China Visa for Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Gulf Residents

The answer: you need an L or M visa

Egyptian, Moroccan and Jordanian ordinary passports are not on China’s 30-day visa-free list or the 240-hour transit list. We checked both lists on November 10, 2026 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 2026; National Immigration Administration, August 20, 2026). The three countries appear on China’s mutual exemption list only for diplomatic, official or special passports.

So you need a visa before you fly:

Embassy pages for all three countries list L and M. For the M visa they ask for an invitation from a trade partner in China or a trade-fair invitation letter.

Fee details, dates and what each figure includes are in the country sections below.

Gulf citizens are covered in other guides

Visa-free entry depends on your passport, not on where you live. Citizens of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain can enter for 30 days: see China 30-day visa-free entry. Citizens of the UAE and Qatar have a mutual exemption, and the NIA list also gives them 240-hour transit: see the 240-hour transit guide. Check your passport in the visa-free checker. The rest of this page is for the passports that these lists do not cover.

What every application needs

These items appear on most of the Egypt, Morocco and Jordan pages. Each country’s own extras are below.

• A passport valid for at least 6 months, with blank pages.
• The online application form with 1 photo.
• Proof of lawful stay, residence, work or study, if you apply outside your country of nationality.
• For L: a round-trip ticket booking and a hotel booking, or an invitation from a unit or person in China.
• For M: business documents or an invitation from a trade partner in China, or a trade-fair invitation letter.

An invitation letter gives the invitee’s details, the visit details and the inviter’s name, phone, address and seal or signature. Our invitation letter guide covers it.

Egypt

Egyptians apply at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center, not at the embassy. The embassy does not accept postal applications. Fill in the form and upload your documents online at bio.visaforchina.cn; this system has been in use since April 17, 2025.

The Cairo centre phone is 02 37483425, and its email is cairocenter@visaforchina.org.

Documents. The basic list above applies. The embassy page adds that L applicants may use a round-trip booking and hotel booking (an itinerary), and that M applicants may use a trade-fair invitation letter.

Fees for Egyptian citizens. The embassy’s reduced visa fees are valid to December 31, 2026. They do not include the centre’s service fee. The fee table on the page is an image.

For Egyptian passport holders, the Cairo centre’s service fee is EGP 2080 per application for regular service. VIP service adds EGP 2080. A single entry is therefore 400 + 2080 = EGP 2480 in total; the centre’s page prints this total with a typo. We did not find the service fee for other nationalities or for Alexandria.

Processing time. Cairo: regular 4 working days, express 3, urgent 2. Alexandria: regular 5 working days.

If you are a third-country national who lives in Egypt, the same table gives “other countries” fees of EGP 470, 710, 940 and 1410 for the four visa types. The page says some nationalities differ.

Morocco

The visa centre network’s list shows no centre in Morocco. Apply at the embassy in Rabat. First fill in the form and upload your documents online at consular.mfa.gov.cn/VISA. Wait for pre-approval. Then bring your passport to the embassy. You do not need printouts.

Documents. The basic list applies. For L, the embassy also asks for a detailed itinerary and travel insurance. For M, it asks for an invitation from a trade partner in China, plus proof of employment or business registration. The embassy waives that proof if this is not your first visit to China.

Fees. The embassy’s fee table gives the MAD amounts below for third-country nationals. They are not for Moroccan passports. The table also has a row whose Chinese heading means “own country”. It shows 0 for all four visa types, has no English label, and we cannot explain it. We found no fee for Moroccan passports. Ask the embassy before you go. Payment is by bank or credit card.

Processing time. Regular service takes 4 working days. Express takes 2 to 3 working days and costs MAD 300 more per application. The page says it may not be current.

The embassy’s pages are last dated June 13 and 14, 2025. Fees, times and documents may have changed since then. Phone or email the embassy before you go.

Jordan

The embassy in Amman handles applications itself. No visa centre in Jordan is listed. Use the online system at consular.mfa.gov.cn/VISA, which has been in use since June 30, 2025. After online pre-approval, go to the embassy. You do not need an appointment. The embassy gives no mail service and no online payment.

Documents. The basic list applies, plus a copy of your passport photo page and 1 photo (48 x 33 mm, white background) uploaded online. For L, add proof of employment and company papers, or a recent bank statement. If an individual in China invites you, add a copy of that person’s ID. For M, add proof of employment and company papers, and the Chinese partner’s invitation or trade-fair invitation with the inviter’s credentials.

Fees. The embassy’s reduced fees are valid to December 31, 2026, for ordinary service. Express service adds JOD 18 per application.

Payment and time. After you submit your passport, pay at any Jordan Kuwait Bank branch with the collection slip. Then collect your passport with the slip and the receipt. The online review takes 1 to 2 working days. You can usually collect 4 working days after online approval.

Gulf residents who are not citizens

Apply at the Chinese mission or visa centre in the country where you live. Show proof of lawful stay, residence, work or study there, or a valid visa (original and copy). The pages for Saudi Arabia and Qatar say this directly. The UAE notice accepts “third-country citizens with a record of lawful entry into the UAE (such as residence, or visa-free under an agreement)”. Our sources do not say whether you could instead use your home country’s mission, so use the mission where you live.

