Chinese passport

The People's Republic of China passport (commonly referred to as the Chinese passport) is a passport issued to citizens of the People's Republic of China for the purpose of international travel, and entitles its bearer to the protection of China's consular officials overseas.
On 1 July 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a trial issuance of e-passports for individuals conducting public affairs work overseas on behalf of the Chinese government. The face, fingerprints, and other biometric features of the passport holder is digitized and stored in pre-installed contactless smart chip, along with "the passport owner's name, sex and personal photo as well as the passport's term of validity and [the] digital certificate of the chip". Ordinary biometric passports were introduced by the Ministry of Public Security on 15 May 2012. As of January 2015, all new passports issued by China are biometric e-passports, and non-biometric passports are no longer issued.
In 2012, over 38 million Chinese citizens held ordinary passports, comprising only 2.86 percent of the total population at the time. In 2014, China issued 16 million passports, ranking first in the world, surpassing the United States (14 million) and India (10 million). The number of ordinary passports in circulation rose to 120 million by October 2016, which was approximately 8.7 percent of the population. As of April 2017 to date, China had issued over 100 million biometric ordinary passports.
Articles 3, 4, 5 and 8 of the Passport Law of the People's Republic of China, which went into effect in 2007, declares three types of passports issued in China:
Article 9 of the Law states that the "issuing scope of diplomatic passports and service passports, the measures for issue of such passports, their terms of validity and the specific categories of service passports shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs".
The ordinary passport is considered a passport "for private affairs" (因私护照), while service (including for public affairs passports) and diplomatic passports are passports "for public affairs" (因公护照).
The passports for Macau and Hong Kong SARs are issued and regulated by the governments of these regions, and are therefore not covered by this law.
In July 2011 the Chinese government began to issue biometric diplomatic passports, service passports and passports for public affairs. The launch date of biometric ordinary passports was May 15, 2012.
A different passport for public affairs (Chinese: 因公普通护照; lit. 'ordinary passport for public affairs') was issued until 2006. Unlike the current version, it was classified as a variation of ordinary passport. The abuse of the use of document resulted in its subsequent cancellation. Unlike other passports, it was issued by the provincial or municipal Foreign Affairs Offices, rather than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Public Security. Chinese ordinary passport for public affairs was used at the end of the 1980s and the 1990s. The passport information was written by hand, and these ordinary passports were usually valid for 2 or 5 years.
In 1996, 77% of persons exiting China held a passport for public affairs. The rate had dropped to 39% by 2002. The reason for the high rate of usage was because the passport for public affairs offered more visa-free countries, such as Russia, than the ordinary passport. Chinese regulations require public affairs passports to be kept in the possession of the holder's work unit, and they must be surrendered by the individual within one month of returning to China.
The passport previously had an across-the-board 5-year period of validity. Since 2007, ordinary passports are valid for 10 years for bearers above 16 years of age, and for 5 years for bearers below 16 years of age, and diplomatic or service passports are valid for 4 years. According to the 2006 Passport Law of the People's Republic of China, renewal of previously issued passports ended on January 1, 2007. However, passports renewed before 2007 remained valid until expiry.
The newest version of the regular Chinese passport is the biometric version, which replaced its predecessors "Form 92", "Form 97-1" and "Form 97-2", but Form "97-2" passport is still being issued for single group tourism to Russia in some Sino-Russia broder cities and valid for only 3 months or after returning to China. It was released to the general public in May 2012. The passport contains 48 pages.
The Form "1982" ordinary Chinese passport is a hand-written passport and issued in 1982. Chinese, French and English are used in all pages.
The Form "1992" ordinary Chinese passport is not a machine-readable passport, and issued in 1992.
