Tibet Travel Permit 2026

The Tibet travel regulation clearly states that all international visitors to Tibet must get a Tibet travel permit or Tibet Visa. Without this, no one can visit the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

This permit is required for all international visitors traveling to Tibet, including non-Chinese citizens. Chinese citizens, including those from Hong Kong and Macau, do not need permits to visit Tibet.

If you are an Indian citizen visiting Tibet for the Kailash Manasarovar yatra or a citizen of Taiwan, you have a special arrangement for the permit.

Indian citizens coming to the Kailash yatra must organize their yatra tour with MEA Kailash Yatra or Kailash Yatra agencies, which will work with the China-India Kailash Pilgrimage Service Center in Tibet.

The Taiwan Affairs Office of the Tibet Autonomous Region issues a Tibet Travel Permit for Taiwanese citizens. Only a few travel agencies in Lhasa can help you apply for it, so you must book your tour with Us. Read more in the Tibet Travel Guide for Taiwanese.

NRIs going on the Kailash Yatra will only need a Tibet Travel Permit, like any other international Traveler. You can book the yatra tour directly with a local agency in Tibet, like Tenzin Travel and Tours.

The following are some additional Tibet Travel Permits for the different regions of Tibet.

This travel permit is required if your tour crosses into Tibet's region, which is not yet open to international visitors.

Currently, you need this permit if you are visiting Tsamda County, home to the Guge Kingdom, Dungkar & Piyang caves, and Tholing Monastery. You also need this permit if you are visiting Nagqu Prefecture, the border area of Lhoka Prefecture, or Chamdo Prefecture.

Your Tibetan guide can complete this permit in a single visit, which will take about an hour. Yet upon arrival at each prefecture headquarters, your guide will have to go to the security bureau office to get the signature for each prefecture.

A Border Permit is an additional permit your travel agency needs to apply for before you arrive in Tibet.

If your journey is reaching the destination in border areas like Mount Everest or Mount Kailash, or you are coming to Tibet from Nepal, a border permit only takes one visit and a few hours to get this permit.

This permit is no longer required for the Kailash and Mansarovar area. You will need a military permit from the Xinjiang Military District to go to Tsamda County to visit the Guge Kingdom, Dungkar Piyang, and Toling Monastery. If you are travel between Lhasa and the Kailash Area (Ngari) on the northern highland overland route, in the areas of Nagqu and Chamdo, you will need to get this permit from the Tibet Military District in Lhasa.

We will make these permits before your travel date. Yet if your permit requirements involve the Xinjiang Military District, it is likely to take more than 20 days for the military permit to be completed. If your military permit involves the Tibet Military District, it will only take between one and two weeks to complete. It is best to send all the required documents one and a half months prior to your arrival in Lhasa.

We will take care of all the permits, make sure all the permits are in proper during your travel date.

The Initial step in applying for the Tibet travel permit / Tibet Visa is booking a tour with a local Tibetan travel agency. Once you book the tour with us by signing a tour contract and sending the deposit, we can initiate the process of the Tibet permit. We will need at least a month to apply for and deliver the permit as per your tour plan.

After booking your tour with a local Lhasa travel agency, we can apply for your Tibet Travel permit at the Tibet Tourism Bureau. The following are the Documents we are required to submit with the application.

A) Your Valid Passport

The first document you will have to send us is your passport. It should be a valid passport that you use for a Chinese Visa.

For those with a Chinese Visa on their old passport, which is no longer valid, you must send both passports. You also have to bring both while you travel.

B) Chinese Visa

The second document that we need is the Chinese Visa.

• First, check if your country has a free visa policy for China. You don't need a visa to travel to Tibet if it does. If not, follow the following points.
• If you are coming to Tibet from other parts of China, you will need a Chinese visa from the embassy in your country.
• Suppose you are coming to Tibet from Nepal. You will need a Chinese Group Visa from the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. Some agencies might ask you to get a Chinese group visa if you have a free visa policy in China. They are wrong; you don't need to get a Chinese group visa.

C) Supporting document for a non-tourist Visa

The regular Visa category for tourists is L. Suppose your visa is different. Then, you will have to send us a supporting document with it.

• For those on a Student Visa (X visa), you must submit your Chinese institution ID card or a supporting letter from the school supporting your enrollment.
• If yours is a Business Visa (F visa), you must submit it with a letter from your employing company in China. Then, you can use their visa invitation.
• Travellers with Family visas (Q Visa): You must submit your spouse’s ID card in China in addition to their Visa Invitation.

Suppose you have an existing Chinese Visa on your passport. It is not recommended that you come to Tibet from Nepal. You will have to get the Chinese Group Visa by going this route, and your existing visa will be cancelled.

D) Deposit for the Tour

Additionally, we have the above document. We will have to submit a bank receipt for your tour deposit. For this reason, we ask that you send 30% of your tour cost as a deposit to our official Bank account.

An Official Bank account means the name of the bank’s official holder should be the name of the company you will book the tour with.

Since the Tibet Tourism Bureau in Lhasa is the only Government agency that issues this document, your travel agency or tour operator in Lhasa can only apply for it on your behalf.

You must book a tour with us and send your passport and visa. It’s much easier to get a Tibet travel permit.

There is a different Visa Policy for those coming to Tibet from Nepal. Read more about it here.

Once we receive all the documents mentioned above, we will submit your Tibet travel permit Application online. The permit processing time depends on where you are visiting. The Tibet Visa process typically takes 5 to 20 days. If a national holiday falls during processing, you must also account for those days.

• Suppose you are visiting only Lhasa, Tsedang, and Shigatse. The permit would take about 5 to 7 days.
• It takes about 7-10 days to make a permit for Mount Everest Base Camp and Mount Kailash.
• It will take about 20+ days if your tour destination includes an area that requires a military permit.

Add a few days for the shipping permit to your hotel.

In addition, consider adding 1-3 days. Then, send the permit to your hotel in other Chinese cities, like Chengdu. If you fly from different Chinese cities to Lhasa, please consider Chengdu your transit airport before flying to Tibet. If not, please consider spending a night in one of those other cities to ensure we can send the permit to your hotel. Read more on how to apply for the Tibet Travel Permit.

Suppose you are coming into Tibet via a flight from any other major city in China. Without a permit, you will not be allowed to board the flight.

If you stay overnight in other cities before flying to Lhasa, your permit will usually be delivered to your hotel.

Suppose you are not staying in any cities but taking transit in other cities. Your permit will be sent to you at the airport. It is best to change your flight to Lhasa in Chengdu, as there are plenty of flights to Lhasa, and it is easier for us to send it to you at the airport.

We will provide the delivery person’s phone number so you can call him if you can't find him. We urge all travellers to take transit in Chengdu city, where we have an agency to deliver your permit.

Before 2025, you didn't need an original permit to visit Tibet by train. But as of September 2026, you need the original permit even if you are taking a train to Lhasa. We will have to send the permit to your hotel in other cities in China. Therefore, please provide your hotel address so we can ship your permit.

Whether you come overland to Tibet or fly from Nepal to Tibet, you will not have a permit in hand until you reach Tibet. The permit does not allow you to leave China's domestic jurisdiction. You will meet your tour guide at either Lhasa Airport or the Land border with your original permit, and they will help you check in with tibet travel permit and border permit.

Especially after China introduced visa exemptions for over 70 countries. We often have cases where travelers are asked to show a copy of their permit when entering China. It is often wise to have a photo of your permit on your mobile phone or a printed copy when entering China. Legally, it is not required to show the permit when entering China. But sometimes Chinese immigration officers and airline staff might ask to see the permit out of curiosity.