How to obtain a Visa to visit China

We just booked our first trip to Asia. We are cruising out of Shanghai. I read that to obtain a Chinese Visa you can fill out the application and go to the nearest consulate office in your state. We live in Florida. Does anybody have any experience applying in Florida? If yes, where did you go?

Do you have to leave your passport?

How long does it usually take to get your passport and Visa back?

How far in advance should you request it?

We are also visiting South Korea and Japan on our cruise, but as a US citizen, we don't require a Visa to go there, is that still correct?

We are trying to plan ahead because we are traveling out of the US in October and sailing in April so I would have to wait until November to do this. Thank you.

We just booked our first trip to Asia. We are cruising out of Shanghai. I read that to obtain a Chinese Visa you can fill out the application and go to the nearest consulate office in your state. We live in Florida. Does anybody have any experience applying in Florida? If yes, where did you go?

 

Do you have to leave your passport?

How long does it usually take to get your passport and Visa back?

How far in advance should you request it?

 

We are also visiting South Korea and Japan on our cruise, but as a US citizen, we don't require a Visa to go there, is that still correct?

 

We are trying to plan ahead because we are traveling out of the US in October and sailing in April so I would have to wait until November to do this. Thank you.

You won't need a visa for Japan and Korea.

We don't live close to a Chinese consulate so we have used a visa company to acquire our visa.

http://www.genvisa.com

OP: You need to go to the consulate assigned to FL, unfortunately the Chinese consulate for your state is in Houston, TX.

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zmzlljs/t84229.htm

You need to send your passport as the visa is glued on to 2 pages.

Takes 3-4 working days, drop off on Monday, pickup Thursday. Add X days if you use a visa service.

They don't accept mail-ins or do mail-backs, so you either have go to Houston or use a visa service.

How far in advance can you request it?

Thank you for your replies

How far in advance can you request it?

Thank you for your replies

I would do it a month in advance, but you could probably get away with less.

How far in advance can you request it?

Thank you for your replies

We are going in Feb. 2017. I spoke with several visa service companies and was told you can apply up to 90 days in advance. They said they will walk you thru filling out the forms which you have to send to them with your passport. From what I've read I think your passport needs to have at least 1 year left before expiration. Most countries only require 6 months.

I also live in Florida and, as was mentioned before, the visa paperwork has to go thru Houston.

Helen

In addition to the above...remember the China visa you'll be getting is good for 10 years now. My US passport is in the process of being renewed and with the form sent with it I had to also include a letter asking that the page on which my visa is not be voided by the hole they usually put in your expired passport. I'll now be required to travel with expired and new issued passport when traveling to China.

Use a company (google) that will do/process the china visa for you....we did and it couldn't have been easier.

In addition to the above...remember the China visa you'll be getting is good for 10 years now.

You can request a 10 year visa (with a US passport) Doesn't mean you will be given one. I wasn't at my last visa application (though I've had business visas, not tourism) Just remember - the Chinese government makes the final decision, no matter what you might want :D

Double check with the Houston consulate to be sure they still allow walk-in applications.

For India and, I think Russia, the Houston consulates use companies, such as Cox & Kings to do their visas for them -- no more walk-ins.

You can request a 10 year visa (with a US passport) Doesn't mean you will be given one. I wasn't at my last visa application (though I've had business visas, not tourism) Just remember - the Chinese government makes the final decision, no matter what you might want :D

I certainly didn't "request" it and handled my application by mail...My understanding is it's common practice now (as it was when I got mine) that you are now (tourists) given a 10 year China visa...no request needed. ;)

We just booked our first trip to Asia. We are cruising out of Shanghai. I read that to obtain a Chinese Visa you can fill out the application and go to the nearest consulate office in your state. We live in Florida. Does anybody have any experience applying in Florida? If yes, where did you go?

 

Do you have to leave your passport?

How long does it usually take to get your passport and Visa back?

How far in advance should you request it?

 

We are also visiting South Korea and Japan on our cruise, but as a US citizen, we don't require a Visa to go there, is that still correct?

 

We are trying to plan ahead because we are traveling out of the US in October and sailing in April so I would have to wait until November to do this. Thank you.

I also live in Florida and I have used Travisa in Houston twice for my Chinese visa.

https://www.travisa.com/Houston

For the second time I applied (the 1st time was for a 1-year visa), it took approximately 10 business days from the time I submitted the online application and sent in my Passport, until I received my Passport back, with my 10-year visa.

I sent it mid-October and had it back before the end of October. My travel was in early December, so I allowed plenty of time.

I certainly didn't "request" it

Did you fill out the visa application and mail it in to the Consulate (or through a visa service)? Then you did "request" length of stay, in section 2.2 (see attached application form) - you most likely typed in 10 year multiple entry, as that is what most instructions tell you to do these days. "Request" doesn't have to mean you asked for something verbally.

