China: Uyghur Travel Is Strictly Banned

The Chinese government is maintaining severe restrictions, conditions, and controls on Uyghurs who seek to travel abroad in violation of their internationally protected right to leave the country, Human Right Watch said today. The government has permitted Uyghurs in the diaspora to make restricted visits to Xinjiang, but with the apparent aim of presenting a public image of normalcy in the region.

Since the start of the Chinese government’s abusive Strike Hard Campaign in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2016, Chinese authorities have arbitrarily confiscated passports of Uyghurs in the region and imprisoned Uyghurs for contacting people abroad. While the authorities are now allowing some Uyghurs to apply for or are returning passports for travel internationally, they exert tight control over those who travel.

“The modest thaw in China’s travel restrictions has allowed some Uyghurs to briefly reunite with loved ones abroad after having no news for years, but the Chinese government’s travel restrictions are still used to oppress Uyghurs in Xinjiang and in the diaspora,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Chinese government continues to deny Uyghurs their right to leave the country, restrict their speech and associations when abroad, and punish them for having foreign ties.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 23 Uyghurs outside China, and reviewed relevant official documents.

Uyghurs in China applying to visit a foreign country need to provide the authorities with the purpose of travel, Uyghurs who left Xinjiang recently or had met with relatives from Xinjiang said. Those applying for family purposes are also required to provide an invitation from a family member abroad, along with their personal information, address, work status, and other documents.

Permission comes with strict rules: those travelling must not engage with activists abroad or speak critically about the Chinese government, and must return within a specified time, which could range from a few days to several months. In the case of business travel, Uyghurs are only allowed to visit certain countries, such as Kazakhstan, and are prohibited from visiting “sensitive countries” with large Muslim populations, such as Turkey.

One Uyghur whose relative in China was denied a passport said that, “The police showed them my photo and asked, ‘Do you know this person?’ [The relative] said yes. The police then told them to forget about passports.”

Several people interviewed said that the authorities had told them that only “one person from each family [can travel] at the same time,” effectively holding their immediate family members hostage to ensure their return. Some said that the authorities had also required them to provide a “guarantor” – often another official vouching for them – before granting them permission to travel. Failure to comply with these rules puts their guarantor or family members at risk of harsh punishments. While those who were allowed to travel were abroad, a designated official regularly checked in with them and sought updates on their daily activities. Upon their return, the authorities again confiscated their passports and questioned them about their trip and Uyghurs in the countries they visited.

Some Uyghurs living abroad have been able to visit Xinjiang after stringent vetting processes. Those with foreign passports eligible for visa-free travel to China nonetheless have been told by their families that they need to undergo background checks and obtain prior approval from the “neighborhood committee,” a grassroots government unit, and the local police where their families live. Once back in their hometowns in Xinjiang, some have been questioned or required to stay at hotels, not their relatives’ homes.

Uyghurs who are citizens of countries that need a visa to visit China face a much longer application process. The process can take up to six months as the Chinese diplomatic missions abroad carry out in-depth background checks. Even participating in nonpolitical diaspora activities, such as sending their children to Uyghur language schools or attending a wedding in the presence of Uyghur activists can result in a visa being rejected.

Chinese diplomatic missions have directed some Uyghurs living abroad to join officially organized tours to Xinjiang hosted by the Xinjiang United Front Work Department, a Chinese Communist Party body. To take part in these tours, individuals need to provide to the mission a copy of their Chinese national identity cards, passports, and their home addresses in Xinjiang. The list is then sent to China where it goes through various departments such as the police, including the local police station, the public security bureau, and the unit responsible for counterterrorism, as well as the neighborhood committees.

Only approved people can join the official tour. Uyghurs holding foreign passports are additionally required to renounce their Chinese citizenship to take part in these tours. Uyghurs said they joined these official tours as they are a safer option, one that is also faster with an easier visa application process, compared with visiting the region on their own, risking police interrogation and possible detention.

Uyghurs who were on these tours described being closely monitored by their United Front handlers and said that they had to seek permission to visit their families, and to speak Mandarin Chinese, even among themselves. They also reported being made to take part in propaganda activities, such as being provided a script – with pinyin, or phonetic, notations for those not fluent in Mandarin Chinese – praising the Communist Party for its Xinjiang policies.

