Overview & preparation
What happens after landing
Expect entry checks, baggage collection and customs before you leave the airport. The exact route depends on the airport and your arrival.
Keep your documents ready
- ✓Your passport, visa or entry basis, onward travel details and accommodation information.
- ✓Any Arrival Card information required for your circumstances; use official channels.
- ✓Follow immigration and customs instructions. Ask an official if you are unsure what must be declared.
After entry checks
- ✓Collect your baggage, complete customs and find the arrivals area.
- ✓Connectivity and onward transport are the next things to think about. Airport-specific decisions are in the arrival action guide.
Free sample · From the complete guide
Try this part of your Shanghai journey
Practical steps
5–30 min: finish the Arrival Card and immigration inspection
If you completed the free official Arrival Card before departure, keep the confirmation ready. If not, use the official port QR code, smart device or paper card before the counter. Pudong's arrival corridor now has a multilingual self-service information point before immigration with guidance for arrival procedures, transfers, terminal facilities and airport Wi-Fi. Present your passport and entry documents; if you are using a transit-entry policy, keep your confirmed onward ticket ready.
Open the official free Arrival Card service ↗
About this excerpt
Selected from Your first 90 minutes after landing: arrival & entry. Guide updated September 28, 2026. App labels and local arrangements can change.
Inside the Full Guide
Included in the Full Shanghai Guide, together with this city’s Quick Cards.
- Your first 90 minutes after landing: arrival & entry
- Connecting flight / transfer
- Baggage collection & problems
All three journey stages
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After immigration and baggage, continue to Get Connected, then Airport to Your Hotel. Together, these take you from the aircraft to your hotel, with a fallback at each stage. Queue and travel times vary.