If you booked a trip to China in the last few months, you may have heard about a new "digital arrival card" and gotten nervous that it's one more form you can fail. It isn't. It's the same information you'd scribble on the little white card on the plane, just typed into a website ahead of time. This guide walks through exactly who has to fill it out, when, what you'll need in front of you, and the one detail that trips people up.
Checked against China's National Immigration Administration (NIA) guidance as of May 2026. Entry forms and ports change fast, so treat the official site as the final word and confirm with your airline before you fly.
What the China Digital Arrival Card actually is
The China Digital Arrival Card (you'll see it abbreviated as CDAC) is the online version of the immigration arrival card foreign nationals have always filled out when entering mainland China. The NIA rolled out the electronic version in November 2025 and put it on its own portal, s.nia.gov.cn. The idea is simple: do the form on your phone before you board, get a confirmation, and walk up to the immigration counter without juggling a pen and a paper card on a crowded jet bridge.
One thing to get straight up front: this is not a visa and not an entry permit. Filling out the arrival card does not decide whether you're allowed into China. Your visa or your visa-free status does that. If you're a U.S. passport holder still figuring out which of those applies to you, run your trip through the China visa eligibility checker first, then come back to the arrival card. Sort your visa first; the arrival card is a quick final step.
Who has to fill it out
The digital arrival card is for foreign nationals entering mainland China. As a U.S. citizen traveler, that's you, whether you're entering on a regular tourist (L) visa or under one of the visa-free routes. A few practical notes:
- Every traveler needs their own card. Each person in your group, including kids on their own passports, submits an individual form. One adult can typically complete the forms on behalf of family members from the same device.
- It applies regardless of how you got your entry rights. Tourist visa, 240-hour transit, Hainan visa-free, Greater Bay Area group tour, the arrival card is the same immigration formality for all of them.
- Hong Kong and Macao are separate. CDAC is for mainland China entry. The SARs run their own immigration systems.
If you're entering mainland China by way of the 240-hour transit rule, read the 240-hour transit visa-free eligibility details first, because your onward third-country ticket matters more than the arrival card does.
When to fill it out
This is the part worth getting right. The portal lets you submit the card in advance, but it isn't meant to be done weeks out, because some of what you enter (your flight, your first night's address) needs to be locked in. Note that the exact submission window isn't fixed by NIA, so the timing below is practical advice keyed to when your details are settled, not an official rule. Follow s.nia.gov.cn and your airline's current instructions.
Practical timing for a first-time visitor:
- After your flights and first hotel are booked so the flight number and address fields are real, not placeholders.
- In the day or two before departure, or at the airport before boarding, is usually the safest window, because your flight and hotel are locked in but recent enough that they won't change.
- Keep the confirmation (screenshot it). If the system gives you a code or QR result, save it offline, because you may not have working mobile data the second you step off the plane.
One caution: submit too early and a last-minute flight change or hotel switch can leave you with a card that no longer matches your documents. If your details change after you submit, redo the form rather than show up with stale information.
What information you'll need
Gather these before you open the site so you're not hunting for a confirmation email mid-form. Exact fields can vary and the live form is the authority, so check what s.nia.gov.cn actually asks; the table below is what the card typically requests:
| Field (typically asked) | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Passport details (number, full name, nationality, expiry) | Your physical passport, exactly as printed |
| Visa or visa-free basis | Your visa page, or which visa-free route you're using |
| Arrival flight number and date | Airline booking confirmation |
| Port / city of entry | Your arrival airport (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou) |
| Address in China (first night) | Your hotel booking confirmation |
| Purpose of visit | Tourism, business, visiting family, etc. |
| Contact info | Email and a phone number |
The accommodation address is the field people stall on
The card asks for your address in China, meaning where you'll stay your first night. You can't fill this honestly until you've actually booked something. So if you haven't locked in at least your first hotel, do that before you sit down with the arrival card. Enter the property's full name and street address as it appears on your booking confirmation, not just the city. If you're moving cities every couple of days, the first-night address is what goes here. This is also why we tell first-timers to book the arrival night before anything else: it unblocks the form and gives you a guaranteed bed after a long-haul flight when you're least equipped to problem-solve.
How to submit it, step by step
- Go to s.nia.gov.cn on your phone or laptop. Look for the English / foreign national entry card option.
- Choose the arrival card (entering China) form.
- Type your passport details exactly as printed. A mismatched name or number is the most common reason a form gets kicked back.
- Enter your arrival flight, date, and port of entry.
- Enter your first-night accommodation address from your hotel confirmation.
- Add purpose of visit and contact info.
- Review every field against your passport and booking, then submit.
- Save the confirmation (screenshot or download). Have it ready at the counter.
It's free, and that matters
The digital arrival card costs nothing. There is no government fee to fill out the CDAC. That's worth stating plainly because a brand-new form on an unfamiliar government domain is exactly the kind of thing scam sites copy. If you land on a page asking for a "processing fee," "expedite charge," or payment of any kind to file your arrival card, you're on the wrong site. The only address you need is the official NIA portal, s.nia.gov.cn. Don't pay a third party to do a free, three-minute form for you.
Will you still have to fill out paper?
Possibly. The digital card is being phased in, and rollout across China's many ports of entry isn't perfectly uniform. Rollout across ports is uneven, and paper arrival cards may still be handed out or required even after you submit online, so confirm with your arriving port and airline. In practice:
- Do the digital card in advance if you can. It's the smoother path.
- Don't panic if a paper card appears anyway. Carry a pen and fill it out; it's the same handful of fields.
- Treat the online submission as belt-and-suspenders, not a guarantee that paper is gone at your specific port.
Because port-by-port practice is still settling, follow your arriving port's and your airline's most current instructions. Your carrier often knows whether your specific arrival airport is taking digital cards yet.
Where the arrival card fits in your prep
The arrival card is one line item on a longer list. Sort your visa or visa-free status first, then payments and connectivity, then the small entry formalities like this one. For the full sequence, see our China trip checklist for Americans, which puts the digital arrival card in order alongside everything else you actually need before wheels-up.
Disclaimer: This guide is for general information and was checked in May 2026. Entry procedures, ports accepting the digital card, and form requirements change. Before you travel, confirm the current rules with your airline and with the official Chinese government sources, the National Immigration Administration (en.nia.gov.cn) and the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. (us.china-embassy.gov.cn). We have not traveled through these ports ourselves; this guidance is built from official sources.