China resumes issuing all types of visas for foreigners

China will reopen its borders to tourists and resume issuing all visas on Wednesday after a three-year halt during the pandemic as it sought to boost its tourism and economy.

China is one of the last major countries to reopen its borders to tourists. The announcement on Tuesday came after it declared a "decisive victory" over COVID-19 in February, as reported by PTI.

All types of visas will resume from Wednesday. Visa-free entry also will resume at destinations such as Hainan Island as well as for cruise ships entering Shanghai that had no visa requirement before COVID-19.

Visa-free entry will resume for foreigners from Hong Kong and Macao to enter Guangdong in southern China, and foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020, that are still valid will be allowed to enter China.

The notice didn't specify whether vaccination certificates or negative COVID-19 tests would be required.

The move would "further facilitate the exchange of Chinese and foreign personnel," according to the notice posted on the websites of numerous Chinese missions and embassies.

China had stuck to a harsh "zero-COVID" strategy involving sudden lockdowns and daily COVID-19 testing to try to stop the virus before abandoning most aspects of the policy in December amid growing opposition.

In China, only 115.7 million inbound and outbound trips were made in 2022 which is less than a fifth of those flown in 2019 before the pandemic hit, according to data from China's Ministry of Public Security. Mainland residents made 64.6 million trips last year, data showed.

Meanwhile, China has also loosened Covid test requirements for travelers from New Zealand, Russia and Malaysia from March. China still requires some countries, including the US, to provide negative PCR tests before boarding flights.