China Arrival Card — Submit It Online, Step by Step

What the online arrival card is

The arrival card (入境登记卡) is the short entry declaration every incoming foreigner traditionally filled on paper while landing. China now runs it through the National Immigration Administration government service platform: per the system's own instructions, "foreigners (including foreign border residents) who intend to enter China can fill in their entry information through this system". The official video opens with the paper card itself, which now prints a QR code telling travelers to scan and submit online instead.

Once submitted, the system issues an Entry Declaration Receipt for Foreigner — a digital slip listing your ID number, name, nationality, city and port of entry, with a QR code. Save it: the receipt is what you present at inspection when you land.

Who needs to fill it in — and the 8 exemptions

Anyone entering China fills the arrival card unless they fall into one of the eight exempt groups the system lists:

1. Foreigners with a valid Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card of the People's Republic of China
2. Foreigners with a valid Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (Non-Chinese)
3. Foreigners transiting directly within 24 hours without leaving the restricted area of the port
4. Members of foreign tourist groups who are visa-free or holding a group visa
5. Foreign crew members, drivers and other employees of transport vehicles
6. Foreigners who enter by cruise ship and return with the original cruise
7. Individuals eligible for the courteous treatment of centralized submission of entry and exit documents
8. Foreigners who enter through the E-channel

The 240-hour transit ruling

Only direct transit within 24 hours without leaving the port's restricted area is exempt. The 240-hour visa-free transit policy is a different arrangement — it lets you leave the port — and the system's instructions explicitly reference travelers staying within "the corresponding prescribed time limit (24 hours, 240 hours)" filling in their document information. In the form itself, travelers without a visa answer "no" to holding a valid entry permit and select the entry policy that applies, with temporary-entry-for-transit options in the dropdown.

Bottom line: 240-hour visa-free transit passengers do fill in the arrival card, selecting their transit policy instead of a visa number. If your itinerary is unusual, confirm with border inspection on site — the official instructions warn that false statements during filling can lead to denied entry or transit.

The four official channels

All four routes lead to the same entry-declaration service:

One honest caveat: the official video demonstrates the web channel end to end. It shows the mobile entries only briefly, so per-channel screen-by-screen steps for the app and mini programs are not published — what follows is the web flow, which the platform family shares.

The web form, step by step

The form tracks five stages across the top: uploading ID document page → basic information → personal information → travel information → accompanying person(s).

1. Step 1: Upload your ID document page

   Choose the document type — ordinary passport, diplomatic passport, service passport, or passport for public affairs — then upload your passport's data page. The system reads back your ID number, validity dates and sex automatically.

2. Step 2: Basic information

   Last name, first name, gender, date of birth, country/region, how you enter (flight, train or vessel) and your arrival flight/train/vessel number.

3. Step 3: Personal information

   Chinese name (if any), email, country/region of birth and a contact number. Then the key question: do you hold a valid visa or other entry permit? Yes → enter the visa number. No → pick the entry policy that applies to you, for example a temporary entry for transit option.

4. Step 4: Travel information

   Purpose of entry, whether you have an inviting entity or inviter in China (with their name and contact), date of entry, date of departure if confirmed, destination cities in China (pick the city where you will stay the longest), transit cities, and your address in China.

5. Step 5: Accompanying person(s)

   Asked whether you have companions. If yes, each companion fills an arrival card as well, with the same fields (document page upload, ID number, date of birth, gender, country/region).

Declaration, signature and the receipt

Before submitting you retype (or one-click paste) a legal statement — "I understand that China's immigration authority may lawfully store and use the information provided in this form…" — then sign in an on-screen signature area and confirm. The system returns the Entry Declaration Receipt with your details and a QR code: save the image and keep the QR code to show on arrival together with your travel documents.

Flying again within a year? The system offers to save your information to make the next filing faster.

When to file

The official video and instructions do not state a filing window (no "X days before arrival" rule appears in the material we verified). What they do show is how the receipt connects to your entry: the QR code on your declaration receipt is what inspection checks when you land, so file before you fly and carry the receipt. Paper cards handed out on the plane remain a fallback — but the ones in current use point you back to the online form with a printed QR code.

Not to be confused with the border area permit

Another NIA announcement (Notice No. 2 of 2026) moved a different document online: from April 15, 2026, the Electronic Border Administration Area Permit replaces paper permits for entering China's border administration areas — mostly relevant to mainland residents aged 16+ traveling to border zones. That permit and the arrival card are unrelated documents; the overlap is the platform: both are handled through the NIA government service platform family — the 12367 app and the WeChat and Alipay mini programs.

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