Correction, October 2026: The opening line says every sitting from July 18 follows the HSK 3.0 standard. That was wrong. CTI announced on September 9, 2026 that HSK 3.0 launches officially with the December 13, 2026 sitting, and the July 18 and August 23 sittings were regular sittings with the HSKK. The rest of this post about certificate validity still stands; see HSK 3.0 starts December 13, 2026 for the current timeline.
The June 28, 2026 session was the last chance to sit the HSK under the old 2.0 format — from July 18 onward, every exam follows the HSK 3.0 standard. The question flooding in ever since: "is my existing certificate now worthless?" Short answer: no — but there is a clock ticking, and it is worth understanding.