China Tightens Restrictions on Retired Officials Leaving the Country

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Feb 24, 2026 - 10:53 Updated: Feb 24, 2026 - 10:43
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China Tightens Restrictions on Retired Officials Leaving the Country

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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has tightened controls on retired officials, imposing additional restrictions on their foreign travel, insiders from several provinces told The Epoch Times.

In recent months, Beijing has also ramped up controls on public servants, Catholic clergy, and other private citizens seeking to travel abroad.
According to CCP insiders who spoke to the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times, more lower-level retired officials are now required to obtain the Party’s approval before leaving China.

All interviewees requested that only their surnames or pseudonyms be published due to fears of reprisal from authorities.

With increased foreign travel following China’s ascension to the World Trade Organization, the CCP has imposed restrictions on state employees since the 2000s. Division- and higher-level officials, bureau- and higher-level retired officials, and those working in departments or sectors deemed sensitive are required to obtain permission from local CCP branches to travel abroad.

Zhou, a public servant in Beijing, said the restriction is now affecting some division-level retirees.

“The exits of officials have always required approval. The rule was not as strict for retirees,” she told The Epoch Times. “Now retired division-heads from some key departments are also required to report [their foreign travels], and those in special positions have their passports [confiscated and] kept in a centralized location.”

Zhou said the policy change was passed down internally, and she was not aware of any public announcement.

Chen, a retired division-level head from China’s eastern province of Jiangsu, said he was verbally informed that retired officials must obtain travel permission from their former workplace before beginning the usual application process.

“The requirement used to be strict on bureau-level officials; now, division-level officials who retired from key positions, like me, are also subject to the control,” he said.

Zhang Xiang, a retired official from the northwestern city of Jiuquan, Gansu Province, said the city has expanded restrictions further to include section-level officials.

“Before, section-level officials only needed to report their cross-border travels; they now have to get permission to travel. The restrictions on division- and higher-level officials used to last three years after their retirement. It has become longer now,” he said.

According to internal guidance published on Jan. 16, 2024, and seen by The Epoch Times, retired prefecture-level officials who wish to travel abroad for personal reasons have to obtain permission from the provincial-level Party committee; county- and division-level retirees have to apply for permission from the city-level Party committee; and other retired officials have to apply to Party committees at their former workplace.

Li, a deputy-division head from southern Hunan Province who retired more than three years ago, told The Epoch Times that he recently learned the travel restriction on him has not been lifted as he expected.

According to Li, Hunan implemented the three-year rule two years ago. Since then, retired division heads or deputy division heads have been required to register with the National Immigration Administration to travel abroad.

“The human resources [HR] department has custody of both my passport and my travel permit for Hong Kong and Macau,” he said.

“Before going abroad, I needed to submit my flight number. I would have my passport returned to me two days before my trip, and I have to surrender it within a week upon returning to China.”

Li said he recently tried to unregister with the National Immigration Administration so he could go to the United States, but was told that the restriction has been extended beyond three years after retirement.

“I was told to submit an application to HR before going to the National Immigration Administration to cancel the registration, but HR told me that it had been instructed to extend the restriction,“ he said. ”I can’t go to America to see my granddaughter now.”

‘Naked Officials’

The CCP’s tightening of control over foreign travel comes as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has published a series of videos in recent months, calling on Chinese officials to defect.

It also comes as the regime steps up scrutiny of officials’ overseas connections.

In September 2025, Beijing announced new rules requiring all Chinese nationals employed at foreign embassies and consulates in China to be hired and managed exclusively through state-run service agencies.
A report published in January by the Washington-based think tank Jamestown Foundation said Beijing launched a systematic purge of “naked officials”—or officials whose spouses or children live abroad—last year, removing them from senior leadership ranks.

Shen Ming-shih, a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), told The Epoch Times that the phenomenon reflects the reality in China.

Citing a common saying about the Chinese elite—“Anti-America is the job, going to America is life”—Shen said that the fact that many officials sent their family members to live in Western countries reveals the lack of trust within the regime.

Wang Shiow-Wen, an assistant research fellow at INDSR, said the clampdown on “naked officials” reflects the CCP’s anxiety about the security of its power.

Hu Ying and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
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