Hainan’s 30-day visa-free entry, in detail

Sixty-one nationalities, thirty days, and “medical treatment” written into the policy. What the rule says, how the days are counted, and who it does not cover.

The rule in one paragraph

Hainan Province runs its own visa-free entry policy, separate from the rest of China. Foreign nationals holding an ordinary passport from one of 61 listed countries may enter Hainan through any of its open ports and stay within the province for up to 30 days without a visa, for purposes the policy lists as tourism, business, visits, family visits, medical treatment, conferences and exhibitions, and sports competitions. It does not apply to anyone entering to work or to study. The policy began in February 2024 with 59 countries and the National Immigration Administration’s current interpretation, republished in August 2026, lists 61.

Source: National Immigration Administration of China, Regional Visa-Free Entry Policies for Foreign Nationals, 2026-08-20. Policies change; confirm against the current NIA text before you book, and tell your care manager your nationality so we can check it for you.

Why “medical treatment” matters

Most short-stay visa waivers are written for tourism and business, and a traveller arriving for a hospital program sits in a grey area. Hainan’s is unusual in naming medical treatment as an approved purpose outright. For a guest of the retreat this means the four-day assessment, any conditioning program the panel recommends, and the first infusions of a treatment course can all be taken on the strength of a passport and a return ticket. You should still travel with your hospital confirmation letter and your booking; border officers may ask the purpose of your visit, and the honest answer is the approved one.

The 61 countries

Two readings of that list are worth making explicitly. The Gulf coverage is partial: UAE and Qatari passports qualify; Saudi, Kuwaiti, Omani and Bahraini passports do not, and guests from those countries need a visa (China’s separate national arrangements may cover some of them — see below). And India, South Africa, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan are not on the list either, despite regular interest from all five; a standard Chinese visa, applied for before travel, is the route.

How you have to arrive: the direct-flight rule

The waiver is not only about who you are; it is about how you reach the island. The policy covers a traveller arriving on a direct international flight from their own country, or transiting through a third country or through Hong Kong or Macao. It does not cover an arrival into Hainan on a domestic flight from the Chinese mainland — a guest who lands in Shanghai or Guangzhou first has already entered China, and entering there needs a visa or one of the national waivers. In practice this settles your routing more often than your nationality does: Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur all run direct services into Haikou or Sanya, and a Hong Kong connection is the usual answer for a long-haul guest. If your itinerary wants to route through Beijing or Shanghai, say so before you book — the transit scheme below is sometimes the cleaner answer.

Nothing is filed in advance. The policy requires no prior application, no travel-agency registration and no pre-declaration; eligibility is established at border inspection when you arrive. Guests sometimes ask which form to submit beforehand, and the answer is that there isn’t one.

How the thirty days are counted

At the border: what you are actually asked

If treatment needs longer

A standard cell-therapy course spans about five weeks — three infusions, one every two weeks — and some guests prefer to stay on the island for the whole of it rather than fly home between infusions. Two routes. The simpler is to apply for an ordinary Chinese visa before you travel, once the treating hospital has confirmed candidacy in writing and issued its letter; this gives you a stay long enough for the full course with margin. The other is to enter visa-free and, before the 30 days run out, have the treating hospital support a stay-extension application to the Hainan exit-entry administration on medical grounds. Extensions are granted at the authorities’ discretion; your care manager coordinates the paperwork, and we will tell you which route suits your dates before you commit. How an NK course is scheduled →

Registering where you stay, and what an overstay costs

Two obligations sit behind the entry stamp, and most guests never touch either.

China’s national waivers, briefly

Separately from the Hainan policy, China has extended unilateral 30-day visa-free entry to a growing list of countries for the whole mainland, and runs a 240-hour visa-free transit scheme through designated ports. Where your nationality is covered by a national waiver, you may enter Hainan under either arrangement and, under the national one, travel on to the mainland as well. The lists overlap heavily but are not identical, and they change more often than Hainan’s; the National Immigration Administration’s English site publishes both. Tell us your passport and we will tell you which applies.

Adding mainland China: the 240-hour transit route

This is the arrangement to know about if the Hainan waiver’s one real limit — that you may not leave the island — is the thing in your way. Nationals of 55 countries travelling onward from China to a third country or region may enter visa-free and stay up to 240 hours, ten days, inside the scheme’s permitted areas. Those areas now cover 24 provinces, regions and municipalities, and Hainan is included as an entire province; Haikou Meilan and Sanya Phoenix are both on the scheme’s list of 60 open ports, while Qionghai Bo’ao is not, so arrive at Haikou or Sanya if you intend to use it.