All I'm saying is that the Chinese government makes the decision and it is NOT guaranteed to get 10 years multiple entry....

china visa application blank.pdf

Did you fill out the visa application and mail it in to the Consulate (or through a visa service)? Then you did "request" length of stay, in section 2.2 (see attached application form) - you most likely typed in 10 year multiple entry, as that is what most instructions tell you to do these days. "Request" doesn't have to mean you asked for something verbally.

 

All I'm saying is that the Chinese government makes the decision and it is NOT guaranteed to get 10 years multiple entry....

Yes that's the form we (my DH and myself) downloaded at the direction of the china visa service company we were using...We checked "2" entries as was instructed to us by the company, since on our cruise ship we would be entering China two different times (ports). Many not only us were automatically and surprised to be given a "10" year visa...check these boards and you'll see this was being given to many and not specifically requested.We were pleasantly surprised !

You can request a 10 year visa (with a US passport) Doesn't mean you will be given one. I wasn't at my last visa application (though I've had business visas, not tourism) Just remember - the Chinese government makes the final decision, no matter what you might want :D

They must give it to you if you ask, as per the China-US agreement

and the visa is on one page not two, but you need an adjacent blank page.

They must give it to you if you ask, as per the China-US agreement

and the visa is on one page not two, but you need an adjacent blank page.

Yes...mine happens to be on page #14 and this is the page I asked to not be voided with a hole through the entire expired passport. Hopefully I should be receiving mine back soon and will be interested to see how they manage this request.

They must give it to you if you ask, as per the China-US agreement

and the visa is on one page not two, but you need an adjacent blank page.

No, they don't have to give it to you even if you asked. There might be situations that they won't grant you a 10-year visa. Just heard of a couple who recently got their visas. Wife got the 10-year and husband got only 1-month. Of course, there was a reason to that.

No, they don't have to give it to you even if you asked. There might be situations that they won't grant you a 10-year visa. Just heard of a couple who recently got their visas. Wife got the 10-year and husband got only 1-month. Of course, there was a reason to that.

We think they knew how much we spent on shopping during our first trip there, that only had a visa for the approx dates we would be there that visit. So the next time we applied they were happy to give us the unrequested 10 year visa :D:D

No, they don't have to give it to you even if you asked. There might be situations that they won't grant you a 10-year visa. Just heard of a couple who recently got their visas. Wife got the 10-year and husband got only 1-month. Of course, there was a reason to that.

Not only that, they can also vary the length of each entry: SWMBO got 90-days, KID and I only got 60-days. We all have 10-year visas.

Then again, SWMBO, was born in China :cool:

We are going to China in January first week of July we applied for our Chinese Visa's through a company here in Seattle, we had our passports back 8 days later with a 10 year visa. If you are going in April I would apply in November and be done with it.

We are going to China in January first week of July we applied for our Chinese Visa's through a company here in Seattle, we had our passports back 8 days later with a 10 year visa. If you are going in April I would apply in November and be done with it.

Did you specifically ask for a "10 year" visa or were you just given one ?

we asked for the 10 year visa, I think our options were 30 days, 3 months or 10 years. My brother in also going on this trip, they received their visa's early June. I am not sure how far in advance you can apply.

Double check with the Houston consulate to be sure they still allow walk-in applications.

 

For India and, I think Russia, the Houston consulates use companies, such as Cox & Kings to do their visas for them -- no more walk-ins.

I can definitely verify that the Houston Chinese Consulate only accepts walk-ins-- no appointments given. We dropped our application off on Tuesday and just picked up our passports with visa inside today (Friday,)

BTW, the Houston Consulate does not accept express service requests. Their website states this and there are many signs in the office stating no express service available at this consulate office.

Since there was no box for "10 year" visa, I checked the "other" box for length of time for visa requested and then typed in the space next to it "10 year visa requested." We were both given a 10 year visa.

They were very thorough in asking us for supporting documentation- airline tickets and cruise/hotel reservations. Do not use staples anywhere-- I knew not to use staples on the application, but I had stapled my hotel reservations and airline ticket confirmations and the lady was kind enough to use a staple remover to take them out.

Thank you for your responses.

We have received the name of an agency in DC that will take care of the Visas to China. We will probably do that with them. I know someone in Florida that used them and did not have any problems.

We are in the process of filling out the form and gathering the photos, itinerary, and other information. We will send that to a Visa agency but we are amazed at how much it costs. I anticipate that when everything is added up it will be over $500 for the two of us. Does that seem about average? or should I look for another company? (We are in Florida and not about to drive to Texas.)

Just received my expired passport today that had my 10 year China visa in it and no need to have worried about this visa being voided some way as a hole was only punched in the front cover.

Very fast turn around for my renewal...I mailed everything on July 1st and received my renewed passport on July 15th and my expired one today July 18th.