24 hours

The first day has two jobs: get through the airport smoothly and make sure your stay is registered with the police. Both are easier than they sound.

At the airport

Since 20 November 2025, you can fill in the arrival card online before you fly, through the National Immigration Administration website, the "NIA 12367" app or a WeChat or Alipay mini-program; you can also do it on arrival. The official form is free — fake sites that charge a fee exist, so use only the official channel. Visitors aged 14 to 70 have their fingerprints taken at the border. For the full walk-through, see arriving in China: immigration and customs.

Registration: the hotel does it for you

Every foreigner's stay in China is registered with the local police. If you stay in a hotel, the hotel does this when you show your passport at the front desk. There is nothing else for you to do — just do not check in under a colleague's name.

If you stay anywhere else — a company apartment, a colleague's home, a serviced flat booked privately — you or your host must register within 24 hours of moving in. Since 21 September 2026 this can be done online nationwide, through the National Immigration Administration website, the "NIA 12367" app, or the 12367 mini-program in WeChat or Alipay; registering at the local police station is still possible and has the same effect. The first online registration at a new address should be done with your host's help, because the host knows the address details. Missing it can mean a warning and a fine of up to 2,000 yuan. Keep the registration record: the exit-entry office can ask for it if you later apply to extend your stay. Our hotel booking and registration guide covers the online steps.

Samples, exhibits and equipment

Business travellers often carry things a tourist does not: product samples, display items for a booth, measuring kit. The rules depend on whether the goods stay in China or go home with you.

• Goods that stay. A non-resident visitor can bring items worth up to 2,000 yuan in total that will remain in China duty-free; tax applies only to the amount above that. Samples you plan to hand to clients count as goods that stay. If you are unsure whether you need to declare something, use the red channel.
• Goods that go back. Goods brought in temporarily must be taken out again within six months, unless an extension is approved. For exhibition goods, commercial samples and professional equipment, the standard tool is the ATA Carnet. In China it is issued and guaranteed by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT); it replaces the temporary import declaration and the duty deposit, is valid for one year, and can be used for several trips. CCPIT is the Chinese guaranteeing body; for goods coming into China, the carnet is normally issued by the chamber of commerce in your own country, so check with them before you ship.
• Cash. You may carry up to 20,000 yuan in Chinese cash, and foreign cash worth more than USD 5,000 must be declared in writing.

Fapiao: getting invoices your company will accept

The receipt a shop or restaurant prints at the till is not what your finance team needs. In China, the document that counts for accounting is the fapiao (发票), an official tax invoice. Plan for it from day one, because asking for invoices after you get home is slow or impossible.

The basic rules

• A business must issue one if you ask. Under consumer law, when a customer asks for an invoice, the seller must provide it. The payee issues the invoice, and as the buyer you may not ask them to change the item names or amounts. So a hotel cannot turn a minibar bill into "conference services" for you, and you should not ask.
• Most invoices are now electronic. Electronic and paper invoices have the same legal status. Since 1 December 2024, fully digital e-invoices have been in use nationwide; they are delivered automatically through the tax platform, and the seller can also send them by email, QR code or download. In practice, you give the cashier your email address and the PDF arrives later.
• Chinese company buyers must give a tax number. When the buyer is a company, it must provide its taxpayer ID or Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码) for a general VAT invoice, and the seller must invoice what was actually sold. If your Chinese subsidiary or partner is paying, get that code from their finance team before the trip and keep it in your phone notes.

If your company has no Chinese tax ID

Most foreign companies do not have a Chinese tax number, and the official rules do not spell out how a buyer without one should be named on the invoice. Confirm with the seller and your finance team what title they will accept. In practice, ask the hotel or restaurant at the till what it can issue, and agree with your finance team before you travel whether they want your company's name, your own name, or simply a fapiao plus your card statement.

Hotels, restaurants and taxis

At a hotel, tell the front desk at check-in that you need a fapiao and give the buyer name (and tax code if there is one), then collect it or receive it by email at check-out. At restaurants, ask when you pay — before you leave the table is easier than after. For ride-hailing, the platform is required to provide taxi invoices to passengers; request them from your trip history in the app, and check the app's help pages if the option is not obvious. In Shanghai, taxi drivers must issue an invoice or tell you how to download the electronic one when the trip ends. Our DiDi guide covers setting up ride-hailing with a foreign phone number.

