China Extends Visa-Free Entry for French, Germans, and the Nationals of 10 Other Countries to 2025

China will extend its visa-free policy for citizens of 12 countries including France, Germany, and Italy till the end of 2025, the ministry of foreign affairs announced today.

The exemption policy, released last November, first included passport holders from six countries, including Malaysia, the Netherlands, and Spain, and was supposed to last for one year. But in March, China added six other countries: Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg.

This is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, and the year is also observed as the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism.

In the five months till April 30, some 74,000 holders of French passports entered China without a visa, making up almost 60 percent of all French visitors, according to an immigration official. Business and travel accounted for almost 80 percent of all visa-free visits. This year, a total of 104,000 French nationals have entered China, up by almost four times from the same period of last year, per immigration data. Meanwhile, 130,000 residents of China's mainland have gone to France, a more than threefold increase.

The world's second-largest economy is also luring more Asian tourists as China resumed its 15-day visa-free entry policy for citizens of Singapore and Brunei last July. Besides that, China and Thailand inked a mutual visa-free agreement that came into effect in March.

During China's recent five-day May Day holiday, some 779,000 foreigners entered and exited the country, almost doubled from a year ago, according to official data released yesterday. In the first quarter, 466,000 foreigners successfully obtained Chinese visas, a more than twofold boost, and nearly two million foreigners entered the country without a visa, up almost four times.