The Form "97-2" ordinary Chinese passport is a machine-readable passport, and issued in February 1997. In "97-2", personal data is on the inside front cover along with a coloured photo printed with inkjet printer, with a protective film covering most of the data page. Details include:
In the biometric Passport, the personal data page was moved to a separate sheet of paper, and the design of personal data page has been amended significantly, adding the full name of PRC in Simplified Chinese and English on top along with an e-passport symbol printed with optically variable ink. New security features include a second ghost image of the holder and additional holographic graphs including the PRC emblem and the laser-printed world map. The details included are as follows:
All information is printed in Simplified Chinese and English, except for the "Attentions" page, which is only printed in Simplified Chinese.
If the passport is for single travel, a valid notice will printed in Simplified Chinese and English on this page.
On version "97-1" and "97-2", it is on page 1. On the biometric version, it is moved to page 3.
In the biometric version, selected nature hotspots and famous sights of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are printed in the inner pages, each page also contains a transparent watermark of another nature hotspots and famous sights in the same area.
The last page has the notes for the passport. For e-passport, inside the backcover, a caution for the biometric chip is written in both Chinese and English:
本护照内置敏感电子元件。为保持最佳性能，请不要将护照折弯、打孔或者暴露在极端温湿度环境。This passport contains sensitive electronics. For best performance, please do not bend, perforate or expose to extreme temperatures or excess moisture. 请勿在此盖印 DO NOT STAMP HERE
The fee for a Chinese passport is CNY 120. When applying for a passport overseas, the fee is US$25 or €20. No extra fees are charged for expedited processing if approved.
Normal processing time is 10 business days when applying from mainland China, and 15 business days from Chinese diplomatic missions outside mainland China (including Hong Kong and Macau). In some Regions, processing time is 7 business days such as Shanghai City if application was submitted electronically (online or by cell phone APPs such as WeChat). Expedited processing is available for 5 business days, but is only available if the applicants have genuine emergencies, such as they have deceased relatives abroad, their first day of school is near, or they have unused visas in old passports that are expiring soon.
Permanent residents of Hong Kong or Macau who hold Chinese nationality Special Administrative Regions of China are issued Hong Kong or Macau SAR passports by the respective passport issuing authorities in the SARs. In Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Immigration Department is the issuing authority of HKSAR passports. In Macau, the Identification Services Bureau issues MSAR passports. The SAR passports and travel documents are issued solely by the government of the SARs, and the designs differ from that of the ordinary Chinese passport, albeit all three passports bear the same country and nationality code, CHN, and the nationality listed is Chinese. However, Chinese nationals of Hong Kong or Macau who hold SAR passports are often considered distinctly as Hong Kong citizens or Macau citizens by the authority of other countries/territories.
Chinese nationals who are non-permanent residents of Hong Kong or Macau AND are without household registration in mainland China are issued Hong Kong Document of Identity for Visa Purposes or Macao Special Administrative Region Travel Permit, respectively.
While the SAR passports and travel documents are endorsed by China, mainland ports of entry controlled by the Ministry of Public Security do not accept those documents for entry into mainland China. MPS requires SAR residents of Chinese nationality to use a Home Return Permit or Chinese Travel Document for SAR residents travelling directly from overseas.
The following travel documents are also issued by mainland China to Chinese citizens who may or may not qualify for a Chinese passport for various reasons:
The People's Republic of China Travel Document (Chinese: 中华人民共和国旅行证) is a type of travel document issued by Chinese embassies, consulates, and other foreign offices to Chinese citizens for their international travel to China and other countries. The bearer of the Travel Document is legally defined a Chinese citizen in accordance with the Nationality Law.
The Travel Document is issued to Chinese nationals in situations when it is inconvenient or unnecessary to be issued a People's Republic of China passport. For example,
The Exit-Entry Permit for Travelling to and from Hong Kong and Macau, also known as the Two-way Permit, is issued to Chinese citizens with hukou who only wish to visit Hong Kong and Macau.
