Landing capability

Into the mainland from Hong Kong or Macao without a visa: ten cities, six days, and only with the group

In short

I am in Hong Kong without a Chinese visa. Can I still see Shenzhen or Guangzhou?

On one set of terms, yes. The National Immigration Administration lets a foreign national with an ordinary passport from a country that has diplomatic relations with China enter nine mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, plus Shantou, without a visa — provided the traveller enters Hong Kong or Macao first and then crosses as part of a tourist group organised by a travel agency registered in one of the two SARs. The stay is at most six days, written on the older page as 144 hours, counted from 0:00 on the day after entry, and the group must enter and leave the mainland together through a port in those ten cities. Alone, or beyond those cities, it is not this door.

Back to the entry hub

Applies to

A traveller already going to Hong Kong or Macao whose passport is not separately visa-free for the Chinese mainland. If your passport is covered by a bilateral agreement or China's unilateral visa-free policy, the NIA says those rules prevail — you do not need a group and you are not held to ten cities.

Check before you rely on it

Facts come from two NIA policy-interpretation pages and two NIA announcements, all re-read in full on the date below. Those pages give conditions only: they name no ports, set no group size for this door, state no commencement date, and describe no check at the border. Anything in that list is in the could-not-confirm block rather than in the text above it.

Information checked: September 26, 2026

The thing most visitors get wrong about this exemption is its shape. It is not a border-crossing shortcut and it is not province-wide: it is a group instrument with a named list of ten cities attached, and the group is how you go in and how you come out.

Entry hub How the crossing itself works

The published facts

What the NIA says about this door, line by line

Each line links the official page and the day we read it. Sources read 2026-09-26.

The rule, in the NIA's words

Foreign nationals holding ordinary passports from countries with diplomatic relations with China may enter nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as well as Shantou, without a visa, provided that they will enter Hong Kong or Macao SAR first and then enter Guangdong Province as part of a tourist group organised by a travel agency registered in either of the two SARs. Every element of that sentence is a condition: the passport, the diplomatic-relations test, the Hong Kong or Macao leg first, and the SAR-registered agency's group.

Official source: National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China (en.nia.gov.cn) — Regional Visa-Free Entry Policies for Foreign Nationals (source 2026-08-20; read September 26, 2026)

Ten cities, not a province

The stay is limited to ten named cities: Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shantou, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Zhuhai. The NIA's 2026 policy page and its 2023 page print the same ten. Neither page extends the door to the rest of Guangdong, and no NIA or State Council page we could open says it has been widened — so a side trip to, for example, Shaoguan or Chaozhou is outside this exemption.

Six days, and how they are counted

The NIA's 2026 page allows a maximum of 6 days in those cities; its 2023 page states the same allowance as a maximum of 144 hours. The consolidated page adds the counting rule for every regional door it lists: the stay period is calculated from 0:00 on the day after the day of entry. So an arrival at any hour on a Monday is counted from 00:00 Tuesday.

You enter and leave with the group, through those cities' ports

The 2026 page states that the tourists concerned shall enter and exit the Chinese mainland as part of their tourist group via any of the exit-entry ports in these 10 cities; the 2023 page puts it as entering and exiting through an open port in one of these ten cities together with their groups. The group is not only how you book — it is how you cross in both directions. The NIA does not name individual ports on either page, so this page does not either.

Official source: National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China (en.nia.gov.cn) — Port Visa and Regional Visa-Free Entry Policies (source 2023-12-07; read September 26, 2026)

The 2023 page does not mention diplomatic relations — the 2026 one does

The 2023 policy page describes the same door as open to foreign nationals in tourist groups organised by travel agencies based in Hong Kong and Macao who hold ordinary passports, with no diplomatic-relations qualifier; the 2026 page limits it to countries with diplomatic relations with China. The NIA has published nothing explaining the difference, so this page takes the later, narrower wording and dates it rather than claiming the rule changed on some particular day.

Official source: National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China (en.nia.gov.cn) — Port Visa and Regional Visa-Free Entry Policies (source 2023-12-07; read September 26, 2026)

If your passport is already visa-free for China, this door is not the one that governs

The consolidated page closes with the rule that, for individuals who meet the requirements of China's bilateral visa exemption agreements or its unilateral visa exemption policies, the relevant regulations prevail. Many passports that would otherwise use this group door now enter the mainland independently under those wider rules — check that first, because this door costs you the group and the ten-city line.

