China has enacted stricter regulations governing international travel for its citizens, a move that expands the government’s ability to control movement based on national security considerations. Under the new rules, which came into effect on Tuesday, individuals suspected of harming China’s national security or interests while abroad can be prohibited from leaving the country for up to three years upon their return.
Authorities also stated that citizens who violate technology import and export regulations posing risks to industrial or technological security may face exit bans. The Chinese government framed these measures as preventative actions to safeguard sovereignty and protect ordinary citizens from being lured into illegal gambling, scams, or other criminal activities in high-risk destinations.
Despite official claims that the regulations do not target everyday travelers, critics argue they provide state security authorities with broader leverage to suppress dissent and monitor nationals overseas. Professor Tom Kellogg, executive director of the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University, described the policy as “another tool designed to control what Chinese citizens do and say overseas,” noting that passports are sometimes denied outright to prevent criticism of the government.
Personal accounts from citizens illustrate the opaque nature of these restrictions. A 26-year-old man identified as Pipi reported that his passport application was rejected in 2023, a decision he attributes to his participation in Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019. After being interviewed by media during the demonstrations and subsequently questioned by state security police upon returning to the mainland, Pipi was told he could not obtain a passport due to “the Hong Kong issue.” He noted that no official documentation was provided, leaving him without a clear path to administrative reconsideration.
Data from the rights group Safeguard Defenders indicates a dramatic rise in exit bans in recent years. Records in China’s supreme court database grew from 89 mentions in 2016 to 188,760 last year. Furthermore, the proportion of civil verdicts involving exit bans surged from approximately 0.23% in 2019 to 7.3% in 2025, a figure experts believe understates the true scale due to withheld judgments.
Restrictions also persist for specific professional groups. Xiao Wang, a 32-year-old employee at a state-owned financial institution in Beijing, revealed that staff members are required to surrender their passports and obtain managerial approval for overseas trips. He stated that travel to “sensitive countries such as Japan” is effectively banned for his colleagues. Similar constraints reportedly apply to civil servants, including those working in museums, who find it difficult to secure passports directly due to their employment status.
Currently, Chinese citizens have no public mechanism to verify whether they are subject to exit controls. Without formal written or verbal notification, restrictions typically only become apparent when individuals attempt to apply for travel documents or cross borders. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and immigration authorities did not respond to requests for comment from the BBC.
Legal experts warn that the expanding scope of travel limitations reflects a tightening of ideological control reminiscent of earlier eras in Chinese history. Kellogg described the trends as “deeply concerning,” suggesting they echo the isolation experienced during Mao Zedong’s rule before China’s opening-up reforms began in the 1990s.
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