Visa information

China's routes in the 2026 guide are work, talent and study: a Z work visa through an employer, an R Talent visa for high-level professionals, and X1/X2 student visas, plus 30-day visa-free entry for many nationalities. The guide is explicit that there is no long-stay or retirement visa, and it scores China just 32/100 for visa and bureaucracy — the lowest of its seven dimensions.

The routes the guide names

Z work visa — via an employer with a work permit, then a residence permit. This is the guide's main working route.

R Talent visa — for high-level professionals, with fast-track residence. The guide also lists the Talent (R) visa among its schemes that attract expats.

X1/X2 student visas — the study routes named, without further detail in either source.

30-day visa-free entry — for many nationalities. The same visa list states plainly that there is no long-stay or retirement visa behind it.

Income and eligibility tests — what the sources actually say

Neither source prints an income threshold, salary test or points test for any China route. What the guide gives instead is the kind of applicant each route is for: the Z runs via an employer with a work permit, the R is for high-level professionals, and the X1/X2 are student visas. It does not define “high-level,” name qualifying occupations, or state which nationalities get the 30-day visa-free entry — so this page does not fill those in.

For remote workers the position is unusually clear: there is no nomad visa, remote work on a visitor visa is not permitted, and a Z work visa is needed. At the guide's exchange rate of $1 ≈ ¥6.71, any yuan figure you are quoted converts at roughly that rate for planning.

What the paperwork costs — plan budgets, not government fees

The guide does not list individual government visa fees as a standalone schedule. What it gives is a bundled “Visa, permits & translations” budget line in each move plan, and those lines are the only sourced cost figures for the application itself:

• $800 — Affordable plan (you file yourself)
• $1,150 — Mid-range and Retirement plans
• $2,750 — Luxury plan (the plan notes the luxury tier adds an immigration lawyer)

The Retirement plan carries one further, separate line: $2,150 for “Retirement visa, lawyer & pension certification”, covering an immigration lawyer, apostilled pension letters, medicals and translations — a generic plan line; as the Retirement page explains, China itself has no retirement visa.

Application steps and timelines, by tier

The guide builds the application into each plan's timeline rather than printing a single step list. The common sequence across the plans and checklists is:

• Choose the route first and print its requirements; the Affordable checklist starts with “Visa route chosen and requirements printed.”
• Gather and legalise documents — apostilles and translations are named in every tier; the Retirement paperwork stage adds pension or income letters certified and apostilled, a police certificate, a medical, and birth and marriage certificates translated.
• Check your passport — the Affordable checklist requires a passport valid 18+ months.
• Arrange health insurance before you file (see the Hospitals page for the guide's first-year insurance budgets).
• File — yourself on the Affordable tier, or with a lawyer or agent on the Mid-range, Luxury and Retirement tiers.

Paperwork-stage durations in the guide: ~10 weeks filing yourself (Affordable), ~8 weeks with a lawyer or agent filing (Mid-range), ~6 weeks with a lawyer filing everything (Luxury), and ~14 weeks for the Retirement paperwork stage. After the move, the settle stage includes registering your address and opening a bank account.

Residence, renewals and permanent residence — the honest limit of the guide

Two residence points are sourced. The Z route runs via an employer with a work permit, then a residence permit, and the R Talent visa carries fast-track residence. Beyond that, the guide's retirement text says permanent residence is rare and tied to investment, employment or family. Neither source gives renewal intervals, residence-permit durations, years to permanent residence, or absence limits, so this page states none. Treat durations as something to confirm with an immigration lawyer or the consulate before you rely on them.

Frequently asked questions