China Travel Tips

Chinese visa is issued by Chinese visa authorities following the international system and according to its own laws and regulations for foreigners who enter into, depart from or transit through the territory of the People’s Republic of China.  

Sample of Chinese visa:                                                                                                       

         Notes:

Citizens from all foreign countries except Singapore, Brunei and Japan need a visa if traveling to Mainland China, which they should get from the consulates before their trip. And they can only stay in China for no more than 15 days on the purpose of doing business, sightseeing and visiting friends and relatives.

Chinese visa is divided into four types: diplomatic visa, courtesy visa, service visa and ordinary visa. And ordinary visa further consists of eight categories.

L-visa (Tourist and Family Visit Visa): issued to foreigners who come to China for sightseeing, visiting family members or other personal affairs. Most foreign tourists use this kind of visa to travel to the country.

F-visa (Business Visa): issued to foreign citizens, who come to China for business affairs (including conferences, various kinds of trade fairs or exhibitions), lectures, researches, cultural or scientific-technological exchanges, short-term studies and internship, which is valid for less than 6 months.

X-visa (Student Visa): issued to foreign applicants who come to China to study or inter for a period of more than 6 months.

Z-visa (Work Visa): issued to foreigners who hold a post or are employed in China, and also to his or her accompanying family members, and who come to China for the purpose of commercial performances.

G-visa (Transit Visa): issued to those who transit through the territory of China when going to a third country or region.

C-visa (Crew Visa): issued to steward and crewmembers on an international train, airplane, ocean liner or freighter performing international aviation, navigation or transportation missions.

J-visa (Journalist Visa): issued to foreign journalists. This visa consists of two subcategories, J-1 visa and J-2 visa. J-1 visa is for resident foreign journalists in China and J-2 visa is issued to those who are on a short-term journalistic mission.

D-visa (Permanent Resident visa): issued to foreign citizens who are approved by Chinese authorities to live in China permanently.

Usually we suggest you to apply for your China visa at least 3 months before your travel in that you will get better results if more time is provided to process your application. In this way your visa will be guaranteed even if the application processing is delayed. However if you haven’t decided when to start your China trip and there is less than 3 months to apply for your visa, you can expedite the application by paying an extra fee.

Yes, there is.
 

Crewmembers or passengers who transit through China by plane do not need a Chinese visa on the condition that they stay at the airport for no more than 24 hours.

People from Singapore, Brunei and Japan do not need Chinese visa if they come to China for business, sightseeing or visiting family members, relatives and friends within 15 days.

Citizens from the following 17 countries are exempted from applying visas to transit in Shanghai provided that they enter and depart from Pudong or Hongqiao airports, staying within 48 hours, and have the valid passport and visa of the third country as well as the onward air tickets to their destination. These countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, and USA.

Tourists from the following 19 countries are permitted to travel to Hainan Province for 15 days without a visa if they are organized as a group by international travel agencies established or registered in Hainan. They are Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Indonesia, Italy, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippine, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and USA.

Organized by travel agencies registered in Hong Kong or Macau SAR, tourists travel to the two regions or other specified areas in Guangdong Province can enjoy visa-free access if they enter through designated ports. Their stay is limited to 6 days.

Yes, you can have your visa on arrival under certain emergency situations, in which an invitation from an officially approved organization is required. The emergencies include:
• You are invited to take a part in a trade fair at short notice.
 

• You are invited to bid or sign a commercial contract in China.
 

• You come to supervise the inspection of export or import goods or examine the competition of a contract as stipulated in the contract.
 

• You are invited to come to China for equipment installation or repair temporarily
 

• You come to settle claims-related problems at the invitation of the Chinese side.
 

• You are invited to come to provide scientific or technological consultation.
 

• You come to replace a member of or join in a group that has already been in China at the invitation of the Chinese side and has got their visas for entering China.
 

• You come to see seriously sick patients or handling funeral matters.
 

• While transiting through China, you cannot leave China by your original plane in 24 hours due to unexpected situations, or you must exit by other means.
 

• You are invited to China but really have no time to apply your visa in the specified Chinese agencies abroad; however you hold telegrams or letters from the qualified authorities that have approved you of obtaining your visa on arrival.

A single entry Chinese visa is valid for 3 months; a double entry Chinese visa 6 months and a multiple entry Chinese visa either 6 or 12 months from their issuance date. A regular China visa is automatically valid for 30 days, but you can ask to extend longer stay of 60 or 90 days on the application form.

With a single entry Chinese visa, you can enter China only once within the duration of its validity. A double entry Chinese visa enables you to travel into China twice, which means that you can reenter China without applying another visa after you leave. A multiple entry Chinese visa, usually a business visa, allows you to enter into and exit from China unlimitedly within its validity.

Yes, you need to apply for another visa to re-enter mainland China, even you leave for Hong Kong or Macau.

However, if you hold a double entry Chinese visa or a multiple entry Chinese visa, you are not required to do so. Please note that the limited entry times of a double entry Chinese visa is TWO.

Application in Your Own Country

You can apply for a Chinese visa in a Chinese consulate in your country, such as China Embassy in New York, USA. Whatever type of visa you are applying for, the following documents are required: your valid original passport, a Chinese visa application form (which should be answered as completely as possible) and your recent passport photograph (to be stuck on your visa application form). You should notice that applications through post, email, Internet, etc. are not accepted.