Saudi Arabia

Ordinary-passport applicants apply online on the Riyadh visa centre site, then submit at the centre. The embassy page says agents may submit if fingerprints are not needed. For L, bring a round-trip ticket and hotel booking, or an invitation. For M, bring the trade partner’s business documents or a trade-fair invitation, plus a copy of the inviter’s business licence.

Fees for third-country nationals (SAR, per person, regular service, visa fee plus centre service fee). The fee page gives no end date. Express service costs more.

The pages we read give no processing time for Riyadh or Jeddah; ask the centre.

United Arab Emirates

The Dubai consulate and the Abu Dhabi embassy both accept L and M applications. Our sources do not say which emirates each office serves; ask before you book.

• Abu Dhabi embassy area: fill in the form at cova.cs.mfa.gov.cn and book at avas.cs.mfa.gov.cn. The embassy is at Plot 26, Sector W-22. Consular enquiries: +971-2-4434276, abu-dhabi@csm.mfa.gov.cn.
• Dubai consulate area: use the Dubai visa centre site to fill in the form and book (the consulate’s notice links the older visaforchina.org, whose security certificate has expired). Attend at your booked time. The notice says you give fingerprints; the fingerprint waiver in “Before you go” may apply, but we found no waiver notice for the UAE.
• Dubai visa centre: WAFI Mall, Ground Floor, Phase 5-Horus, Unit 548, Umm Hurair 2, Dubai. Monday to Friday. Submit 9:00-15:00, collect 9:00-16:00. Phone +971-4-379-5381, dubai@visaforchina.org.

For L, bring a round-trip ticket and hotel booking, or an invitation with a copy of the inviter’s ID. For M, bring an invitation or trade-fair documents from a trade partner in China.

Visa fees to December 31, 2026 (AED, visa fee only, “other countries” citizens). The Dubai consulate and the Abu Dhabi embassy list the same figures. Express adds AED 90 per visa. Pay by card only; the consulate takes no cash.

The Dubai visa centre adds a service fee of AED 210 (VAT included) on top. An older centre table from April 2024 shows a single-entry total of AED 312 for regular service. Check that it still matches before you pay. The pages we read give no processing time for the UAE.

Qatar

There is no visa centre in Qatar. The Doha embassy takes applications. Apply online at consular.mfa.gov.cn/VISA, wait for the approval email, print the “Visa Application Voucher” and bring the originals to the embassy. The embassy page asks third-country nationals for proof of lawful stay, residence, work or study, or a valid visa. For L, bring tickets and a hotel booking, or an invitation. For M, bring the trade partner’s business documents or a trade-fair invitation.

The consular section is at Lekhtaifiya zone 66, street 807, no. 4, Doha. Phone +974-4493-3794. Hours Sunday to Thursday 8:30-12:30. Email consulate_qat@mfa.gov.cn. The address page is dated December 1, 2018, so confirm it.

The pages we read give no fee table for Qatar. The embassy’s FAQ page mentions a “visa centre” and Singapore, so we could not rely on it. Ask the embassy for fees and processing time.

Kuwait

Apply online at the Kuwait visa centre site. After approval, go to the centre and pay. You do not need an appointment. For L, bring a round-trip ticket and hotel booking, or an invitation. For M, bring an invitation from a unit or person in China with the invitee, purpose, dates, places, relation to the inviter and who pays, plus the unit’s name, address, phone and seal.

The Kuwait notice does not list a proof-of-residence line, unlike the Saudi and Qatar notices. Ask the centre what it needs for a non-citizen.

Fees (KWD). The embassy fee is without the centre service fee. The centre total is for third countries, regular service, VAT excluded. The pages give no end date.

The centre fee PDF’s column headings are garbled, so confirm the total at the centre.

For the Canton Fair, apply for the M visa

Request the fair’s invitation letter in your buyer account, or use an invitation from a real company in China. Attach it to your M application. Any fair session in 2027 falls after December 31, 2026; the 2027 rules were not published on the pages we read. The steps and the problems buyers report are in our Canton Fair invitation letter and M visa guide. The general application steps are in How to apply for a China tourist visa. We did not find an official page with a visa route made only for the Canton Fair, so use the normal M process.

Before you go

1. Check the end dates. The Egypt, Jordan and UAE pages say the reduced fees are valid to December 31, 2026. The Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Kuwait notices say the fingerprint waiver for stays up to 180 days ends on December 31, 2026. The pages we read give no end date for the Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait fees, and no waiver notice for Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Qatar. If you travel in 2027, check the official page again.
2. Check the official page on the day you apply. Fees, hours and documents change. The Morocco pages are dated 2025, the Dubai notice page is dated 2023, and the Qatar address page is dated 2018.
3. Apply once your dates are firm, and ask your centre or embassy for its current processing time.
4. Fill in the arrival card online before you land. Our arrival card guide shows each screen.

What we could not confirm

• Processing time for Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha: the pages we read do not give it.
• A fee table for Qatar.
• The Egypt fee table is an image, and the Dubai consulate fee table is an image. We read the figures from those images.
• Which emirates the Abu Dhabi embassy and the Dubai consulate each serve.
• The Moroccan-passport fee, and the Cairo service fee for other nationalities and for Alexandria.
• How long a stay each L or M visa gives: the pages we read do not say.
• Whether Egyptian, Moroccan or Jordanian residents of a Gulf state can use their home country’s mission. Our sources say only to apply where you live.