China opens borders to tourists after 3 years of restrictions
The Hindu
China’s embassies abroad will resume issuing various categories of visas to foreigners from March 15, 2023
China will, starting March 15, 2023, fully reopen its borders and allow tourists back into the country after three years of pandemic restrictions.
The country’s embassies abroad will resume “issuing various categories of visas to foreigners Wednesday,” the Department of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said.
Foreigners “with valid visas issued before March 28, 2020 will be allowed to enter China”, the National Immigration Administration said in a notice, adding that it had “decided to adjust policies of foreigners’ visas and entry from 0:00 on March 15, 2023 in order to better coordinate COVID-19 prevention and control with economic and social development, and to facilitate personnel exchanges between China and other countries”.
The announcements marked the withdrawal of the last remaining travel restrictions that had been in place for close to three years. Since early 2020, China had some of the most stringent travel restrictions of anywhere in the world, and was essentially closed off from international travel.
Starting last year, Beijing began to allow small batches of foreign students back into the country, with many, including thousands of medical students from India, seeing their education put on hold for more than two years as well as having their graduation plans disrupted.
China ended the “zero-COVID” policy in early December 2022, and starting January 8, 2023, opened its borders for family reunions and ended the mandatory quarantine for international arrivals.
This followed the Chinese government downgrading management of COVID-19 from a Class A to Class B infectious disease, no longer allowing for lockdowns and quarantine.