Through these controlled visits and tours, the Chinese government has continued to control the Uyghur diaspora, some of whom stay silent or shun activism and even Uyghur cultural activities in hopes of resuming contact with their families and visiting the region. Chinese authorities have long engaged in transnational repression – human rights abuses committed beyond a country’s borders to curtail dissent – against Uyghurs living abroad, targeting activists and those critical of the Chinese government, and their families in Xinjiang.

In accordance with China’s international legal obligations, the Chinese government should allow Uyghurs to travel freely, stop punishing those with foreign ties, and end repressive measures against the Uyghur diaspora. Affected governments should ensure human rights protections of all their citizens and residents against all forms of Chinese government transnational repression.

“Uyghurs are facing stringent conditions and requirements if they want to briefly reunite or even just to communicate with family members in China,” Uluyol said. “Being able to contact or visit loved ones abroad shouldn’t be a privilege granted to a few Uyghurs, but is a right that the Chinese government is obligated to respect.”

Travel Restrictions, Harassment of Uyghurs

China’s government has a history of discriminatory passport policies against Uyghurs, who have long been subjected to especially stringent processes for passport applications. Since the abusive Strike Hard Campaign began in 2016, Chinese authorities have also forced Xinjiang residents to hand in their passports for “safekeeping” and have stopped renewing passports for Uyghurs living abroad.

The Uyghurs allowed to travel abroad are from Urumqi, the capital, and two other cities in northern Xinjiang. Most Uyghurs remain unable to leave the region, while many living abroad continue to have no news of their families, especially those in long-term imprisonment.

The Chinese government has promoted such visits in both official media and by distributing social media posts by government-affiliated Uyghurs in an apparent effort to whitewash its human rights violations in the region. In these articles, the Uyghur participants typically effuse over “the delightful changes in Xinjiang” and say they “deeply experience the warmth … of the Motherland.”

Methodology

Between October 2024 and February 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed 23 Uyghurs living in nine countries – Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Turkey – as well as two experts working on Uyghur diasporas. Those interviewed had some family members who were allowed to travel abroad for short visits, or had themselves visited Xinjiang with Chinese government-sponsored tours. A couple had left Xinjiang permanently in recent years, after a long process of obtaining passports and travel permissions.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed photos, documents, and social media chat histories related to government organized tours, in addition to publicly available online sources, including Chinese government press articles and Douyin, Chinese version of TikTok, videos posted by those who visited Xinjiang.

The personal information of those interviewed has been anonymized for their protection.

Human Rights Watch shared its findings and wrote to the Chinese government for comment, but they have not responded.
Uyghurs Travelling out of Xinjiang

One Uyghur living abroad said they were able to meet their mother after eight years of separation, but they could only meet in a third country where the mother had permission to visit for business purposes. She was able to do so after going through a strict background check and agreeing to a gag order:

She was only allowed to travel abroad for 15 days. Neighborhood committees and local police told her to not to engage with “dangerous people,” not to say bad things about the government, and come back before the permitted period. I wished she could stay with us permanently, but I had to send her back because otherwise, our assets could be confiscated, and other relatives may face punishments.

Another person said that the police effectively held their family members hostage to allow their father to travel:

My father had an old passport, which was confiscated by the neighborhood committee a few years ago. He had a guarantor who worked at the government. The authorities only allowed him to go. They said, “your wife might be able to travel once you are back.” He was allowed a one-month visit after a strict background check and signing a letter of promise [to comply with the restrictions]. He tried to extend his stay, but he could not get permission, so he went back, hoping that my mother would then be able to travel. However, the authorities did not issue a passport for my mother. She was told to wait.

Another person said that officials interrogated their father after he returned to Xinjiang:

Officials from the neighborhood committee, the local police station, and the public security bureau visited my father after his return. They asked about whom he met, where he went, and what he told people. He said, “I met nobody.” Which was true, we did not even go to Uyghur restaurants to avoid attention and China’s surveillance.