China Travel Visa Problem

My problem: I'm leaving for a round the world trip. I won't be in China until July of next year. If I apply for a travel visa in Canada now, it will expire before I get there (it only has a shelf life of 3-6 months).

My question: Has anyone gotten a China travel visa while on the road? I read online that they used to issue travel visas in Hong Kong, but they stopped doing this in 2008 and now you gotta go back to your home country to get the visa? I also read from these boards that this was done during the Olympics only and they do not enforce this anymore. Does anyone know what the state of affairs is?

Also, has anyone been able to get a China travel visa from India? I will be in India and Hong Kong in the two months before China so getting it in either of those places would be ideal.

Has anyone had recent (last 6 months - 1 yr) experience with obtaining Chinese travel visas while not in their home country? I'm a Canadian citizen

The answer would be yes, do a search for the details as a couple of regular posters have done it & posted about how.

As NZ citizens, we got visas for China whilst in Cambodia in January 2009.

My brother and I went to Hong Kong to get our Chinese visas in March and had them within a few days through the hostel- no hassle whatsoever to do so, nor did I hear of any nationality having a problem (albeit perhaps this isn't the cheapest option).

Whoever told you you can't get a visa in Hong Kong since 2008 was flat out wrong. Things were perhaps different around the time of the Olympics but it's definitely not an issue now.

I just got my Chinese Visa as a US citizen at the embassy in Australia. My partner got hers as a UK citizen in New Zealand back in 2007. So yeah, I have never heard of any issues.

I got my China visa in Hong Kong this past September 2011. Very easy. The company I used was called Forever Bright Trading. They do a 1/2 day turn around service. Drop passport off in the morning with two passport size photos (must have a BLUE background - very strict on this, but they'll also take your photo for you, for a few dollars if you don't have any.) and $480HKD; then pick it up in the afternoon, same day.

I got the single entry visa, good for 90 days within China.

Here's the website, they list prices and visa types on it. http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/

Their office was in a building on Science Museum Rd, short walk from one of the MTR stations.

Jason

Thanks for clearing all this up everyone! Greatly appreciate it