In most cases, a visa should be obtained from a Chinese embassy or consulate before arriving anywhere in China. See the China page for more information.
Certain nationalities arriving from Hong Kong can obtain a single-entry five-day Special Economic Zone Tourism Visa on arrival for ¥160-1,000. At the Luohu border (罗湖口岸), the office is immediately upstairs after clearing the Hong Kong immigration and customs. It is open 9AM-11:30PM seven days a week and only accepts RMB for payment. It can be reached at +86 755-8232-7700 for enquiries. Currently, these visas are available for Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and most EU countries passport holders. Note that the charge for UK passport holders is much higher at ¥469 for a five-day Shenzhen-only visa, while it costs only ¥160 for most other nationalities. Irish travellers are sometimes charged the same exorbitant UK fee when they are unlucky enough to get a border official who is unaware that the UK and Ireland are different countries. US passport holders are not eligible for this scheme and may even get fined for arriving without a valid visa! The same five-day visas are also available on arrival at the Huanggang and Shekou border offices. There is no visa-on-arrival office at the Futian border. The reason for the differing fees is that Chinese visa fees are set on a reciprocal basis.
It is worthwhile to point out here that even though the Huanggang (皇岗口岸) and Futian (福田口岸) borders are only a few hundred metres apart, they are different land crossings that connect to different points in Lok Ma Chau on the Hong Kong side. Huanggang connects to the 24-hour Lok Ma Chau Control Point, while Futian connects to the Lok Ma Chau MTR station.
Besides the five-day SEZ visa, you may also apply for a full China visa (single and double entry only) at the Luohu border. This visa can be obtained only between the hours of 09.30-16.30. Again, UK passport holders are expected to pay more and US passport holders are not entertained at all. It is better to apply for a one year multiple entry visa at any consulate in the US for $140. For US passport holders, the length of the visa will depend on the previous visas that have been issued. The first visa will be double entry, the second will be six month multiple entries, and so forth. If you have an old Chinese visa in another passport, it will be helpful to include the old passport in the visa application.
Getting a tourist visa in Hong Kong now takes 3-4 days and costs HK$150-1,100. A list of costs is available. The old approach of arriving in Hong Kong and immediately applying for a visa is no longer worth the time and cost, as you will face expensive hotel bills in Hong Kong until your visa is granted. Macau's visa office is less crowded and the hotels are a bit cheaper, but it takes just as long. In general, only single and double entry visas are granted to visitors without HKID cards, although foreigners with previous entries into the mainland and Hong Kong student or work visa holders have been known to be approved for multiple entries.
You can get a taxi van from HK International Airport to Shenzhen via the Huanggang border for HK$150. This fee includes ferrying you onwards to some destination within Shenzhen (e.g. hotels) after you have cleared the China immigration, but do clarify with the airport service counter staff first. Well worth it if you have a valid visa.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Shenzhen
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Shenzhen - updated May 2024
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Shenzhen Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
