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X1 and X2 in the official wording: Article 6, the embassy tables and Order No. 42 compared

Unofficial summary · Sources checked

No, they do not define X1 and X2 in the same words. The Regulations compare the two categories only as "long-term" and "short-term" study and then define those two words by days of stay or residence in China (Regulations, Article 36(4)–(5)), while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' general instruction, both embassy tables and Ministry of Education Order No. 42 attach the 180 days to study itself. None of these texts contains a sentence reconciling the two ways of counting.

The official wordings side by side

Text X1 X2 What the 180 days measure
Regulations of the PRC on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners (State Council Decree No. 637), Article 6(11) with Article 36 "The X1 visa is issued to persons who apply for long-term study in China" (Article 6(11)) "the X2 visa is for persons who apply for short-term study in China" (Article 6(11)) Days in China. Article 36(4): "Short-term means staying in China for a period not exceeding 180 days (including 180 days)." Article 36(5): "Long-term or resident means residing in China for a period exceeding 180 days."
Visa Application Instructions of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (China Consular Services), visa category table "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period of more than 180 days" "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period of no more than 180 days" The period of study
Embassy of the PRC in the United Kingdom, "Part One: Visa for China (Mainland only)", visa category table "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period exceeding 180 days." "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period of no more than 180 days." The period of study
Embassy of the PRC in the United States, "Requirements and Procedures for Chinese Visa Application (Updated September, 2025)", visa category table "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period of more than 180 days." "Issued to those who intend to study in China for a period of no more than 180 days." The period of study
Measures for the Administration of Schools Recruiting and Educating International Students, Order No. 42, Article 45 (Chinese text; this site's translation) "long-term study means studying at a school in China for more than 180 days" "short-term study means studying at a school in China for not more than 180 days (including 180 days)" The time studying at a school in China

The English rendering of Article 45 above is this site's translation of the published Chinese text of Order No. 42, which was issued by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security on 20 March 2017 and took effect on 1 July 2017.

Where exactly the wordings differ

The 180-day number is identical everywhere, and so is the direction: X1 above the line, X2 up to and including it. What changes is the thing being measured.

  • The Regulations tie the number to presence in China: "staying" for short-term, "residing" for long-term or resident (Article 36(4)–(5)).
  • The Ministry's general instruction and both embassy tables tie it to the activity: the period of study intended in China. The UK row pairs "exceeding 180 days" with "no more than 180 days"; the Ministry's row and the US row use "more than 180 days" and "no more than 180 days". Neither table mentions Article 36 or uses its words.
  • Order No. 42 ties it to enrolment: time studying at a school in China. This is the only text that adds the word "school", and Article 45 spells out that the 180th day belongs to the short-term side ("including").

One further difference is visible inside a single page: in the Ministry's own category table, the S1 and S2 rows are built on "intended duration of stay in China", while X1 and X2 are built on the period of study. The page does not explain why the two categories are framed differently.

What Article 36 does inside the Regulations

Article 36 is titled "Meaning of terms in these Regulations", so its definitions apply to the words as the Regulations use them, including Article 6(11). Two of its five items are directly relevant here.

Article 36(3) defines the duration of stay specified in the visa as the period allowed to stay in China after each entry, and states that it begins from the next day of entry. Article 36(5) frames long-term and "resident" together as residing in China for more than 180 days. The counting therefore starts after entry, on permitted presence, not on a course calendar as it appears in an admission letter.

The Regulations are State Council Decree No. 637, promulgated 12 July 2013 and in force from 1 September 2013. The English text used here is the one published by the National Immigration Administration, whose page carries a date of 2021-03-10.

What these texts do not say

None of the five texts says what happens when the two measurements point in different directions — for example, a programme scheduled by a school as longer than 180 days with a shorter intended stay, or the reverse. No text here provides a counting rule for such cases, and this article will not supply one from practice.

None of them states a fee, a bank charge or a processing time. The US notice carries no fee figure; it refers applicants to a separate fees page. The Ministry's general instruction likewise gives no fees and no processing times.

Which page governs an application

The Ministry's general instruction is written for all missions, and it says that requirements are "as required by the Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General in your locality". So the mission's own page still governs an individual application.

The UK table comes from that embassy's own guide, whose page bears a timestamp of 2020-07-01; other missions publish their own pages. The US table comes from that embassy's notice dated 22 September 2025 on its website, marked "Updated September, 2025"; it applies to applications made to the Chinese Embassy in Washington through the new COVA system launched there on 30 September 2025, and consulates-general and other missions may differ. The Ministry's page prints no date in its body.

The documents listed under X1 and X2 on the US page

The wording is one thing; what an applicant hands in is stated separately, mission by mission. The US embassy's page lists under X1, for higher education students, the Confirmation Form for Study in China (Form JW201 or Form JW202) and a photocopy of the admission letter from the school or other entity in China, and for elementary and junior or senior high school students, the Confirmation Form for Elementary Stage Students Study in China; it adds that X1 is not compulsory for those pupils who reside in China for family reunion purposes. Under X2 it lists the admission notice from the school or other entity in China and, if held, the Information Form for Foreign Students' Short-term Visit (Form DQ). These are the Washington embassy's requirements as published on that page, not a general rule for all missions; the UK table and the Ministry's table, as supplied here, list no documents under X1 or X2.

For the choice between the two categories rather than the wording, see the site's page on choosing between X1 and X2.

Questions people ask

Do the Regulations use the 180 days anywhere in the X1 and X2 rules themselves?

No. Article 6(11) says only "long-term study" and "short-term study". The 180 days appear in Article 36, the separate definitions article, which gives the meaning of those words for the Regulations.

Is X2 or X1 the correct category if the study is exactly 180 days?

X2 under every text that sets the line. The embassy tables and the Ministry's table say "no more than 180 days", and Order No. 42 says "not more than 180 days (including 180 days)". The Regulations reach the same result for X2 through Article 36(4), which includes the 180th day in short-term.

Do the UK and US embassy tables quote Article 36?

Neither table does. Both define X1 and X2 by the intended period of study in China and make no reference to Article 36 or to its definitions of short-term and long-term.

Is Order No. 42 an exit-entry regulation?

No. It is the joint measure of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security on schools that recruit and educate international students, and Article 45 defines short-term and long-term study for that instrument. Article 2 states that Chapters 2 to 5, Articles 7 to 34, apply to higher education institutions.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026

This page is an unofficial summary of those documents, is not legal or immigration advice, is not published by the National Immigration Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education or any embassy, and where it differs from the official text or from the instructions of the visa office or exit-entry office handling your case, that official text and those instructions prevail.

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