The National Immigration Administration recently held a press conference to release major data on immigration management in the first half of 2026.

In the first half of the year, the national immigration management agencies inspected a total of 369 million people entering and exiting the country, a year-on-year increase of 10.8% and a record high.The number of foreigners entering the country reached 22.914 million, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%, showing a rapid growth trend; among them, 17.815 million foreigners entered visa-free, accounting for 77.7% of the foreign arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 30.6%.The top ten countries for inbound foreign tourists are South Korea, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Mongolia, and Australia, accounting for 62% of the total number of inbound foreigners.

In the first half of the year, the national immigration management agencies inspected a total of 20.844 million inbound and outbound transportation vehicles (trains, ships, vehicles), a year-on-year increase of 17.1%.

In the first half of the year, the national immigration management agencies continued to promote the innovation of immigration management policies and systems, actively promoted the optimization of regional opening-up layout, collaborated with relevant departments to expand the scope of unilateral visa-free countries, accurately provided regional entry visa-free, stay and residence and other convenient policy measures, and implemented online registration for foreigners’ accommodation other than hotels in 7 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) including Hebei. It supported Shanghai International Cruises’ destinationless sea tours and Guangdong Province’s free travel of yachts to Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, helping to convert greater “inbound and outbound traffic”.In order to achieve greater "economic increment"; innovate and optimize the border inspection and inspection model, fully support the implementation of the "cooperative inspection, one-time release" customs clearance model at the Xinhuanggang Port, and activate the "face + iris" smart channel for vehicle customs clearance at some land ports adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, and at the southwest borderSome land ports have promoted the application of rapid vehicle customs clearance, and continued to improve the efficiency of port clearance of personnel, goods, and transportation vehicles; vigorously improved the efficiency of government services, continued to deepen and expand "Internet +" government services, and further promoted the facilitation of applications for various entry-exit documents.(Reporter Zhang Tianpei)