Train tickets

Rail travel has its own system. Since 1 November 2024, railway tickets come with a fully digital e-invoice: after your trip (or after paying a refund or change fee), you have 180 days to get it from the 12306 website or app, entering the buyer's name and Unified Social Credit Code. How a foreign company without that code should fill this in is not set out, so check with your finance team what they accept. The old paper "reimbursement voucher" you could print at the station is no longer accepted; only the e-invoice works for expense claims. The official announcement is on the China Railway 12306 site. If you bought tickets through a travel agent, ask them who will issue the invoice.

A simple routine works for most trips: ask for a fapiao every time you pay something work-related, forward every e-invoice to one email folder, and download your rail invoices on the last day before you forget.

If you buy goods to take home, you may also be able to claim a departure tax refund at the airport; that has separate rules, covered in our departing China guide.

Getting your phone and payments working on day one

Your first meeting will probably end with someone asking to add you on WeChat and your first taxi will expect a phone payment. Set up three things before you fly.

Data. Many services Western companies run on — Google Workspace, Gmail, WhatsApp — do not work on ordinary Chinese mobile and hotel internet, so plan your connection before you go. Business travellers usually solve this with international roaming or a travel eSIM bought before departure, and some also use a VPN; check with your company's IT team what they allow, and read our internet and VPN guide. An eSIM from Airalo can be installed at home and switched on when you land; our China SIM card and eSIM guide compares the options.

Mobile payments. Alipay accepts foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners Club, Discover and UnionPay cards, and WeChat Pay accepts the same plus American Express. UnionPay cards issued outside mainland China can be linked to both. Set up Alipay at home with our guide to using Alipay with foreign cards, and WeChat with the WeChat setup guide — you will want WeChat for contacts even if you pay with Alipay.

Your corporate card. Cards with UnionPay, Visa or Mastercard logos can be used at shops that display the matching logo; where no logo is shown, ask the cashier. Hotels accept cash, bank cards, Alipay and WeChat Pay, but ask in advance whether they take Visa or Mastercard if you want to pay by card. Some corporate cards are blocked from being added to wallets, so link yours at home and make one small test payment. If a card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency, Visa says the choice must be yours and recommends refusing if the rate and fees are not shown — paying in yuan keeps your expense report simpler.

For getting around: in Beijing, foreign Visa, Mastercard, JCB and American Express cards can be tapped directly at every metro gate, and Shanghai's metro accepts the same networks on contactless cards across the whole network. Keep a little cash as a backup; it remains a normal way to pay.

Intercity travel: business class or first class?

China Railway sells 11 seat classes in total, but on high-speed G and D trains you will mostly choose between three: second class, first class and business class. Second class is the standard cabin and is perfectly fine for a short hop. First class has wider seats, more legroom and a calmer cabin — for most business travellers on trips of two to five hours it is the sensible choice, with room to open a laptop. Business class is a small cabin with the largest, most reclining seats on the train and costs much more; it makes sense for a long trip when you need to arrive rested or when your client is paying for the same seats. Our seat classes explained guide compares the three in detail.

If you want to work or rest, look for a quiet carriage. Since 1 February 2026 they are offered on D and G trains (except sleeper trains), with more than 8,000 trains taking part; in the 12306 booking screen they are marked with the character 静 ("quiet"), and booking means agreeing to keep your phone silent, take calls outside the carriage and use headphones. Some large stations have separate waiting areas for business-class passengers; check at the station, as this varies.

Train or plane? For city pairs up to about four or five hours apart by train (Beijing–Shanghai, Shanghai–Hangzhou, Guangzhou–Shenzhen), the train usually wins: city-centre stations, short security checks and reliable timing. For longer distances, fly. See the high-speed train guide for booking and boarding.

Trade fair calendar

Three government-backed fairs bring the most foreign business visitors. Hotel prices near the venues rise during fair weeks and good rooms go early, so book as soon as your dates are fixed.