What it buys you is mainland travel: Shanghai or Guangzhou and Hainan on one trip, which the 30-day Hainan rule does not allow. What it costs you is time — ten days rather than thirty, which suits a four-day assessment with sightseeing attached and does not suit a treatment course. And the condition is a genuine onward journey to a third country, evidenced at check-in and again at the border: China to somewhere else, not China and home again. The two lists overlap heavily and the transit one changes more often; tell us your passport and your routing and we will tell you which arrangement fits your dates.

What to carry

Bringing prescription medication into China through customs

Most guests arrive on something, and this is the question the packing lists skip. The general rule is personal use in a reasonable quantity, in original packaging, with the prescription to hand; ordinary prescription medicines travel without ceremony on that basis. Controlled drugs are the exception, and the published limits are specific rather than discretionary.

Source: Shanghai Customs guidance on carrying psychotropic and narcotic medication, as published by the Shanghai municipal government, 2024-05-16. Limits are set nationally by the customs and drug-control authorities and are revised; confirm your own medicines against current guidance before you fly, and tell your care manager what you take so we can check it with the hospital pharmacy in advance.

Two practical notes. Ask before you post or courier anything ahead instead of carrying it — mailing pharmaceuticals is a different regime from hand luggage, and we would rather check than guess. And bring the paperwork as well as the pills: send imaging and laboratory reports ahead through the channel your care manager opens, and carry a copy. What else to bring →

One point of confusion worth clearing, because it reads alarming in the business press and changes nothing here. On 18 December 2025 Hainan began island-wide independent customs operation, which moved customs control out to the island’s own boundary and formally made Hainan a special customs supervision zone. It is a goods regime — tariffs, duty-free categories, negative lists — and the official framing is supervision of goods, not of people. Visa-free entry, the thirty-day stay and medical treatment as an approved purpose are untouched by it. The medical special zone inside the Hainan Free Trade Port →

Frequently asked

Do I need a visa to visit Hainan for medical treatment?

Ordinary-passport holders from 61 countries can enter Hainan Province visa-free for up to 30 days, and medical treatment is an explicitly approved purpose under the policy, alongside tourism, business, family visits, conferences and sports. Working and studying are excluded.

Which countries qualify for Hainan visa-free entry?

As published by China's National Immigration Administration (August 2026): most of Europe including the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Nordics; the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile; Australia and New Zealand; Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei; the UAE and Qatar; Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan; and the Balkan states. Sixty-one countries in total.

How are the 30 days counted?

From midnight on the day after you arrive, so the arrival day itself is not counted. The 30 days must be spent within Hainan Province; travelling on to the mainland requires a visa.

Can I fly to Hainan from Shanghai or Beijing without a visa?

No. The Hainan waiver covers travellers arriving on a direct international flight from their own country, or transiting through a third country or through Hong Kong or Macao. Landing in Shanghai or Beijing first means entering China there, which needs a visa or one of China's national waivers. If your routing goes through the mainland, the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme is usually the cleaner answer.

Can I bring my own prescription medicine into China?

Ordinary prescription medicines travel on the general rule: personal use, reasonable quantity, original packaging, prescription to hand. Controlled drugs are the exception and the limits are specific. Narcotics and Category I psychotropics need a diagnosis certificate from a medical institution and are cleared up to one prescription's maximum; injectable forms are limited to a single dose; ordinary formulations to a three-day supply and controlled- or sustained-release formulations to seven days. Category II psychotropics should be declared to customs at the port with the prescription or records. Confirm your own medicines against current Chinese customs guidance before you fly.

Do I have to register with the police in Hainan?

If you stay in a hotel, the hotel registers you with the local public security organ when you check in and there is nothing further to do. If you stay at a private address, you or your host must register within 24 hours of arrival; since 21 September 2026 that filing can be made online nationwide.

What happens if I overstay the 30 days?

Illegal residence draws a warning in the mildest case and, in serious cases, a fine of RMB 500 per day capped at RMB 10,000, or detention of five to fifteen days, under Article 78 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law. An extension is applied for at the Hainan exit-entry administration before the 30 days run out, not after.

What if my treatment needs longer than 30 days?

The treating hospital can support an application to the Hainan exit-entry authorities for a stay extension on medical grounds. Apply before the 30 days run out; your care manager coordinates it. Alternatively, apply for a standard Chinese visa before travelling.

Can I fly into Hainan from Hong Kong visa-free?

Yes. The policy applies at every open port in Hainan, including Haikou Meilan, Sanya Phoenix and Qionghai Bo'ao airports, whether you arrive from Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok or another direct route.

Which nationalities are not covered?

Among nationalities that regularly ask us: India, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa and Pakistan are not on the Hainan list and need a visa, unless another Chinese visa-free arrangement applies to them. Check the National Immigration Administration's current list before booking.

Or download the Retreat Dossier (PDF) → — itinerary, inclusions, programs, practicalities.