No arrival card to fill in — the NIA lists this group among the exemptions

Since November 20, 2025 foreign nationals are asked to fill in their entry information online before coming to China, but NIA Announcement No. 4 of 2025 exempts seven categories from the Arrival Card, and the third of them is anyone holding a group visa or eligible for group visa-free entry. A traveller crossing on this door is in that category. The announcement states the exemption; it does not say what, if anything, the group's agency files instead.

Official source: National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China (en.nia.gov.cn) — Announcement on Implementing 10 New Measures to Support the Expansion of Opening-up and Serve High-quality Development (NO.4 [2025]) (source 2025-11-03; read September 26, 2026)

The five new Guangdong ports are a different instrument — don't plan around them

The same 2025 announcement added Guangzhou Pazhou Ferry Terminal, Hengqin Port, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Port, Zhongshan Port (Passenger) and West Kowloon Station as entry ports from November 5, 2025 — but for the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, taking that policy's ports from 60 to 65. That is transit, with an onward third-country ticket, not this group exemption. None of the ten measures in that announcement touches this door, which is also how we know the 2026 policy page is still the current wording.

The sister door: the same trip, but to Hainan

NIA Announcement No. 8 of 2024 opens an equivalent door from the same two SARs to Hainan instead: an ordinary passport from a country with diplomatic relations with China, a tourist group of at least two persons organised by a travel agency legally registered in Hong Kong or Macao, entry and exit in the group through any state-designated port in Hainan, a stay within Hainan, up to 144 hours counted from 0:00 on the day following entry. That announcement is the only one in this family that states a minimum group size — the Guangdong door's pages state none.

Official source: National Immigration Administration of the People's Republic of China (en.nia.gov.cn) — NIA's Announcement on Implementation of 144-Hour Visa-Free Policy for Foreign Tourist Groups Entering Hainan Province from Hong Kong and Macao SARs (No. 8 of 2024) (source 2024-08-01; read September 26, 2026)

The line on the map

The 10 cities, as the NIA prints them

The nine Greater Bay Area mainland cities plus Shantou. Both NIA pages — the 2026 one and the 2023 one — give this same list, and neither extends it to the rest of Guangdong Province.

Dongguan
Foshan
Guangzhou
Huizhou
Jiangmen
Shantou
Shenzhen
Zhaoqing
Zhongshan
Zhuhai

Deciding whether this door is yours

Passport, the SAR leg, the agency, then the ten-city line

1.Check the passport: an ordinary passport from a country with diplomatic relations with China, per the NIA's 2026 policy page. Other passport types are not covered.
2.Check whether you need this door at all. If a bilateral agreement or China's unilateral visa-free policy already covers your passport, the NIA says those rules prevail and you are not bound to a group or to ten cities.
3.Enter Hong Kong or Macao first. The exemption is written as a move from the SARs into the mainland, not as an arrival from anywhere else.
4.Join a tourist group organised by a travel agency registered in Hong Kong or Macao. An agency registered on the mainland or abroad is not what the page describes, and independent travel is not an option under this door.
5.Cross with the group through an exit-entry port in one of the ten cities, and leave the mainland the same way — the NIA requires entry and exit as part of the group.
6.Keep the whole mainland leg inside those ten cities and inside six days (144 hours), counted from 0:00 on the day after entry.

The failure points

Where a plan stops fitting the exemption

The official pages give conditions, not a checklist of who inspects what. Read as conditions, there are three places a plan falls outside them.

Before Hong Kong or Macao. The exemption is written as a move from the SARs inward. An arrival straight into a mainland airport, or a crossing made alone, is not this door whatever the passport says.
At the booking. The group must be organised by a travel agency registered in Hong Kong or Macao — not on the mainland, not at home. What that agency files, and what anyone checks at the port, is on no page we opened.
At the city line and the sixth day. Ten named cities, six days from 0:00 the day after entry, in and out with the group. Beyond any of the three the exemption simply does not reach — the consequence is the general overstay rule, linked below, not something this page writes.

In short

What travellers ask about the Hong Kong and Macao group door

Whether you can cross alone, how far the exemption reaches, how many people make a group, and what the two wordings of the time limit mean.

Can I cross from Hong Kong into Shenzhen without a Chinese visa?

Only on the terms the National Immigration Administration publishes: an ordinary passport from a country with diplomatic relations with China, travelling as part of a tourist group organised by a travel agency registered in Hong Kong or Macao, entering and leaving the mainland with that group through a port in one of ten cities, and staying at most six days (144 hours). A solo walk across the border on a whim is not this door — unless your passport is separately visa-free for China, in which case that wider rule applies instead.

