AI Tools Streamline Border Clearance Services for Overseas Travellers at Chinese Ports of Entry

According to official customs releases, international travellers arriving at Ningbo Lishe International Airport have gained seamless access to official entry and exit regulations via a newly launched AI assistant, removing language barriers and simplifying policy enquiries significantly. On 29 May, an overseas visitor completed an enquiry through voice input with guidance from customs staff and received clear, precise replies within seconds.

Such on-site experiences exemplify how technological innovation is being deployed by customs authorities to boost clearance efficiency and refine the cross-border business environment. Ongoing expansion of China’s visa exemption schemes and successive roll-outs of traveller-friendly entry procedures have brought sharp rises in cross-border passenger flows, generating massive demand for real-time policy consultation services. Customs authorities are advancing innovative models integrating artificial intelligence and cross-border customs co-operation at border checkpoints, building a digitally empowered gateway that delivers both efficiency and considerate services.

The AI-powered auxiliary consultation tool for entry-exit policies entered trial operation on the website of the China-CEEC Customs Information Centre on 6 May. Marking the first AI consultation application launched by the customs administration for international co-operation scenarios, the system integrates advanced large language models with policy information services to deliver round-the-clock, digitalised and intelligent enquiry support.

To guarantee reliable and accurate responses, local customs authorities compiled 22 official documents covering visa administration, border supervision, entry taxation and residence permits issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Immigration Administration and General Administration of Customs. A dedicated policy corpus totalling 57,000 Chinese characters was constructed after content sorting and semantic optimisation powered by retrieval-augmented generation technology for large language models.

Functioning as a seasoned specialist familiar with full entry and exit regulatory frameworks, the system extracts targeted answers from lengthy legal clauses instantly. Multilingual voice interaction capabilities have been built into the platform to accommodate visitors from various regions. Travellers may pose oral questions in their native tongue without typing manually, and the system delivers both voice and text replies in the matching language, enabling entirely barrier-free operation.

Intelligent hardware solutions have also delivered tangible improvements to departure tax refund procedures at major international airports. A Canadian traveller tested the upgraded customs intelligent verification terminal for tax refunds at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and praised its integrated video call function with real-time English translation display.

Language obstacles once discouraged many foreign visitors from completing tax refund formalities before departure. The updated terminals support real-time transcription and translation of dialogue records during video consultations to smooth communication channels. Travellers who fail to carry physical invoices no longer face hold-ups, as the customs command centre can retrieve submitted refund applications and invoice data shared with tax departments remotely, enabling fully paperless processing.

Single-click operations on the intelligent terminals cut down processing time noticeably, lifting the verification speed for departure tax refunds by 150 per cent. Supported by a combined service model featuring dedicated tax refund counters, intelligent terminals and co-ordination between the central command hub and on-site checkpoint teams, the highest daily volume of verified tax refund applications handled at Shanghai customs has exceeded 2,000 so far this year. In the first five months of the year, customs services in Shanghai completed verification for 201,000 tax refund applications, covering taxable goods worth 1.92 billion yuan, with year-on-year rises of 300 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

The AI policy consultant and multilingual intelligent terminals resolve long-standing service bottlenecks at border checkpoints. Practical service upgrades deliver genuine convenience to inbound international visitors, supporting smooth entry, comfortable stays and satisfying consumption experiences while showcasing the thoughtful standards of China’s cross-border public services.