Canton Fair (Guangzhou)

The China Import and Export Fair, known as the Canton Fair (广交会), has been held in Guangzhou every spring and autumn since 1957, each session in three phases. In 2026 the spring fair (the 139th) ran from 15 to 19 April, 23 to 27 April and 1 to 5 May, and the autumn fair (the 140th) from 15 to 19 October, 23 to 27 October and 31 October to 4 November. In both 2026 sessions the phases had the same themes: phase one advanced manufacturing (machinery, hardware, electronics, new-energy vehicles), phase two home goods (building materials, furniture, gifts), and phase three lifestyle (health, toys and baby products, fashion) — so pick the phase that matches what you buy. Dates for the next edition appear on the official site, cantonfair.org.cn; check there before booking flights.

Overseas buyers can pre-register online at any time of year. First-time buyers can then collect a free buyer badge at points including Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou South Railway Station, the Pazhou ferry terminal, designated hotels and the fair's Hong Kong office. The venue is in Pazhou, Haizhu District, on Metro Line 8: use Xingang East Station exit A for Areas A and D, Pazhou Station exits A or B for Area B, and Pazhou Station exit C for Area C. Our Guangzhou and Shenzhen guide covers the rest of the city.

CIIE (Shanghai)

Check the official site, ciie.org, early for the next edition's dates and rules, because visitor registration closes well before the opening. The China International Import Expo is held every year from 5 to 10 November at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai); in 2026, public visitors could attend on the last three days, 8–10 November. Metro Lines 2 and 17 go straight to National Exhibition and Convention Center Station, which is the easiest way in during the show.

CIFTIS (Beijing)

The China International Fair for Trade in Services (服贸会) is a major fair in Beijing focused on services rather than goods. Its dates for the next edition are published on the official site, ciftis.org; check there before planning a Beijing trip around it.

Whatever fair you attend, the registration rules from the section above still apply: a hotel registers you automatically, but if you share a rented apartment with your team, someone has to register everyone within 24 hours.

Meetings and business dinners

Chinese business etiquette is more formal and more aware of seniority than many Western visitors are used to, but nobody expects a foreigner to get every detail right. Watch what your host does and follow their lead; that covers most situations.

Business cards. In formal business settings, people still exchange business cards (名片, míngpiàn), even though day-to-day contact happens on WeChat. Hand your card over with both hands, Chinese side up if it has one; folding, writing on or fiddling with a card you have just received is seen as disrespectful. Read the card for a moment before putting it away. A card printed with Chinese on the back is worth ordering before the trip.

Who sits where. At a formal dinner, the seat facing the door is the seat of honour, usually for the host or the main guest; the seat opposite, with its back to the door, goes to the second host, who handles the ordering. Other guests are placed outward by rank, so wait for the host to show you where to sit. Meetings follow similar logic: you will be guided to a seat.

Toasts. Saying gānbēi (干杯, "dry the glass") usually means finishing what is in your glass. When you toast the host, stand, hold your glass with both hands and keep it slightly lower than theirs as a sign of respect. You do not have to drink alcohol: say early and politely that you will toast with tea or juice, and it is rarely an issue. Pace yourself if you do drink — the local spirit, baijiu, is strong.

At the table. Shared dishes often come with serving chopsticks, and using your own chopsticks to put food on someone else's plate is considered impolite. When someone pours your tea while you are talking or eating, tapping two fingers on the table is a quiet way to say thank you. Offering to pay is polite, but the host usually insists; if they pay, thank them and offer to host next time.

Smoking. Indoor public places, indoor workplaces and public transport are smoke-free under Beijing's tobacco control rules, and Shanghai's rules cover the same places and include e-cigarettes. If your host smokes, there is no need to comment.

Gifts and language. A modest gift from your home city or company is a good gesture at a first meeting; keep it simple rather than expensive. For anything involving contract terms, specifications or prices, hire a professional interpreter rather than relying on an app — a translation app is fine for taxis and menus, not for negotiations. See our translation apps comparison for everyday use and cultural etiquette and taboos for the wider picture.

What to pack for a business trip to China

This section covers what a business trip adds to a normal packing list. For clothing, toiletries and general travel items, use our full what to pack for China list as well.

