How long do I have to wait before being able to go back to Shenzhen again with another Special Economic Zone visa? And how often can I do so?

Question

Citizens from most countries may obtain an entry visa (Special Economic Zone visa) when traveling to and staying solely in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. The Special Economic Zone visa for Shenzhen a.k.a. Shenzhen 5-Day Visa on Arrival is valid for 5 days (the duration of stay starts from the next day of arrival).

If I enter Shenzhen from Hong Kong by train with a Special Economic Zone visa, then go back to Hong Kong, how long do I have to wait before being able to go back to Shenzhen again with another Special Economic Zone visa? And how often can I do so?

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I am a French citizen. According to https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/guangdong/shenzhen/visa-on-arrival.htm (mirror), "As of July 2017, French and US citizens qualify for the five-day VOA" (VOA=visa on arrival).

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I have crossposted the question at:

• https://qr.ae/TUhxIn
• https://redd.it/9y9j3v

Answer 1

From what I have read and been told so far, same day re-entry is fine, but I'm getting conflicting information regarding how often one can obtain the Shenzhen 5-Day Visa on Arrival.

When I asked a Chinese immigration officer while doing the Shenzhen 5-Day Visa on Arrival in December 2018, I was told "you can obtain the visa no more than 3 times per month" and, once I repeated the question to confirm the information, the second answer I got the same officer was slightly different: "less than 3 times per month". So it was unclear whether 3 times would be ok.

Furthermore, someone on reddit reports having lived over 3 months on 5 days SZ visas:

You can come back same day if you want, I lived over 3 months on 5 days SZ visas, have over 20 of them in my old passport. Crossing the border at Luohu and immediately returning back applying for a new 5 day visa. Never had a problem.

In summary, same day re-entry is fine and twice a month is fine, but I'm not sure yet whether one can enter more than twice a month. The visa currently costs 168 RMBs for French citizens (the price depends on the visa applicant's citizenship; 168 RMBs is the most common price).