If you travel visa-free, the embassy recommends carrying proof of your trip's purpose, such as air tickets and hotel reservations. Setting up a HelloRoam China eSIM at home as well means your phone is online while you wait for your bags, ready for the transfer into the city, and our support team answers 24/7.
The official fees and rules below come from the Chinese Embassy in London, its UK visa centres and GOV.UK, checked on 1 October 2026. Fees and visa rules change, so check the embassy's latest notices before you book or apply.
What a China visa costs a British citizen, fee by fee
Your bill has two parts, which is why two prices circulate online. The visa fee goes to the embassy, and its latest notice on visa fees lists only that fee: £64 for British citizens. The visa centre then adds its own application service fee, which includes VAT, so its schedule shows £130. Faster processing adds an express fee on top.
Get your China eSIM before you flyInstall it at home, then switch on data roaming for it when you land. From £2.60.See China plans| Visa for a British citizen | Visa fee | Regular total (4 working days) | Express total (3 working days) | Urgent total (2 working days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single, double or multiple entry, valid up to 2 years | £64 | £130 | £161 | £182 |
| 5-year multiple entry | £128 | £194 | £225 | £246 |
| 10-year multiple entry | £191 | £257 | £288 | £309 |
These are per-person totals from the London visa centre's schedule of fees. Manchester's schedule shows the same regular and express totals. Its urgent service needs approval from a consular officer.
One detail is worth knowing before you choose. British citizens pay the same £64 for one entry, two entries or multiple entries over up to 2 years. The fee does not rise with the number of entries. Most other nationalities pay a stepped fee, from £21 for a single entry to £64 for a multiple-entry visa valid over 12 months.
A UK passport covers trips of up to 30 days without a visa fee
The Chinese Embassy's notice on the UK visa waiver lets ordinary UK passport holders enter without a visa from 17 February 2026 to midnight on 31 December 2026, Beijing time. Each stay can last up to 30 days, counted from the day after you arrive.
GOV.UK's entry advice for China says the waiver covers passports that list your nationality as 'British citizen', including Crown Dependency passports. Hong Kong and Macao run their own immigration controls, and GOV.UK says British citizens can visit Hong Kong for up to 6 months without a visa.
When you still have to pay for a visa
You need a visa, and pay the fees in the table, in these cases:
- your stay in mainland China will be longer than 30 days;
- you are going for paid work, study, journalism or a long-term assignment;
- you are travelling on a document other than an ordinary passport, such as an emergency travel document;
- you enter mainland China after 31 December 2026, Beijing time, and the waiver has not been extended.
Visa holders who plan a side trip to Hong Kong and then return to the mainland need a visa that allows a second entry, GOV.UK says. For a British citizen, that costs nothing extra in visa fees, as the table shows.
The £64 rate is a temporary reduction
The Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester dates these rates from 11 December 2023, when the embassy and consulates in the UK adjusted visa fees. The embassy's latest extension, dated 25 December 2025, keeps them until 31 December 2026 and gives no rate for 2027. If you are planning a trip for early 2027, check the embassy's notices again before you apply.
Multi-year visas cost more and come with conditions
A 5-year multiple-entry visa carries a £128 visa fee and a 10-year one £191, before the centre's charge. Since 25 March 2019, the embassy has accepted applications for these from British citizens who meet one of its conditions for 5-year and 10-year visas. They cover business (M visa), tourism (L visa), short family visits (Q2 visa) and short personal affairs (S2 visa).
Two of the conditions are simple to check. Holding two or more earlier 2-year multiple-entry visas from the embassy or consulates in the UK allows an application for a 5-year visa. Holding a 5-year visa from them allows an application for a 10-year one. The embassy decides the visa type, entries, validity and length of stay case by case.
Faster service adds up to £52
Regular service has your visa ready on the fourth working day. Express takes three working days and adds £31 to a standard British visa. Urgent takes two working days and adds £52, on the London schedule. At Manchester, express applications must be handed in before 11am.
