By 
GHRD Research Team
Viarami, July 29, 2020
China’s long tradition of travel bans continues as the country creates new rules and lengthy procedures for certain citizens to obtain their passports. Disguising such measures as permitted under national law, China poses a threat to the inherent right of freedom of movement.
In China, exit bans are still very popular despite there being outstanding violations of human rights. Such bans are special restrictive measures carried out by the Chinese government that forbid people from leaving China once they enter the country. They apply to both Chinese nationals and foreigners, like journalists or foreign executives, and their use has increased since Xi Jinping’s election in 2012. Estimates reveal that these bans have been preventing an average of tens of thousands of Chinese from leaving the country every year.
In a few instances, the restrictions on leaving the country were justified as security measures. In these cases, the persons subjected to the exit bans owed money to the government and would not be able to leave until they extinguished their debts. Nonetheless, in most situations, the Chinese Government would not give any explanation for issuing such bans.
As reported by some Chinese activists who have been subjected to travel bans, China does not respect the rule of law and disregards its laws, whether legal or not.
In February 2025, Human Rights Watch reported that travel bans are still widely used in China to prevent activists and human rights defenders from leaving the country. According to Human Rights Watch, current travel bans target those citizens who are considered to be at high risk of “unlawful” emigration.
The reasons given by the Government for imposing stricter control on the people’s right to free movement can be as vague as forcing people to stay inside their house due the presence, close to their home, of suspects of online fraud and transnational crime.
The procedure through which the Chinese Government denies these people from leaving the country is legally framed but unlawful. Namely, when these citizens ask for a new passport, they are required to submit additional paperwork and obtain approval from multiple government offices. These procedures are not only lengthy and expensive, but they also increase the possibility of rejection by one of the offices.
Among the documents required to obtain passports, it is worth mentioning documentation proving the person has no criminal record, evidence of social security contributions, bank statements showing regular income and savings, and employment contracts. Sometimes, applicants need to visit several state offices that are only present in bigger Chinese cities, forcing them to travel thousands of kilometres to obtain them.
While it is undeniable that a large part of the Chinese population is allowed to leave the country and obtain passports via normal procedures, it is also evident that the categories of people who are facing stricter conditions on their freedom of movement are growing.
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that certain areas of the country, where there is a majority of the Tibetan or Uyghur population, are inherently prohibited from travelling abroad as the citizens of these areas are not legally allowed to have passports.
China has been defending the legality of travel bans from a legal perspective. It claims that Article 12(5) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law justifies its actions, as it states that citizens who may endanger national security or interests can be prohibited from leaving the country. However, Chinese activists accuse the government of interpreting the provisions of Article 12 too broadly.
By preventing people from leaving the country, China is breaching the internationally protected right to leave the country, thus also breaching the fundamental human right of freedom of movement.
Sources and Further Readings:
China: Right to Leave Country Further Restricted
China’s exit bans multiply as political control tightens under Xi
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