Can I transit through Guangzhou into Beijing from Melbourne to Almaty and still get visa-free transit?

Upvote:0

tl;dr: you need a visa for the proposed itinerary.

We have a general thread for visa-free transit in China: What are the rules for China's visa-free transit programs?

Your itinerary does not work out for a number of reasons:

  • you are passing immigration in China, wherever your first stop is, i.e. in your case CAN. That is also what counts for the visa-free transit rules.
  • For 72h/144h visa-free transit, you need to transit from a direct flight from abroad (country A) to another direct flight to abroad (country B) while staying in the same city/region, i.e. no domestic connecting flights.
  • you could qualify for 24h visa-free transit (where the regional restrictions are lifted, though see the added restrictions for Guangzhou in the linked post), but for this your planned stay of about six days is too long.

Therefore you require a visa, or you would need to enter Beijing on a direct flight from abroad.

Upvote:1

You will need a Chinese transit (type G) visa

However, I am assuming that since I don't officially pass Chinese Immigration until Beijing...

That's wrong: you'll clear immigration in Guangzhou, then catch the Beijing flight from the domestic sector. And if flying domestically in transit, you can remain in China no longer than 24 hours, whereas you're staying for 6 days.

So again, you need at least a transit visa. It can be issued as a single or double-entry visa for a stay of max 10 days per entry.

Upvote:2

You're not eligible for the 144-hour visa exemption, as you would need:

  • to be entering China in GZ; You're not.
  • and leaving China from somewhere in Guangdong. You're not.

In Beijing you are probably not eligible for the 72-hour visa exemption, as you're arriving from a Chinese city.

However, since you arrive in CAN at 15:20 and leave PEK at 05:55 (+1), you are eligible for 24-hour transit without a visa.

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