The clock starts when you hand in your passport. Before that, you fill in the application and upload your documents online, using the system the embassy launched on 31 March 2025, and wait for the online review. The embassy warns that incomplete or inaccurate information can extend the approval time, and it may ask for more documents or an interview.
One saving in time, not money: until 31 December 2026, the embassy has waived fingerprints for short-term visas with stays of up to 180 days. D, J1, Q1, S1, X1 and Z visas still need them.
Extra costs that are easy to miss
- Passport renewal. GOV.UK says China wants your passport to expire at least 6 months after you arrive, with 2 blank pages. HM Passport Office's fee list puts an adult standard passport at £102 online, or £115.50 by paper form.
- Postal return. Manchester's schedule lists £154 in total for a British citizen's standard visa sent back by post. The centres ask for a prepaid, traceable envelope and charge extra if they supply one.
- Getting to a centre. GOV.UK says applicants aged 14 to 70 apply online, then go in person to a visa centre in London, Manchester, Edinburgh or Belfast. Children aged 13 or under and adults aged 71 or over can have someone submit for them.
- A refusal. The visa centres do not refund any fees if the embassy or a consulate declines or refuses the application.
- An agency. Private agencies charge on top of the official fees. China Visa Services, one such agency, lists £355 plus VAT at 20% for a standard tourist visa for British passport holders, its service fee included, against £130 if you apply yourself. The difference pays for the agency's own service. The official booking site is visaforchina.cn, so check the web address before you enter passport details.
Getting online when you land in China
Most of the eSIM setup happens at home: install it on Wi-Fi before you leave, then switch on data roaming for the HelloRoam line when you land. Our step-by-step eSIM setup guide walks through it on iPhone and Android.
Locked or older handsets may not take an eSIM, so check your phone supports eSIM before you buy. It also pays to work out how much data you need, so you choose the right plan size.
Questions travellers ask
How do I pay the fee at a UK visa centre for China?
The London centre takes pounds in cash or by debit card, and Manchester takes UK debit cards. You pay all fees when you hand in the application. If you want your passport posted back, you pay straight after the centre accepts the application and fill in a payment authorisation form, so the centre can charge or refund your card later.
Is there a minimum bank balance for a Chinese tourist visa?
The embassy's document list for a tourist (L) visa asks for your itinerary, such as a return flight booking and hotel reservation, or an invitation letter from someone in China. It does not name a minimum bank balance. A consular officer can still ask for more documents, so read the current list before you apply.
Sources
- Notice on Extension of Visa-Fee Reduction (Chinese Embassy in the UK, 25 December 2025)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- Visa Fees: payment methods and schedule of fees, London (Chinese Visa Application Service Center)visaforchina.cn
- Visa Fees: Manchester Visa Centre (Chinese Visa Application Service Center)visaforchina.cn
- Notice on China's Visa Waiver Policy for the UK and Canada (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- FAQs on Visa-free Entry into China (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- China entry requirements (FCDO travel advice, GOV.UK)gov.uk
- Hong Kong entry requirements (FCDO travel advice, GOV.UK)gov.uk
- Visa Fees to China (Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester)manchester.china-consulate.gov.cn
- Important notice on 5-year/10-year multiple entry visa (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- Part Two: How to Apply for a Visa for China (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- Notice on Launching the China Online Visa Processing System (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- Notice on the Extension of the Exemption from Fingerprint Collection (Chinese Embassy in the UK)gb.china-embassy.gov.cn
- Passport fees (HM Passport Office, GOV.UK)gov.uk
- Visa prices (China Visa Services, private agency, its own published prices)chinavisaservices.co.uk
Written by
HelloRoam Team
The HelloRoam Team writes our guides on trip planning, visas and eSIMs. For every new or updated guide, we check each fact at its source. Sources include government, park and weather service pages. We note the date we read each one. A second review then checks every fact against its source before the guide goes live. If we cannot confirm a fact, we leave it out. We link those sources inside the guide, so you can check them.
