TWOV Experience in Shenzhen / Shekou Port

Didn't see much information about this online, so I wanted to share my experience getting into China through TWOV at the Shekou port in Shenzhen.

My itinerary was Hong Kong -> ferry to Shekou -> flight to Tokyo (HND) from Guangzhou (CAN)

I bought a ferry ticket in Hong Kong and they scanned my passport and issued me a ticket. They might ask you to present a visa here, but you can just explain you plan to do a TWOV.

When you get to Shekou, it's pretty straightforward. You just follow the signs to immigration. There's like a little standing desk area where you will need to fill out your TWOV arrival card (don't go straight to the immigration gate desks). The worker might hand you the normal arrival card for people with visas, you need to be clear you are trying to do a 240hrs TWOV. This might be a little difficult depending on the English level of the worker at the time. I was able to speak Cantonese and they could understand me kinda, but they responded in Mandarin which I don't know.

There is an English printout of the TWOV policy on the little standing desk, so worst case you can just point at that. Or just Google translate. The employees at the Shekou port seem pretty familiar with what TWOV is at this point so overall the process should be pretty smooth.

Once I filled out the TWOV card, I showed them the printout of my flight ticket to Japan and they photocopied it. Then took my card, passport, and photocopy of my flight ticket and dissapeared for 10 minutes. I have no idea what was happening at this point, it was all in Mandarin. But after that, they motioned for me to towards one of the immigration gate desks to do fingerprints and stuff. And then they let me in!

I would say this was a lot more chill and easier then entering with TWOV at Guangzhou airport! Also even if you enter TWOV from Shenzhen, you are allowed to stay anywhere in Guangdong, so have fun :)