Does the exemption cover all of Guangdong Province?

No. Both NIA pages name the same ten cities — Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shantou, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai — as the limit of the stay. The nine Greater Bay Area mainland cities plus Shantou are the door; the rest of the province is not in it.

How many people does the group need?

The NIA's pages for this door do not say. The sister door to Hainan (Announcement No. 8 of 2024) requires at least two persons, and the ASEAN group doors require two or more ordinary passport holders, so the NIA states a minimum where it means one — but for the Greater Bay Area and Shantou door, the two pages that carry the rule state only that you travel as part of a tourist group organised by a SAR-registered agency. This page will not put a number on it; ask the agency that files the group.

Is it 144 hours or six days?

The same allowance, written two ways: the 2023 NIA page says a maximum of 144 hours, the 2026 page says a maximum of 6 days. What matters more is the start: the NIA counts the stay from 0:00 on the day after the day of entry, not from the moment you clear immigration.

Can I leave the group and travel on alone?

The rule requires you to enter and exit the mainland as part of your tourist group, within ten cities, within six days — so leaving the group, the cities, or the days puts you outside the exemption. What follows from that is not written on any NIA page we opened; the site's page on stay extension and overstay covers the general law.

Could not confirm

What this page will not assert

Claims that circulate on agency and forum pages but were not on a first-party page we could open. We leave them here rather than launder a commercial claim into apparent officialdom.

A minimum group size for this door. Search results routinely attach 'at least two people' to it, borrowed from the neighbouring Hainan and ASEAN doors; neither NIA page that carries this rule states any number, so this page states none.
Which ports the group may use. The NIA writes only 'any of the exit-entry ports in these 10 cities' (2026) and 'an open port in one of these ten cities' (2023). It names none, so this page names none — the site's Hong Kong to Shenzhen page covers how those crossings work mechanically, for travellers who already hold the right document.
The date this door took effect, and the announcement number behind it. The NIA's English site has no standalone announcement for it: the current wording lives only on the two policy-interpretation pages, dated 2026-08-20 and 2023-12-07. This page cites those dates and claims no commencement date.
What is checked, and by whom, at the port or at check-in — a group list, an agency letter, a return ticket. Every official page we opened states conditions only, never a verification step, so this page does not invent one.
What happens if the group is left, the ten-city line is crossed, or the sixth day passes. The NIA pages state the limits and no consequence; the consequence page on this site is the general overstay rule, not a penalty written here.
Why the 2026 page adds 'countries with diplomatic relations with China' where the 2023 page does not. No NIA page explains it, so this page uses the later wording with its date and does not claim a tightening in any particular year.

Hong Kong to Shenzhen, crossing by crossing

How the border itself works once you hold the right document — the mechanics this exemption's ports page does not describe.

Open page

The same trip, but to Hainan

The sister door from the two SARs: 144 hours in Hainan, at least two people, with an announcement number behind it.

Open page

Staying past your allowed days

What an overstay means under the Exit and Entry Administration Law — the consequence page this door's six-day count points to.

Open page

The arrival card, and who skips it

Group visa-free entrants are one of the seven categories the NIA exempts from the Arrival Card — how the online filing works for everyone else.

Open page

Into the mainland from Hong Kong or Macao without a visa: ten cities, six days, and only with the group

I am in Hong Kong without a Chinese visa. Can I still see Shenzhen or Guangzhou?

What the NIA says about this door, line by line

The rule, in the NIA's words

Ten cities, not a province

Six days, and how they are counted

You enter and leave with the group, through those cities' ports

The 2023 page does not mention diplomatic relations — the 2026 one does

If your passport is already visa-free for China, this door is not the one that governs

No arrival card to fill in — the NIA lists this group among the exemptions

The five new Guangdong ports are a different instrument — don't plan around them

The sister door: the same trip, but to Hainan

The 10 cities, as the NIA prints them

Passport, the SAR leg, the agency, then the ten-city line

Where a plan stops fitting the exemption

What travellers ask about the Hong Kong and Macao group door

Can I cross from Hong Kong into Shenzhen without a Chinese visa?

Does the exemption cover all of Guangdong Province?

How many people does the group need?

Is it 144 hours or six days?

Can I leave the group and travel on alone?

What this page will not assert

Hong Kong to Shenzhen, crossing by crossing

The same trip, but to Hainan

Staying past your allowed days

The arrival card, and who skips it

Leave each page knowing what to do next.

I need the next step

I know the problem

I am ready to choose