China entry visa validity on "enter before" date

My departure time from Amsterdam for Guanghzhou, China will be 13:30 on the 4th. September. My visa stipulates that I must enter China before the 5th. Will there be a problem because of the time difference going east?

Best Answer

Although the visa says "enter before", according to the Chinese Embassy in the USA, the visa is

good through 24h00 Beijing Time of the "Enter Before" date unless the number of entries is used up or the visa is revoked by the Chinese government.

If you're flying direct, your flight should arrive around 7h00 on the 5th, Beijing time.

Airline tickets and itineraries almost always give local times for all stops, so if yours says you're landing at 7h00, that refers to Beijing time.

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Can I enter China on the day my visa expires?

Validity of a visa refers to the period that the visa holder is allowed to enter China. Unless otherwise specified, a visa holder may enter China at any time prior to expiry of validity (right up to midnight Beijing Time on the final day of validity), so long as the entries granted on the visa have not been used up.

What is the meaning of visa validity date?

The visa expiration date is shown on the visa along with the visa issuance date. The time between visa issuance and expiration date is called your visa validity. The visa validity is the length of time you are permitted to travel to a port-of-entry in the United States.

Can I enter a country before visa date?

You could arrive earlier and enter with a tourist visa, assuming that your nationality would let you enter as a tourist without needing a visa. If that's not the case, and your visa is in fact a tourist visa, you can always wait in the airport before "entering" the territory.

What does number of entries mean on visa?

A single-entry visa allows the holder to enter the country once. A multiple-entry visa permits the holder to enter more than once. The exact terms of multiple-entry visas vary depending on the country of issue. In many cases, the number of entries is unlimited while the visa is still valid.

Getting a work visa for China

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