New regulations governing travel to and from China have come into force, with observers warning that the measures could further tighten government control over citizens.
The rules, which took effect on Tuesday, allow Chinese citizens who are deemed to have “harmed” national security or national interests while abroad to be prevented from leaving China for up to three years after returning, reports BBC.
People who breach technology import and export regulations in ways that “may endanger national industrial or technological security” can also be barred from leaving the country.
Border officials are additionally required to advise Chinese nationals against travelling to countries and regions classified as “high-risk”.
Authorities defend measures as preventive
Chinese authorities say the regulations are intended to “safeguard national sovereignty and security” and insist they do not restrict the movement of “ordinary citizens”.
Last week, Piyao, an official Chinese government platform that counters what it describes as rumours, said the new rules were not aimed at ordinary travellers.
Instead, it described them as a “preventative measure against high-risk destinations and individuals with unusual travel patterns”.
The platform said the regulations were introduced to tackle issues including people being deceived into travelling abroad or becoming involved in illegal gambling and scam activities.
Critics warn of greater ideological control
Critics, however, say the measures could give Beijing greater leverage over the activities of Chinese nationals overseas.
Professor Tom Kellogg, Executive Director of the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown University, told BBC Chinese that the policy was “another tool designed to control what Chinese citizens do and say overseas”.
Kellogg said state security authorities sometimes directly refuse to issue passports to people to prevent them from criticising the Chinese government abroad or to punish them for rights advocacy.
He described the expanding restrictions as “deeply concerning”, saying they reflected “growing ideological control under Chinese leader Xi Jinping” that was reminiscent of the era of Mao Zedong.
China was largely isolated from the outside world during Mao’s decades-long rule. International travel became a regular part of life for Chinese citizens only in the 1990s, following a series of reforms and the country’s opening up.
Kellogg said the current restrictions “bring back memories of that painful era”.
Exit bans rise sharply
The new regulations come as Chinese authorities have significantly increased the use of exit bans in recent years, according to data provided to the BBC by rights group Safeguard Defenders.
Data from China’s supreme court database showed just 89 records mentioning exit bans in 2016. By last year, that figure had climbed to 188,760.
The proportion of civil verdicts involving exit bans also increased more than 30-fold between 2019 and 2025, rising from about 0.23% to 7.3%.
The actual number of cases is believed to be higher because an increasing number of judgments are being withheld.
Travel restrictions already affect workers
Even before Tuesday’s new rules came into effect, various groups in China, including civil servants, employees of state-owned enterprises and ordinary citizens, were already subject to restrictions on travelling to certain countries.
A 32-year-old man identified by the pseudonym Xiao Wang, who works at a state-owned financial institution in Beijing, told BBC Chinese that employees have long been required to surrender their passports and secure approval before travelling abroad.
Managers have also verbally warned staff that “sensitive countries such as Japan are definitely off-limits”.
Xiao Wang said some of his acquaintances working as civil servants, including museum employees, face significant difficulties travelling overseas. Some have reportedly been told that they cannot directly apply for passports because of their jobs.
Opaque procedures leave citizens with little recourse
People affected by travel restrictions often report unclear procedures. According to publicly available information, Chinese citizens cannot currently check for themselves whether they are subject to exit controls.
Unless authorities provide written or verbal notification, people generally discover they have been restricted only when applying for documents or attempting to leave the country.
China’s Administrative Licensing Law requires an administrative authority that refuses to grant an administrative licence to provide the reasons in writing. However, people interviewed by the BBC said this requirement is not enforced in practice.
One 26-year-old Chinese citizen, identified by the pseudonym Pipi, told BBC Chinese that his passport application was rejected in 2023. He believes the decision was linked to his participation in Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Pipi was interviewed by Hong Kong media outlets during the demonstrations and was later questioned by state security police after returning to mainland China.
He said an immigration official verbally told him that he could not obtain a passport “because of the Hong Kong issue”, but he was never given written confirmation.
Without official documentation, Pipi said he could not formally challenge the decision.
“If they have given me an official document, I could apply for administrative reconsideration. But all they said was one sentence: ‘You can’t go,’” he said.
He added that he was afraid to pursue the matter further because he feared being imprisoned.
“I’m just an ordinary person, right? I’m a young man, and I haven’t done anything bad,” he said.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and immigration authorities did not respond to requests for comment from BBC Chinese.
