Short answer: no. China’s 240-hour visa-free transit — the “10-day transit” policy — lets you enter without a visa for tourism, business visits and seeing family, but it gives you no right to work. Taking a paid job during that window is treated as illegal employment, and it can end with you being sent out of the country and banned from returning.

What the 240-hour visa-free transit actually allows

Since 17 December 2024, nationals of a listed group of countries can transit through China without a visa for up to 240 hours (10 days). The scheme launched with 54 countries and 60 open ports across 24 provinces; in August 2026 the National Immigration Administration expanded the list to 57 countries. To use it you need a valid international travel document and a confirmed onward ticket with a date and seat to a third country or region. You enter and leave through the designated ports, may travel within the area those ports allow, and must register your accommodation with the local police within 24 hours. Tourism, business visits, meetings and visiting relatives are fine. Work is not.

Why working on transit status is illegal employment

China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law requires a foreigner to hold a work permit and a work-type residence permit to be employed in China, and it bars any employer from engaging a foreigner who does not have them. Transit status carries no work rights at all, so a short “trial project”, a paid consulting gig or remote work billed to a Chinese client while you are physically in China puts you in exactly the same position as any other person working without authorisation.

The main consequences are administrative at first, and they escalate quickly:

  • Under Article 62 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, a foreigner who is in China illegally, works illegally, or stays without permission may be sent out of the country, and may not re-enter for one to five years.
  • Under Article 81, a foreigner who engages in activities inconsistent with the purpose of their stay may be ordered to leave within a fixed period; where the circumstances are serious but do not amount to a crime, the Ministry of Public Security may order deportation, and the person may not re-enter for ten years.
  • If the conduct goes beyond administrative breach, a Chinese court may also impose deportation as a standalone or additional punishment under Article 35 of the Criminal Law.
  • Under Article 28, a foreigner who is a criminal suspect or defendant, or who has not finished serving a sentence, can be barred from leaving China while the case is open.

A short scenario

Hypothetical: a foreign consultant enters Shanghai on 240-hour transit, then stays 12 days to finish a paid project for a local client instead of flying on to Bangkok. Border inspection treats the extra time as illegal residence and the paid project as illegal employment. The outcome is typically a fine, removal, and a re-entry ban of one to five years — a ban that will also block future work-permit applications, because the immigration record follows the person.

What to do instead

If there is any chance you will work in China, apply for the Z visa and work permit before you arrive and convert to a work-type residence permit after entry. If you are already inside China on transit status and a client asks you to start work, do not start. Keep your onward ticket, do not extend the 240 hours, and if you have overstayed, get advice before you approach the exit-and-entry authorities — voluntary correction and cooperation are treated very differently from being stopped at the airport.

Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512