China Rolls Out Special ASEAN Visa for Southeast Asian Nations and Timor-Leste

5 June 2025

SINGAPORE: China has rolled out a special ASEAN Visa for the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as ASEAN observer Timor-Leste, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian announced that the new programme offers five-year multiple-entry visas to eligible business travellers from these countries. The visa will also cover their spouses and children, allowing a maximum stay of up to 180 days.

"With frequent visits between the people of China and Southeast Asian countries, the new scheme aims to further facilitate cross-border travel in the region,” Lin said in a statement on Tuesday, as reported by CNA.

He noted that this initiative is in addition to existing visa-free arrangements China currently has with several ASEAN nations, including Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, as well as the ‘Lancang-Mekong visas’ programme for Mekong countries.

Lin said that China welcomed over nine million foreign visitors in the first quarter of this year, marking an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

He added that the growing number of countries granted visa-free access is a reflection of China's strong commitment to expanding high-level international openness.

“While the continuous optimisation of measures to facilitate cross-border personnel exchanges underscores China’s concrete efforts to help build an open world economy.

“China will continue to improve entry policies and add more countries to the visa-free list, to allow more foreign friends to visit China to experience our excellent and diverse products and services,” he said.