Yes, you can book China’s high-speed trains with a foreign passport. The hard part is usually not finding the train. It is getting Railway 12306 to accept your passport before the seats you want disappear.

The least stressful approach is simple: set up 12306 before your trip, complete passport verification, and only then book. If the verification keeps failing and your departure is getting close, use Trip.com and pay for the convenience.

What to prepare

Have these ready before you open the app:

  • the passport you will use to travel;
  • a clear photo of its information page;
  • a photo of you holding that passport;
  • an email address you check regularly;
  • a bank card that can pass online 3-D Secure checks; and
  • Alipay as a possible backup payment method.

Use the official Railway 12306 website or the official app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Avoid third-party apps while you are setting up your identity. You can use Trip.com later if you need a backup.

The 12306 app may open in Chinese. You can switch it to English under Me → Settings → Language Settings. The English version is designed as a simpler ticketing interface for foreign-passport holders.

Register with your email and look for the activation message. Check the spam folder too. Several travelers on Reddit have reported that the email arrived late or never arrived at all.

You do not need to wait for a mainland Chinese phone number to start the foreign-passport registration flow. What you do need is an inbox that can receive 12306 messages.

One useful bit of real-world advice: if the English version gets stuck, try the Chinese version of the app. Some travelers report that passport verification worked there immediately even though the English app or website failed. It is not guaranteed, but it is worth trying before you give up.

Get your passport name exactly right

This is where many bookings go wrong.

12306 currently tells passport holders to enter the surname first, followed by the given name, using the spelling on the passport. If the form has one name field, follow the order shown by the app rather than entering the name in the order you normally use at home.

The app can scan the passport and fill in the details for you. That is helpful, but do not tap through without checking the result. Scanning can get spaces, hyphens, accents, or long names wrong.

Before you continue, compare every field with the passport information page:

  • name and order;
  • passport number;
  • date of birth;
  • nationality; and
  • the exact passport you will carry on the journey.

12306’s current English guidance says the name field has a 30-character limit, including spaces. If your name does not fit, do not invent an abbreviation. Follow the instruction shown in the current form or ask a station counter for help.

Passport verification: the part that takes patience

After registration, 12306 may ask for two photos: the passport information page and a selfie of you holding the passport.

This can work quickly. It can also be strangely stubborn.

If the app says “system busy,” that does not always mean the service is down. One Reddit user eventually passed verification after cropping and compressing the photos. Another later reported that a newer version of the app accepted much larger files, so there is no reliable public file-size rule to follow. The practical lesson is to try a clear, reasonably sized image and retry in the latest app.

Give the review time to finish before buying a non-refundable-looking itinerary. A few travelers have reported that the account showed review successful but still asked them to verify when they tried to book. If that happens, wait a few hours, sign out and back in, and check the passenger status again.

If the same problem continues:

  1. Recheck the name and passport number.
  2. Try the Chinese app instead of the English flow.
  3. Try the website if the app is failing, or the app if the website is failing.
  4. Compress the images and upload them again.
  5. If your departure is close, stop troubleshooting and switch to Trip.com or a staffed railway counter.

12306 says foreign-passport verification can also be completed face to face at a station. That is useful, but it is not a good plan for a train you need to catch immediately after landing.

Adding a friend or family member

You can buy tickets for other people from your account. Add them under My Passengers and enter the details from their passports.

12306’s FAQ says another passenger can be booked once their identity status is verified or ready to be verified. In practice, do not assume that adding the person makes them ready straight away. Their passport record may still be waiting for review.

Paying: keep a second option ready

International payment is a genuine point of failure, and it is not always your bank’s fault.

Some travelers report paying with a regular Visa or Mastercard. Others report a 3-D Secure error on one card and success with another. One Reddit user said a Chase Visa failed, then paid through Alipay and was charged a 3% fee on a transaction over RMB 200. That is a user report, not a promise that every 12306 or Alipay payment will be charged the same way.

Before you try to pay:

  • enable online and cross-border transactions with your bank;
  • make sure you can approve a 3-D Secure request; and
  • keep Alipay available if you already have it set up with your card.

If two payment attempts fail, do not keep refreshing the same checkout page for an hour. Try the other payment method or use Trip.com.

Seats: 12306 gives you more control

12306 is usually the better choice if sitting together matters. Trip.com may accept a seat preference but assign something different. Travelers on Reddit have reported being split up, especially on sleeper trains.

For standard second-class seats, D and F are the two seats on the two-seat side of the carriage. They sit next to each other. The aisle is between that pair and the three-seat side; it is not between D and F.

Quiet carriages are not available on every train. If you see the quiet-carriage symbol during booking, treat it as a train-specific option rather than a standard feature.

What happens at the station?

For an online e-ticket, you normally do not need to collect a paper ticket. You do need the original passport used for the booking. China Railway’s FAQ says passengers should show the valid ID used to buy the ticket for check-in, exit, and boarding.

Do not rely on a screenshot, an itinerary sheet, or a reimbursement receipt as a substitute. Those documents are not the ticket.

Automated gates do not handle every foreign passport in the same way. Allow extra time and be prepared to use a staffed lane. Keep the booking open in the app in case staff need to look up the order.

Also check the station’s large departure screens. A Reddit traveler noted that the English app did not show the gate clearly, while the Chinese app and station displays were more useful.

Children’s tickets are not simply “ages 6–14”

The current 12306 rule is more specific:

Age General rule
Under 6 One child per adult may travel with a free child ticket without a reserved seat; additional children need a discounted ticket
Over 6 and under 14 Discounted child ticket
14 and older Full-price ticket

When in doubt, enter the child’s date of birth and follow the option shown by 12306.

When Trip.com is the sensible choice

Trip.com is more expensive, but sometimes that is the whole point. It can be the better option when:

  • the activation email never arrives;
  • 12306 refuses to verify your passport;
  • your account says “review successful” but still blocks booking;
  • your card keeps failing; or
  • you need English-language help and do not have time to keep testing the official app.

The fee buys convenience, not a different train network. Use 12306 when it works. Use Trip.com when the official system is costing you more time than the service fee.

The practical takeaway

Set up 12306 early, verify every passenger, and carry the passport used for the booking. If the system is still fighting you a few days before departure, stop treating the verification problem like a challenge you have to win. Book through Trip.com, keep your itinerary handy, and save your time for the actual journey.

Sources and last reviewed

Last reviewed: August 3, 2026. Reddit posts are personal reports, not railway policy.