Eight selected items in four guide groups, following the ordinary filing flow. These are not the form’s total field or step counts; questions vary with your answers. Examples are checks to make before filing, not a guarantee of acceptance or rejection. This page provides no online pre-check.
Upload a clear JPEG or PNG of the document data page. The official upload compresses the image before checking a 102400-byte limit. A file below that size alone does not guarantee acceptance.
Check the birth date read from the document image. Use the date printed in your travel document and the official date control; this example illustrates the year-month-day order.
Compare the copied number character by character with the document you will use for this trip. Correct an image-recognition error before continuing. The example is illustrative, not a rule for every country's passport format.
The personal contact input keeps + and digits and has a 30-character limit. Spaces, brackets and hyphens are removed as you type. Check the actual value after pasting; the inviter contact below uses a different rule.
Email is optional in the ordinary personal-information component. If supplied, it is checked when you leave the field. Use an address you can access. Receipt-email delivery has not been tested for this guide.
Use the date you enter China and the official date picker, which stores YYYY-MM-DD. Check the arrival date if the trip crosses midnight. Set the date and city before the later fields that depend on them.
Select the administrative area and enter the address where you will stay. The detailed-address input is limited to 100 bytes. Its street example is placeholder guidance, not a confirmed error for a vague address. Your accommodation is separate from the invitation question.
First answer whether you have an inviting entity or person. If yes, the chosen type requires its name and a contact number. The contact keeps digits only, up to 12 characters. Entity names allow 200 bytes; individual inviter names allow 32 bytes. A hotel booking alone does not make the hotel an inviter.
"Only JPG and PNG image formats are allowed"The passport upload accepts JPEG/PNG images. PDF support in a separate material-upload control does not apply here.
"File size cannot exceed 100kb"For passport images, this checks the compressed result against 102400 bytes. For PDFs in the separate supporting-material control, it checks the original file. Check which upload raised the message.
"Please upload JPG or PNG images or PDF files"This is the supporting-material upload's format error. It does not mean the passport upload accepts PDF.
"The email format is invalid"The ordinary personal-information component checks a supplied email address on blur. Recheck its spelling and the @ sign.
"Please select 'Date of Entry' first"Complete the entry-date selection before a field that depends on it.
"Please select 'City of Entry' first"Complete the entry-city selection before a field that depends on it.
The official site shows a confirmation on screen. Screenshot it — that's your backup.
The receipt screen offers "Download to Local" and "Send to Email". Pick one before you close the page.
An Entry Declaration Receipt for Foreigner. Use "Download to Local" or "Send to Email" on the receipt screen, and show it with your passport at inspection.
Save the downloaded file or a screenshot before leaving the receipt screen. Keep it reachable at the entry counter.
Carry the receipt file or screenshot on the device you travel with, ready for the entry inspection.
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This guide selects eight items for the ordinary filing flow. It does not count every question or cover every conditional branch. The screen and its public script were checked on 2026-09-05; no personal information was submitted. Use the official form for validation.
The official notices reviewed do not specify an advance filing window. You can file before travel. If you cannot file online, the NIA notice says you can use equipment at the port or fill out a paper arrival card there.
Transit-policy durations describe permitted stays, not filing deadlines. They do not determine when to submit this card or whether you qualify for a particular transit policy.
Photograph your travel document’s data page as the on-screen diagram instructs. The passport upload accepts JPEG or PNG only. Its format error is “Only JPG and PNG image formats are allowed”.
The system converts and compresses the image, then checks whether the result exceeds 102400 bytes. The English size message says “File size cannot exceed 100kb”. This is a check after compression, not a requirement that the original image already be below that size. Keep the data page legible; neither a small image nor a small PDF guarantees success.
A separate supporting-material upload accepts JPEG, PNG and PDF. Its PDF path checks the original file against 102400 bytes. That does not enable PDFs in the passport control.
Review the details read from the document image, including date of birth and passport number. Compare them with the document you will use for the trip. The system warns that these details came from photographing the document and should be changed with care.
Complete the personal questions that appear for your situation. The ordinary component includes Contact Number and Email. Contact Number is required; Email is optional but checked for format if you fill it in.
The contact input keeps + and digits, up to 30 characters. Spaces, brackets and hyphens are removed during input. After pasting, check the visible value. Do not apply this rule to the inviter’s contact field, which has a separate digits-only limit.
Enter your arrival details, destination and address in China. Departure questions and other follow-up questions depend on the choices shown. Set the entry date and city before the fields that depend on them. The form displays prompts if a required earlier selection is missing.
For the address, select the relevant administrative area and then enter the street address. The detailed-address input has a 100-byte limit. Its street-address example is placeholder guidance; it is not evidence that the site detects and rejects every vague address.
The invitation question is separate from where you stay. See the invitation section below before entering a hotel’s details.
Follow the questions shown for accompanying travellers. This guide has not verified every group or family branch. Review the declaration and your details before submission. A receipt is a later output, not a sixth item in the ordinary screen’s step list.
Use the official site’s date controls. The entry-date control stores a value in YYYY-MM-DD format, such as 2026-09-15. Use the date you enter China, not automatically the date your flight departs. Check the itinerary when the journey crosses midnight.
For date of birth, use the date printed in your travel document. A correctly formatted date alone does not prove the date is valid for your trip.
The form asks: Do you have any inviting entities or inviters in China? Answer according to your actual arrangement. If you have no inviter, do not turn a hotel booking into an invitation just to fill these fields. Your accommodation address belongs in Address in China.
When you answer yes, the invitation group appears:
These name limits are bytes, not character counts. The placeholder “Please enter the entity name” is an instruction in the name input, not the specific required-field error.
The receipt screen provides Download to Local and Send to Email. Save a copy before closing it and keep it accessible while travelling. This guide has not submitted a declaration or tested delivery of a receipt email.
The official material reviewed does not establish a post-submission correction procedure. If a submitted detail is wrong, check the official system’s instructions or seek guidance from the NIA. The option to fill a card at the port does not guarantee that an earlier incorrect submission will be corrected automatically.
The notices also name the NIA government service platform, the “NIA 12367” app, WeChat and Alipay mini-programs, and the arrival-card QR code. These are alternative channels named by the authorities; this guide has not tested that every channel has identical screens or receipts.
The NIA’s own notice confirms that filing is free and describes the port equipment and paper-card options.