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Fingerprint scanning PEK on arrival

I am in possession of a two year multi entry visa and had my fingerprints taken at the application centre in Manchester, UK at the time of application.

Do I need to scan my fingerprints again at the self service scanning terminals before immigration at PEK.

Thanks

If you already have a two-year multi-entry Chinese visa and provided your fingerprints at the visa application center in Manchester, you generally do not need to rescan your fingerprints at the self-service terminals at Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) for each entry. The Chinese immigration system links your biometric data with your visa record, so returning travelers with valid multi-entry visas usually bypass additional fingerprinting.

However, there are a few points to keep in mind:

  • Some airports have updated procedures where all arrivals, including holders of multi-entry visas, may be asked to use self-service e-gates or biometric scanners. This is often for efficiency and verification purposes rather than requiring new fingerprint data.
  • If you are traveling through a dedicated e-gate lane for foreign nationals, the system may prompt you to scan your fingerprints even if they already exist in the system. In that case, the terminal reads your previously registered fingerprints for verification, not to register new ones.
  • Standard immigration counters will still verify your visa and passport manually, and in some cases, officers may request additional fingerprint scans if the system flags your entry for review.

In practice, for a multi-entry visa with fingerprints already on file, you can usually just proceed through immigration without needing to provide new fingerprints, but always follow the airport signage and instructions from immigration officers.

Recommendation: Arrive prepared to use self-service terminals if prompted, but don’t worry about having to redo fingerprint registration for each entry.

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