The Permit for Proceeding to Hong Kong and Macao, also known as the One-way Permit, is issued to Chinese citizens who are settling in Hong Kong or Macau and have relinquished their Chinese residency (hukou). After their initial entry to Hong Kong or Macau, they are considered as SAR residents and are permanently ineligible for an ordinary Chinese passport, and later they will be eligible for SAR passports if they acquire a permanent resident status in the respective SARs.
The Travel Permit to and from Taiwan, colloquially known as Mainland Compatriot Permit or Mainland Resident Travel Permit, is issued to Chinese citizens with hukou in Mainland China by Ministry of Public Security, to those who wish to travel directly between mainland China and Taiwan. Holders of the permit are required to obtain exit endorsements issued by MPS and Exit and Entry Permit issued by Taiwanese authorities prior to traveling. This permit as well as a valid exit endorsement (except for Group Tourist Endorsement) is still required even if only transiting through Taiwan without leaving the sterile area of the airport when departing from airports of mainland China except for Chongqing, Nanchang, or Kunming. Exit and Entry Permit is not required, however, when not leaving the sterile area of Taoyuan Airport on transit to the third place regardless of the city of departure.
Holders of Chinese biometric Passports are eligible to use the Self-Service Immigration System, or e-Channel. E-Channel are located throughout numerous international airports in mainland China (including these top 10 busiest international gateways: Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Chengdu Tianfu International Airport) as well as land border crossing checkpoints in Shenzhen and Zhuhai. e-Channel was first introduced for self-entry, i.e. for Chinese biometric passport holders return to China from Outside destinations. In order to use the e-Channel, they must hold biometric passports with their fingerprint data pre-recorded on the biometric chip. If their biometric passports do not contain fingerprint data, they must first register with China Immigration Inspection (CII) at land border checkpoints or international airports to be eligible.
Starting from August 19, 2016, passengers are able to use the e-Gates in terminal 2 of Beijing Capital International Airport to complete exit procedures from China as well.
Starting from Dec 1, 2017, Shanghai international airports including PVG and SHA both have e-Channel for exit.
The extended list of eligible travelers is:
Registration with CII not required:
Registration with CII required:
Visa requirements for Chinese citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of the People's Republic of China. As of 2025, Chinese citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 85 countries and territories, ranking the Chinese passport 60th in the world according to the Henley Passport Index. The latest visa exemption is granted by Kiribati Ministry of Foreign Affairs to all Chinese citizen for tourism purpose. Chinese passport is also the highest-ranked passport among Communist states. After Covid travel restriction was lifted, the resume of free-to-travel is on high demand as well as align to government's economic boosting strategy; Passport offices are also introducing new mobile-app allow hassle-free passport application or renew, together with video-call and facial recognition techniques to enable this service 24/7. According to Henley's report, Chinese Passport is the front runner for visa-free travel ranking among all countries. The Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS) is introduced in 2016 for Chinese passport holder who hold a valid 10-year B1, B2, or B1/B2 visa to travel to the United States.
Issued to Chinese citizens with Hukou or Chinese citizens not qualified for SAR-issued travel documents, Chinese passports cannot normally be used when travelling directly to Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan from mainland China.
In order for such Chinese citizens to travel from mainland China to Hong Kong and Macau, a Two-way Permit is required. Chinese foreign missions, however, do issue visa-like Hong Kong SAR Entry Permits for up to 14 days to Chinese citizens residing outside mainland China upon request, so PRC passport holders can travel solely between Hong Kong and Mainland with passports. Chinese passports can be used when transiting through Hong Kong or Macau to other countries and can enter Hong Kong or Macau for 7 days without a visa.
Travelling to Taiwan from mainland China requires the Travel Permit to and from Taiwan as well as Exit and Entry Permit issued by the Taiwanese government. Although Chinese passports are accepted as valid travel documents by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and Taiwanese diplomatic missions, the NIA does not allow Chinese citizens with hukou to travel to Taiwan when departing from mainland China unless holding the Mainland Resident Travel Permit with valid exit endorsement.
These are the numbers of mainland Chinese visitors to various countries or territories: