China Tourist Visa for Australian Passport Holders
All visa requirements on this page are for Australian passport holder(s) only; if you are joining our tours and holding other passports that aren’t Australian, please contact us for further details. All information enclosed are for references only, please consult relevant Embassy / Consulate for more details.
Your Australian passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of your travel and there must be at
least two blank pages for visa stamps.
Unlike many other countries, Australian passport holders aren’t exempt from applying for a visa when visiting China. If you’re joining us on one of our CBT tours, we will waive the service fee for your visa application. However, if you wish to use our services to obtain a China tourist visa for your own travel purposes, we charge a fee of $50 per passport holder excluding any applicable courier fees.
To obtain your China tourist visa, please download and complete the China Visa Application Form.
For a single-entry visa, it costs $109.50 AUD (including GST) per passport holder. If you need a double-entry or multiple-entry visa, read our section below for more information.
After you’ve submitted all of your documents to us, it normally takes 6 to 10 working days to process.
To apply for the tourist visa, you would need:
• Original Australian passport
• A recent passport photo
• A completed visa application form
• Relevant visa application fees
The Chinese visa is valid for 3 months from the date of approval. If you apply too early, your visa may expire before you need to use it, and if you apply too late, your visa may not be processed in time.
We would recommend applying for your visa approximately a month before your planned travel date to China.
It is impossible and you will be refused entry when checking in at the airport.
Normally you are able to stay for a duration of 30 days from the date of your entrance into China, but it is possible be stay longer if you have an approved travel plan.
You can’t stay in China without a visa unless you are transiting.
If you’re transiting through China on international flights in many major cities in China, as long as you have a confirmed onward ticket to another country, you don’t need to obtain any visa.
As long as your passport is valid for at least six months before your entrance to Hong Kong, you are able to stay for a duration for three months in Hong Kong without a tourist visa.
As the name suggests, a single-entry tourist visa allows you ONE entry into China, two entries into China for double-entry visas and various entries for multiple-entry visas.
You would need a double-entry visa to China if, for example, you plan to travel to China, then to Hong Kong, and back to China.
A multiple-entry tourist visa to China allows you to enter and re-enter China as many times as you like during the validity of the visa.
Your tourist visa expiry date only determines the date in which you need to enter China. Once you have used your tourist visa to gain entry into China, you are able to stay for a duration of 30 days.
If you have an idea of the whereabouts of your passport at the time of loss, contact the local security authorities as soon as possible to let them know in case someone hands it in. Then, visit the Australian embassy or consulate in China to apply for a new passport and recover your travel documents if necessary. Once you have obtained your new passport, you should then apply for a new entry and exit tourist visa.