China, U.S. to Grant Each Other’s Citizens 10-Year Visas - China Real Time Report - WSJ
The U.S. and China agreed to issue longer-term visas for business, tourism and education, potentially removing a long-standing impediment to exchanges between the world’s largest economies. As the WSJ’s Carol E. Lee reports:
President Barack Obama unveiled the new visa arrangements in a speech to business executives in Beijing. According to both governments, the length of tourist and business visas would be extended for each country’s citizens to 10 years from the current one-year limit. Student visas would be extended from one year to five years.
The new guidelines will be effective starting Wednesday, the White House said in a statement. A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said the arrangement would be completed soon.
Both sides said the new visa policies would enable more exchanges between people and businesses.
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The White House said the new visa rules would help the U.S. attract more Chinese tourists. About 1.8 million Chinese traveled to the U.S. last year, representing less than 2% of Chinese who traveled abroad, the White House said. With the new rules, it projected Chinese tourists to number as many as 7.3 million by 2021.