China Arrival Card: How to Fill It In, Field by Field

Before you start · on the form: “Arrival Card Filling”

Open the official form and switch to English

Step 1 of 6 · on the form: “Uploading ID Document Page”

Photograph your passport page

The fields on this screen

• Type of ID Document required

  Ordinary Passport – the normal passport. The other types are for diplomats, officials and seafarers.

• Upload ID Document Page required

  A photo of the passport page with your picture, taken with the camera button or picked from your files. The form reads your name, date of birth, nationality and passport number from it.

  Common mistake: Glare on the page or a cut-off bottom edge. The two lines of letters and <<< at the bottom (the machine-readable zone) must be sharp – that is what the form reads.

Step 2 of 6 · on the form: “Basic Information Filling”

Check what the photo filled in, add your flight

The fields on this screen

• Last Name required

  Filled in from your photo. Check it against the machine-readable zone at the bottom of the passport page, not against the printed name above it.

  Common mistake: Typing letters with accents. The form only keeps A–Z and silently deletes Ü, É, Ø or Ñ – MÜLLER becomes MLLER. Write the name as in the machine-readable zone: MUELLER.

• First Name optional

  All your given names, as in the machine-readable zone. The form lets it stay empty only for people with a single name.

  Common mistake: Dropping a middle name that is in the passport.

• Gender required

  As in the passport.

• Date of Birth required

  Three pickers in the order Year – Month – Day.

  Common mistake: Swapping day and month when correcting it by hand – the form runs year, month, day, not day, month, year.

• Country/Region of Citizenship required

  The country that issued the passport you travel on.

  Common mistake: Dual nationals picking the other passport. It must match the one you show at the border.

• Passport Number required

  Read from the photo. Compare it digit by digit with your passport.

  Common mistake: Letter O read as zero, I as 1, or the other way round.

• Entry Transportation Mode required

  Flight if you fly in. Train or Automobile/On Foot if you cross from Hong Kong or Macao over land.

• Arrival Flight/Train/Vessel Number sometimes

  The flight that lands in mainland China, as on your boarding pass: airline code and number, no space – CA932, not CA 932.

  Common mistake: Entering your connecting flight. Frankfurt–Beijing–Xi’an means you enter China in Beijing, so it is the Frankfurt–Beijing flight and Beijing as the city of entry.

• City of Entry required

  The city where you first land in mainland China – not your final destination.

• Port of Entry required

  The airport (or border crossing). The list opens once city and transport mode are set.

  Common mistake: Picking the wrong airport in a city with two: Beijing has Capital (PEK) and Daxing (PKX), Shanghai has Pudong (PVG) and Hongqiao (SHA). The code is on your ticket.

Step 3 of 6 · on the form: “Selecting Entry Category”

Pick how you are allowed in

The fields on this screen

• You may be eligible for the following entry policies，please select according to your needs: required

  One tile per category the immigration system offers for your nationality and airport. Visa-free passports: Visa-Free Policy. Chinese visa in the passport: Ordinary Entry Filling.

  Common mistake: Choosing 240-hour transit although you are visa-free anyway. Transit caps your departure date and requires a ticket on to a third country.

Step 4 of 6 · on the form: “Personal Information Filling”

Birthplace, phone, email and visa

The fields on this screen

• Chinese Name optional

  Leave it empty unless you have an official Chinese name, for example on an earlier Chinese visa.

• Country/Region of Birth required

  The country you were born in. The city box next to it is only mandatory if you were born in China.

• Contact Number required

  Your mobile number with the country code. The form keeps only + and digits, so 07700 900123 from the UK becomes +447700900123.

  Common mistake: Keeping the leading 0 after the country code (+4407700…), or leaving the country code out.

• Email optional

  Optional, but fill it in: the receipt can be sent there, and an emailed copy is your backup if the phone dies.

• Do you hold a valid visa or other entry permit? required

  No if you are visa-free or in transit, Yes if a Chinese visa is in your passport. The category you picked sets it for you.

• Entry Policy Selection sometimes

  The visa-free policy you chose on the category screen; it is already selected.

• Visa Number sometimes

  The number of the Chinese visa you enter on, up to 18 characters.

• Passport ever lost/stolen sometimes

  Whether this passport was ever reported lost or stolen – normally No.

Step 5 of 6 · on the form: “Travel Information Filling”

Purpose, date and where you sleep

The fields on this screen

• Purpose of Entry required

  Sightseeing/Leisure for a holiday, Conference/Business for trade fairs and meetings, Visiting Friends/Relatives for family visits.

• Date of Entry required

  The day you land in China, in Chinese time. The picker offers dates from today onwards.

  Common mistake: Overnight flights: leaving London on 20 March and landing in Beijing on 21 March means 21 March.

• Destination Cities in China required

  The city where you will stay longest on this trip.

• Cities of Transit in China optional

  Other cities on your route – the form takes up to three.

• Address in China required

  Province, city and district from a picker, then the street address of your first night in a text box (“e.g., No. 6 East Chang’an Street”). Copy it from your hotel booking; the district – Dongcheng, Pudong, Yanta – is part of the address there.

  Common mistake: Only the hotel name, or the district of the airport instead of the hotel. Without a booking yet, the form has nothing to accept.

• Do you have any inviting entities or inviters in China? required

  No for tourists. Yes only if a Chinese company or person invited you – then their name and phone number.

• Confirmed Departure Itinerary required

  Yes if your flight out is booked – then date, flight number, city and airport of departure. In the transit categories the departure details are mandatory.

  Common mistake: Entering the flight home for 240-hour transit: transit means flying on to a third country.

Step 6 of 6 · on the form: “Accompanying Person (s) Filling”

Add family, agree, sign

The fields on this screen

• Need to help your companion fill the form? optional

  Add family members or friends you fill in for. Each needs a photo of their own passport page, and all must have the same nationality as you.

  Common mistake: A couple with two different passports: the form refuses the companion. Each fills in their own card.

• I have read and agree to the above statements required

  Tick the box under the declaration, then sign with your finger in the signature area. On the computer version you also copy the statement into a box – the “One-click Input” button does it for you.

After submitting · on the form: “The Entry Declaration Receipt”

Save the receipt

After submitting: tap “Download to Local”, send it to your email and take a screenshot. At the border you may have no signal – keep the QR code offline.

Your answers are in the cheat sheet below – print it or copy it to your phone.

The fields on this screen

• Entry Declaration Receipt for Foreigner required

  Your receipt with a QR code, your name, passport number, city and port of entry and the date. Use “Download to Local” and “Send to Email”, and take a screenshot as well.