You should indicate it on the application if you want to apply for a double or multiple entry visas, which are not always granted.

Of course, you should answer questions honestly, and do not risk being disapproved by the consulate. Usually, you will not be denied from getting your visa if you declare you have a criminal record, such as you are penalized for littering or have a “no conviction record”, which should be better omitted on the application. But if you’ve committed a serious crime it would be rather troublesome.

Normally, your visa application will be processed in four working days. If you pay extra it will be processed faster. Ordinarily with your visa applied outside China, you are allowed for entering China at least 3 months after the issuance date. Anyway you’d better apply for your visa well in advance in consideration of any delays.

Application in China (Renewals and Extension)
It’s possible for you to extend or change the type of your visa within China. You can go to the Public Security Bureau Exit and Entry Administration Office to have this done and the procedure is quite similar to that outside China.

Different from visa issued outside China, which starts from the day you enter China, the new one starts from the date it’s issued. At the same time your old visa will be cancelled, which means that you cannot hold two visas simultaneously.

You should always make sure that you reapply in advance of the expiry of your old visa and that you have all the required documents at hand. This is because if you apply late and stay in China exceeding the time limit of your old visa, you may probably be fined or even expelled from China.

It will be much easier to take the application yourself since there are other regulations if you entrust it to another person.

Application in a Third Country& Regions
As stated above, you can have your visa granted in your own country, or extend and change it within China. There is also another situation when you want to apply one while you are on your way in other country or region. And this is possible. For example, when you are traveling in Paris, you can apply a Chinese visa in China Embassy in Paris, France. However possible it is, recently the application has become more difficult since some Chinese visa offices tend not to grant visas to people who do not reside in the county concerned.

To avoid inconvenience, first you can apply at every Chinese consulate you pass by hoping one can grant you a visa. Second, you can entrust your friend or an agent to apply a visa for you in your own country with your passport and application expressed back home and then send the visa back when it is granted, but the precondition is that you should be able to manage without passport for a few weeks.

Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR are also included in “a third country & regions”.

A visa application form: Usually the application will be processed in four working days. If you travel to Tibet, the Chinese Embassy must get permission from the Tibet Tourism Administration first before issuing your visa.

Your recent color photo: The photo you submit must be passport-type and standard with the correct dimension (normally 2 “?2”) and background color (white). It should be similar to the one in your passport. Only photo full-face and bareheaded will be accepted.

Your valid passport: If you apply for a single or double entry Chinese visa, the passport you presented must be valid for at least 6 moths. For multiple entry Chinese visas, its duration of validity must be a minimum of 9 months. There must be at least one blank visa page in your passport.

For people born in China, they must submit their Chinese passport or last foreign passport it if they do not have their previous Chinese visa on their current passport. Original only and no photocopies are accepted.

For foreign born Chinese children under 18, it is a must that photocopies of their birth’s certificate and both of their parents’ foreign passport or foreign permanent resident cards are required.

For people who travel to Tibet, they should present their doctor’s certificate showing that they have normal blood pressure and heart condition in view of the altitude stress.

This depends on what kind of service you choose.
 

Urgent Service: We submit your application to the consulate and the same day we receive your visa and passport back. Then we send it to you via DHL Overnight Service.

Rush Service: We submit your application to the consulate and next day we receive your visa and passport back. Then we send it to you via DHL Overnight Service.

Regular Service: We submit you application to the consulate and four working days later we receive your visa and passport back. Then we send it back to you via DHL Overnight Service.

Days of your stay is indicated in your visa. Usually you can stay for 30 days from the day you enter China with a regular Chinese business or tourist visa. Duration of stay between 60 and 90 days is also available upon request. You can specify the number of days you intend to stay in your application form.

You can download the Visa Application Form of the People’s Republic of China (not including Hong Kong) in the Website. For Hong Kong, you should download the Hong Kong Visa/Entry Permit Application Form. Besides, you can also obtain the form from the Chinese consulate or embassy.

Just fill in the form according its instructions, which is written in both Chinese and English.

The general guidelines are that first you ought to fill in the form truly and completely. Second, abbreviations are not accepted; third, you should write clearly and readably; lastly, do not write in all capital or all small letters. 

Please be reminded that some questions in the form need no explanation itself and are not elaborated.

Generally Hong Kong and Macau are very open to foreign tourists or people who visit with general business purposes. However, if you come for other purposes such as doing business, working or studying, you are required to apply for a visa accordingly.

For people who need to apply for a Hong Kong visa, the procedure is very similar to applying for a Chinese mainland visa. First, the application form, which can be obtained either through the website or in the Chinese consulate or embassy, should be submitted. Basically, the processing time of the application form is the same, but it may vary in accordance with the visa type. Different type of visa has its own regulations and its supporting documents are also different. However, the commonly required documents include their valid passport and one recent passport-type photo.

Applicants from 65 countries including USA, Portugal and Canada are exempt from visas. However, citizens of other countries are required to present their visas when entering into Macau. They can apply either in the Chinese embassy or consulate in their country or at the Immigration Services when they arrive in Macau. If they travel to Macau with a tour group, their visas can be processed by the Macau tour operator.