chinese visa with Turkish stamps

[Circe]

My boyfriend (Romanian citizen) and I (Italian citizen) have Turkish stamps on our passports because of a two-week holiday we took two years ago. Could we have any issues once we arrive in China or when applying for the visa?
What's your experience?

I know that as an Italian citizen I can go to China visa-free for 15 days, but I'm afraid I'll be denied entry at customs in China. Moreover, my boyfriend is Romanian, so he'll have to apply for a visa anyway. Requesting a new passport is out of question for both of us due to the lenght of the procedure. So far, the answers I've received are:

Chinese embassy in Milan: we'll have no problems with neither the visa or customs in China.

Chinese embassy in Rome: we'll have no problems with the visa but maybe at customs in China.

Italian embassy in China: we might have problems with the visa.

Chinese National Immigration Administration: they are just an informative entity but that Turkish stamps will not jeopardize my entry into China. However, it will be the border inspection who will have to decide whether I can enter or not.

[BertiniAn]

Hello Circe,
I am in a situation similar to yours. I guess it won't help much, but I'll share our status.
Me and my wife both have Italian passport and Turkish stamps from Dec-2022. We have successfully obtained the visa from the Visa Center in Bruxelles (where we live), and there were no questions as to why we had those stamps.

I do hope we'll be able to enter China, but I have no data on that for now

[sebhoff]

My general impression (based on very little data) is that they want more tourists. The list of visa-free countries keeps being extended. Even the procedures at “exotic” borders such as the Irkeshtam Pass seem to have become significantly relaxed (no more picture checks on phones, for example - at least for me). Rejecting someone at the border for a reason like that will potentially generate some bad press/word of mouth. My hunch is that you will be fine - but of course your mileage may vary, and you can always be very unlucky…

[itfcfan]

I went to China last year (using TWOV to visit Beijing for 4 days) and was worried about the same issue as I visit Turkey fairly frequently (I have more than 10 Turkish stamps in my passport). The customs official checked every page of my passport, but didn't ask me about my Turkish stamps. He asked me about my Egyptian stamps (I have even more of them) but was fine when I told him I visit there for work sometimes. I hold a UK passport.

Clearly this is just one data point and I have seen reports (from before 2020) of people having trouble entering China with Turkish stamps. But it certainly doesn't seem there's a concrete rule preventing entry in this situation.

[minion]

My general impression (based on very little data) is that they want more tourists. The list of visa-free countries keeps being extended. Even the procedures at “exotic” borders such as the Irkeshtam Pass seem to have become significantly relaxed (no more picture checks on phones, for example - at least for me). Rejecting someone at the border for a reason like that will potentially generate some bad press/word of mouth. My hunch is that you will be fine - but of course your mileage may vary, and you can always be very unlucky…

i agree. when i was discussing this with my parents, their hypothesis is china's economy has not been doing well since covid (with all the global shutdown and supply chain / export issue, and planes not being able to fly to diff countries for the longest time) and so, tourism is now regarded as alternative revenue.

I went to China last year (using TWOV to visit Beijing for 4 days) and was worried about the same issue as I visit Turkey fairly frequently (I have more than 10 Turkish stamps in my passport). The customs official checked every page of my passport, but didn't ask me about my Turkish stamps. He asked me about my Egyptian stamps (I have even more of them) but was fine when I told him I visit there for work sometimes. I hold a UK passport.

Clearly this is just one data point and I have seen reports (from before 2020) of people having trouble entering China with Turkish stamps. But it certainly doesn't seem there's a concrete rule preventing entry in this situation.

thanks for sharing your experience. i also get the sense that the people who usually have problems with turkish stamps are the ones doing TWOV. i guess because the individuals who apply for visa beforehand would already have been vetted by embassy/consulate or denied visa. so the concern of entering china under the 15 days visa exempt policy while having turkish stamps is valid

[Circe]

My general impression (based on very little data) is that they want more tourists. The list of visa-free countries keeps being extended. Even the procedures at “exotic” borders such as the Irkeshtam Pass seem to have become significantly relaxed (no more picture checks on phones, for example - at least for me). Rejecting someone at the border for a reason like that will potentially generate some bad press/word of mouth. My hunch is that you will be fine - but of course your mileage may vary, and you can always be very unlucky…

The problem still exists that when applying for the visa one needs to prove to have booked flights and accommodations. While there are many options for refundable accommodations, there are not as many refundable flights, which would be the most costly expense of our holiday. For this reason, while I've read of the importance of tourism for China too, I would like to have some certainties before booking.