Documents

• Passport with enough validity. For 240-hour transit you need at least three months left; for a visa application through the US embassy, more than six months and two blank pages. Keep it with you: hotels need it to check you in.
• Invitation letter, printed and on your phone, plus hotel bookings and your return or onward flight — the papers the border officer may ask to see. Transit visitors must have the onward ticket booked before arrival.
• Your company's invoice details: the full legal name, and the Chinese tax code if a Chinese entity is paying, saved in your phone so you can show it to cashiers.
• ATA Carnet if you are bringing exhibition goods, samples you will take home, or professional equipment.

Work kit

• Business cards, ideally English on one side and Simplified Chinese on the other, and more than you think you need — trade fairs use them up fast.
• Plug adapter. Mains power in mainland China is 220 volts at 50 hertz. Most laptop and phone chargers are labelled 100–240V and work fine with just an adapter; check the label on anything else, such as a hair dryer. Chinese sockets have separate two-pin and three-pin holes, and the old "universal" sockets that accepted foreign plugs are banned, so bring a proper adapter rather than hoping your plug fits. Our tech and adapters guide shows which plug shapes fit.
• A small power strip or multi-port charger for hotel rooms with few sockets near the desk, and a power bank for long fair days.
• Phone ready to go: eSIM installed, Alipay and WeChat set up with your card, and any VPN your company allows tested before departure.

Money

• Some cash in yuan as a backup for small shops and the odd taxi, within the limit of 20,000 yuan you may carry across the border.
• Two cards from different card companies, so one blocked card does not stop you.

Medicine

• Bring enough of your ordinary prescription medicine for the whole trip. Sleeping pills and some other controlled medicines cannot be bought in Chinese pharmacies without a local doctor's prescription.
• Carry a doctor's note for controlled medicines. The whole-trip advice above does not apply to narcotic or Class I psychotropic medicines. For these, you may carry no more than the maximum amount of a single prescription, and only with your doctor's diagnosis and your ID; Shanghai customs gives that cap as one dose for injectables, up to 3 days for other forms and up to 7 days for controlled-release forms. Bring the prescription or medical records and declare the medicine at the border, and check with the Chinese embassy before travel if you take such a medicine.
• For finding a doctor during the trip, see health and medical care in China.

Clothes and gifts

• Business wear: a suit or smart jacket for first meetings and banquets; finance, law and government meetings tend to be formal, tech and factory visits less so. Comfortable shoes matter more than usual at trade fairs and factory tours.
• Seasonal layers: Beijing winters are cold and Guangzhou summers are hot and humid; offices and trains run strong air conditioning in summer.
• Small gifts from your company or city. Gifts that will stay in China count toward the duty-free allowance of 2,000 yuan for non-residents.

Where to stay: business districts

Stay close to your meetings — rush-hour traffic in big Chinese cities can turn a short distance into a long ride. In Beijing, the CBD around Guomao suits most multinational offices, and Financial Street suits banking and government-related meetings. In Shanghai, Lujiazui in Pudong is the financial district, while Jing'an across the river has many corporate offices and good hotels. In Guangzhou, Zhujiang New Town in Tianhe is the business centre (during the Canton Fair, Pazhou is closer to the venue), and in Shenzhen, Futian is the main CBD and Nanshan the tech district. Foreign guests can book hotels online through Trip.com and pay with an international card; filter by district to stay near your meetings. The Beijing and Shanghai city guides cover each area in more detail.

Summary

Check your passport first: 30 days visa-free if your country is on the list, 240-hour transit if you are continuing to another country, an M visa with a proper invitation letter otherwise — and remember that business is allowed visa-free, while work is not. Carry your invitation letter and bookings for the border. Let the hotel handle registration, or register online within 24 hours if you stay elsewhere. Agree with your finance team what a valid fapiao looks like before you leave, collect one for every work expense, and download rail e-invoices from 12306. Set up your eSIM, Alipay and WeChat at home, pack an adapter, business cards and your medicines, and book a hotel near your meetings. With that done, you can start meetings the day after you land.

Last updated: November 2026