Nationals from Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Slovenia will be able to visit China visa-free from 15 October 2024 to 31 December 2025, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said during a press conference that was reported by multiple media outlets today.
According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Lin Jian, the measure applies to passport holders of the four countries who are travelling to China for the purposes of business, tourism, family visits or transit, for periods no longer than 15 days.
The inclusion of Portugal on China’s latest visa-waiver scheme should come as a relief to Lisbon, which had been expressing concern over the omission of Portugal from Beijing’s previous announcements on visa waivers.
[See more: Portugal will be on China’s next visa-waiver list, Chinese ambassador says]
In March of this year, Portugal’s ambassador to Beijing expressed confusion over the apparent snub, describing the situation as “difficult to understand.” There were also concerns that the decision was a result of Portugal’s banning of Huawei 5G technology.
Late last year, China began granting visa-free travel to a number of countries, including many in Europe, such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Subsequent lists failed to include Portugal, in spite of the country’s close ties to China by way of Macao, which it administered from the 16th century until 1999.
Since the lifting of pandemic restrictions in late 2022, China has been broadening its unilateral visa-free policy in an effort to boost its economy and tourism industry, which have been stagnating.
