Explainer | How Chinese citizens can prepare for travel to the United States

Visitors are advised to be ready for routine questions and have documents and additional information at the ready at the border

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China has urged its citizens to be cautious about travelling to the United States. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00am, 24 Apr 2025

The tariff war between the world’s two largest economies has not only raised uncertainties about trade, it has also generated unease in China about travel to the United States.

So much so that Beijing is urging citizens looking to travel to the US to be cautious and has issued two travel warnings for the United States, citing “the deterioration of Sino-US economic and trade relations, and the domestic security situation” in the country.

Canada, Germany, Britain and Australia have updated their travel advisories following reports of their citizens being denied entry or detained at the US border.

According to preliminary official data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), overall visits to the US from overseas fell 11.6 per cent in March year on year, with arrivals from Germany falling 28 per cent and those from Britain down 14 per cent.

While arrivals from China fell just 0.8 per cent to 115,151 in March, Chinese travellers remain wary.

David Huang, from the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, said US immigration policy was now worrying for anyone who wanted to travel there.

Huang plans to go to the US for the start of his daughter’s first year of high school this autumn and said he expected intense questioning at the border.

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Visitors are advised to be ready for routine questions and have documents and additional information at the ready at the border

Visitors are advised to be ready for routine questions and have documents and additional information at the ready at the border