Faithful readers of the blog will know that Mrs. PWaC and I are crossing off an item from my travel bucket list by heading on a round the world trip!
- Trying to book a business class RTW ticket (Try #1… not good…)
- Finally got that RTW ticket booked – 159,500 miles and $148.86
When I was on the phone with AA trying to book the final leg, part of the boilerplate script the agent read me was something to the effect of “you are responsible for making sure you have the appropriate travel documents (passport / visa) and if you do not have them, you may be denied boarding”
Yikes! While I was pretty sure I didn’t need to make any visa arrangements for the countries I was going to, but I thought I’d check in. In this post, I’ll share my research and I’m sure if I’m wrong, someone will correct me in the comments!!
Visa for China (Shanghai)
I know that China has a 72 hour Visa on Arrival, but since I would not be leaving the airport, I don’t even think that I would need to deal with that. Ideally, as I mentioned, although my currently booked ticket takes me through Shanghai (on angle-flat American business class), I am hoping for Cathay Pacific first class availability to open up, in which case I wouldn’t go through Shanghai at all.
Visa for Hong Kong
As I understand it, citizens of the United States do not need a visa to enter Hong Kong and stay for up to 90 days. I’m pretty sure we will stay under the 90 day limit, or else perhaps my parents might be very angry…. 🙂
Visa to visit Singapore
Same thing goes for Singapore – citizens of the United States (as well as citizens of Norway, Switzerland, South Korea, and all EU citizens) can stay in Singapore for 30 days visa-free.
Crossing the border from Singapore to Malaysia
I noticed that Singapore is pretty close to Malaysia, and so since I am always looking to up my country count, I figured I’d check that out too. It looks like US Citizens can enter Malaysia visa-free for 90 days.
On the way back: Entering United Arab Emirates
After a stay in Singapore, we’ll be flying Emirates First Class via Dubai to New York. It looks like US citizens DO need a visa to enter the UAE, but you can get a free visa on arrival when you land. I’m sure a helpful commenter can alert me to how that process works – hopefully it should be pretty obvious!
On the way back to the US, we’re taking the direct DXB-JFK flight that does NOT stop in Milan, so we don’t need to worry about that, though I do know from our trip to Rome that no visa was required for US citizens to visit the EU (we did go through immigration in Dublin and then again when we flew from London to Nice, France.
(SEE ALSO: My pro-tip for visiting Ancient Rome sites)
So if I’m reading things correctly, we should not need to get any visas before our trip, which is good, because time’s running out!
How’d I do? Any mistakes or misinformation? What has your visa / border crossing experience been going to/from any of these questions?
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Yeah, going through UAE, its just like if you did customs in Singapore, Japan, or the EU. Its not like you have to go to a separate “station” like it used to be for Bali. You go to a single place, the visa is free, you thank them and move on. Even easier than Qatar (where you have to pay).
About crossing border into Malaysia: You’re right, no visa required for US citizens. However, be prepared to get stuck in a long-ass line to clear custom on BOTH sides of the causeway, in BOTH directions. Not to mention the haphazard decision-making by the Malaysian (or Johor State) government to make motorists’ lives suddenly harder (Case in point: Requiring biometric fingerprint scan [or scam] for all non-Malaysians circa 2011). So unless you have plenty of time to spare, or plan on going on foot, you’re better off spending the time in Singapore. Or, there are plenty of cheap AirAsia flights SIN-KUL…
I’ve heard that you can no longer walk across the causeway from Singapore to Johor?
The question is not whether or not you can walk across the causeway but why would you want to?
I grew up in Singapore, yell at me at the 2/5 gathering if you want some tips 🙂
Cool Sam – thanks for the offer and definitely find me at the meetup. I’d love to hear your tips!
Your visa research is correct right now, but it is always advisable to keep checking periodically before departure because sometimes governments will change their requirements in response to a political situation. In Shanghai, you won’t need anything for a connecting international flight and you can go into the city for 72 hour (if you think you’ll spend a longer time or plan to travel outside the city limits, get a real visa). Do you want to go to Johor simply to cross another country off your list? Unless you’re going to Legoland or the Hello Kitty land, I’d rather take a cheap flight to KL. If you really want to go, there is a new express shuttle train service that started operating several months ago between Singapore and Johor called Shuttle Tebrau. You have to buy your tickets at least a month in advance. This page has some good information: http://railtravelstation.com/2015/07/04/shuttle-tebrau-woodlands-ciq-tofrom-jb-sentral-by-train/
Your information about Shanghai is just about correct. You actually do have to enter China, even on a connection (just like the US, there is no international to international connection allowed without going through immigration control). There is no 72 hour visa on arrival, but there is a 72 transit without visa allowance. The key difference being that you have to be in transit from one country to a different country. So, for example, if you fly in from the US with a connection in Osaka and and fly out to Singapore with a connection in Tokyo, you would not be eligible and would have to get a China visa because you are flying Japan China Japan, which is not allowed. Should not be an issue for you, however, asking for a visa on arrival at Chinese immigration control might create issues. You will want to either line up in the transit without visa line or advise the officer you get in the regular line that you are in transit. You will also need a copy of your onward flight to show when you check in for your flight and for the border officer. Finally, I have read that it is recommended that you carry a copy of the timatic rules to show when you check in for your flight, in case they don’t know them.
I would second the Singapore-Malaysia caution note… it is really complicated unless you go at the exact right time. Also because of the complicated Singapore-Malay bureaucracy (mostly Singapore)…not as easy as walking over the Rainbow Bridge! TigerAir usually has flights for around 38USD from SIN to KUL if you want to take a day trip up to KL to get a taste of Malaysia. I would only cross from Singapore to Johor Bahru if you feel like making it a 12+ hour day with stupid hiccups.
Hi there, My wife and I are staying for another 5 days in singapore with an
Australian passport,we want to know whether we need any visa to enter
Malaysia please.
I would advise you to contact the Australian embassy