China Travel Flow on 27 June pushed an updated step-by-step guide to the China Digital Arrival Card (CDAC), confirming that most foreign passengers must complete the form online within 72 hours before touchdown. Airlines may deny boarding if the QR confirmation is missing at check-in, a policy some carriers began enforcing quietly in early June. The article walks readers through the bilingual interface, notes common pitfalls (for example, China’s county-level address fields) and explains how to add accompanying minors under age 14.
![China Digital Arrival Card now mandatory within 72 hours of landing, NIA-linked guide warns]()
For travelers who’d rather not wrestle with yet another online form, VisaHQ can take the CDAC chore off your plate. Through its dedicated China page (https://www.visahq.com/china/), the service lets individuals or corporate travel teams upload passport details, receive a confirmed QR code, and bundle the arrival card with any required visas—streamlining the entire pre-trip compliance stack.
Travellers between 14 and 70 are reminded they will have all ten fingerprints plus a real-time facial scan captured on arrival; mobility managers should flag this to privacy-sensitive executives. For companies running large group movements—trade-fair delegations or plant-commissioning crews—the recommendation is to collect screenshots of each employee’s QR code before departure to avoid airport liaison delays. Some global travel management companies are already integrating CDAC status into their pre-trip approval platforms. Failure to present the code can still be remedied at Chinese airports via paper kiosks, but wait times reportedly exceed 45 minutes during evening arrival banks at Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun. The digital-first rule aligns with China’s broader push toward paperless immigration processes, including the April roll-out of electronic Border Management Area Permits.
For travelers who’d rather not wrestle with yet another online form, VisaHQ can take the CDAC chore off your plate. Through its dedicated China page (https://www.visahq.com/china/), the service lets individuals or corporate travel teams upload passport details, receive a confirmed QR code, and bundle the arrival card with any required visas—streamlining the entire pre-trip compliance stack.
Travellers between 14 and 70 are reminded they will have all ten fingerprints plus a real-time facial scan captured on arrival; mobility managers should flag this to privacy-sensitive executives. For companies running large group movements—trade-fair delegations or plant-commissioning crews—the recommendation is to collect screenshots of each employee’s QR code before departure to avoid airport liaison delays. Some global travel management companies are already integrating CDAC status into their pre-trip approval platforms. Failure to present the code can still be remedied at Chinese airports via paper kiosks, but wait times reportedly exceed 45 minutes during evening arrival banks at Shanghai Pudong and Guangzhou Baiyun. The digital-first rule aligns with China’s broader push toward paperless immigration processes, including the April roll-out of electronic Border Management Area Permits.
