Most passports need no visa to change planes at Hong Kong International Airport without leaving the transit area. To leave, UK, US, EU, Canadian and Australian passports are visa-free, and Indian passport holders need a free online pre-arrival registration first.
No visa is needed to change planes at Hong Kong airport if you stay airside, for most passports. To leave, British citizens can stay up to 180 days, and US, Canadian, Australian and EU passport holders up to 90 days, with no visa. Indian passport holders can stay up to 14 days after a free online pre-arrival registration, which isn't needed to stay airside. Everyone entering needs an onward or return ticket.
If you stay airside
Most connecting passengers at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) don’t pass immigration, and most passports need no visa to do it.
HKIA’s page for connecting passengers says that with an onward boarding pass you “simply follow the directional sign guiding you to the departures level for boarding gates”, and that you “must go through security screening before heading to the boarding gate of your onward flight”. If you have no onward boarding pass yet, follow the signs to your airline’s transfer desk first.
The Immigration Department’s table of visit rules has a column for nationalities that always need a visa “except in direct transit by air and when the person does not leave the airport transit area”. A passport in that column needs no visa to stay airside. Three groups in the same table, marked with symbols, must hold a valid visa “for whatever purpose (including those who are in transit and remain on the airside)”. If your passport is marked, get a visa before you fly, even to change planes.
HKIA’s transfer page gives no limit on how long you can stay airside.
If you want to leave the airport
Passports that are visa-free for Hong Kong can leave on a layover. The Immigration Department’s table, updated in August 2026, gives these stays.
| Passport | What you need |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom (British citizens) | No visa, up to 180 days |
| Other British nationalities (subjects, protected persons) | No visa, up to 90 days |
| United States | No visa, up to 90 days |
| EU and Schengen states (such as Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland) | No visa, up to 90 days |
| Canada | No visa, up to 90 days |
| Australia | No visa, up to 90 days |
| India | No visa for up to 14 days, after a free online pre-arrival registration |
Whatever your passport, the Immigration Department says visitors need “adequate funds to cover the duration of their stay without working” and, unless in transit to mainland China or Macao, “onward or return tickets”. It also says that even when every requirement is met, “travellers should not assume that they can gain automatic entry”.
India: pre-arrival registration
Indian nationals must complete a pre-arrival registration online before they can visit Hong Kong visa-free. The Immigration Department says it is free of charge and the result is shown at once; you must print the notification slip it produces. A registration is valid for six months, and each visit within it can last up to 14 days. Your Indian passport must be valid for at least six months. Registration isn’t required for Indian nationals in direct transit by air who don’t leave the airport transit area.
Other passports
Every other passport is in the same Immigration Department table, in one of three groups: visa-free for a set stay, a visa needed to leave but not to stay airside, or a visa needed for any purpose. Check your own passport in the table before you book.
If you’re on separate tickets
You pass immigration as a visitor, so you need permission to enter under the table above, and an onward or return ticket. You then collect your bags, check in again and go back through departures immigration and security. Allow more time than for a connection on one ticket.
At the border
HKIA publishes no queue times at immigration, so this guide allows about an hour from landing to the Airport Express. That is the guide’s own allowance.
The free layover tours add one step before the border: you register at Transfer Desk E1, on the arrivals level before immigration, 90 minutes before the tour starts, and staff there check that you can enter. You then enter and leave Hong Kong once during your layover.
Longer stopovers
Hong Kong has no free airline transit hotel. Cathay Pacific sells stopovers in Hong Kong of 1 to 7 days, with hotel and experience offers at a price on the booking, so the visa-free stays above apply to you as a visitor.
Before you go landside
Have your onward boarding pass, your passport and a way to show your onward ticket. Check-in and gate closing times are your airline’s, and HKIA lists none for connecting flights, so ask your airline if you must check in again. This guide plans on being back at the airport 90 minutes before departure.
Bags: the airport’s baggage storage is in Arrival Hall A, landside. Then getting into the city.
A transit tour you can book
If you're allowed to leave Hong Kong International Airport, a tour that collects you at the airport takes care of the timing. Check that the tour's length fits your layover, leaving time to get out of the airport and to be back 90 minutes before your flight.