Claim: China removed Pakistan from its list of visa-free entry countries.
Fact: This is not true as Pakistan was never part of China’s list of visa-exempt countries. Only diplomatic and official passport holders are exempt from the requirement for up to 30 days.
An X user, “@RealWahidaAFG,” claimed on X (archive) that China had issued a visa-exempt list of 74 countries and had removed Pakistan from it. “Breaking: China has removed Pakistan from its visa-free countries list. This marks a significant shift in bilateral relations,” the description reads.
The post also included an image that shows Chinese President Xi Jinping holding a paper listing the countries, with the following text embedded in the photo: “China just announced visa-free entry for 74 countries, but Pakistan didn’t make the list.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check initially analysed the image from the claim and found that online users had shared the news about China’s list of countries granted visa-free entry out of context.
First, the text in the photo from the claim reads, “China just announced visa-free entry for 74 countries, but Pakistan didn’t make the list,” and attributes this information to “Media Bytes News”. A keyword search yielded the website of this news platform, which carried the news article “China offers 30-day visa-free access to citizens of 74 countries, but Pakistan misses out” from July 2025. Unlike the viral post, the article does not state that Pakistan was removed from the list; it only says that Pakistan did not make it to the list. This key difference suggests that the claim represented false information.
Soch Fact Check then scoured the official websites of Pakistan and China for further confirmation and found no evidence that Pakistan was ever included on and had been removed from the list of countries eligible for visa-free entry. Analysis of official sources only showed that Pakistani diplomatic passport holders are exempt from the visa requirement.
As early as November 2023, Pakistani diplomatic and official passport holders could enter China for up to one month under the visa exemption agreement, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This was confirmed by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, which mentioned an exemption for Pakistani diplomatic passport holders. Regular Pakistani passport holders, however, must apply for a visa depending on the purpose of their visit. This confirmed that Pakistan was never included in the visa-free list for regular passport holders.
Furthermore, a keyword search led to reports from earlier this month about China’s updated visa exemption policy, which was also covered in the Media Bytes report mentioned above. According to these reports, citizens from 74 countries can now enter China for up to 30 days following the relaxation of its visa policies. However, Pakistan is not among the 74 countries in any of these reports.
A post from the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of the Chinese Department of Consular Affairs corroborated the development, and said: “Nationals from 75 countries can enjoy visa-free visit to China. #ChinaTravel”. The post also noted that 29 countries were signing mutual visa-exemption agreements with China, but Pakistan was not mentioned among them.
The Chinese embassy in Pakistan has yet to respond to our request for comment.
Therefore, the claim that China removed Pakistan from the list of 74 visa-free countries is not true because the country was never included in the list.
Virality
The post also appeared on X here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram here.
The false claim appeared on YouTube here and here.
On TikTok here.
Conclusion: The claim is false; China has not removed Pakistan from the list of visa-free entry countries, as it was never included.
Background image in cover photo: The Diplomat
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com