Hi

I'm in the process of applying for a Chinese visa from the UK. I have been told that in order to get a visa, I need to provide the embassy with either an official itinerary, or a ticket that proves my departure from China.

As I will be travelling independently, I have no fixed itinerary - from Beijing I want to take the train to Lhasa (buying my tickets there when I'm ready to go), and then travel onwards to Nepal.

Have you encountered this problem, and how did you get around it? Somebody suggested to just buy a ticket (any ticket) out of China, even if I'm not going to use it.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tiziana

Some 1.5 years ago, I got a visa with no proof of nothin'. That was in HK.

Don't know if this helps, but I recently got my Chinese visa in Canada using a service company since the embassy here apparently no longer accepts mail-in applications. Anyway, on the application, I had to indicate the cities I plan to visit but that was it.
If time is not a serious factor, I would try typing up a fairly detailed itinerary even indicating names and addresses of possible hostels you may stay at. If you make it appear quite formal, they may accept that. Otherwise, you may have to resort to buying that exit ticket which is a real drag.
I hope someone else can provide better advice.
Good luck!

Have you given them a call to know how rigid they were about those rules? The itinerary problem is easy to solve. Just make it up! They're not going to check... Usually, giving them the address of the hostel you MIGHT stay at when you arrive is enough. And then mention other big cities.

As for the exit ticket, I would check with them again. As someone said, they don't ask for it in Canada...

Hey Tiziana,

I have just had the same issue. I simply provided a simple itinerary of rougly my travel plans in china including arrrival and departure date and I also sent copies of my train tickets to beijing from mongolia. Got the visa no troubles at all.

Cheers

Chris

I recently went to apply for a multi entry visa at the Chinese embassy in Samoa. (I figured they probably weren't too busy)

I got to speak to the consulate there for about a half an hour.

I decided not to apply for the visa in Samoa. I'll probably do it when I'm closer to China and know more exact dates of when I'll be arriving. I'm also going to just submit a ton of paperwork to show where I'll be going and why.

She said the singly entry visa is easy to get and easy to extend once in China. To get the multiple entry visa, you need to just document why you need it. It is usually only given for business purposes.

I'm planning on going to Mongolia, so I'm going to still try for a multi entry visa.

They are bureaucrats, so they just want documentation to back up their decisions. It is just like when you go through immigration at an airport. It doesn't matter what you fill out on the card, just that it is filled out.

You could always try telling them you intend to finish up in Shenzhen and exit China by taking a train across the border or a ferry -either which are legitimate ways of exiting and you would hardly pre pucrhase a ticket for either. They may then ask for to see your ticket out of Hong Kong but as Commonwealth passport holder you get 90 days in Hong Kong so you could say you will choose your next destination whilst you are there. This may actually be the best way to end your visit anyway. Still the idea of a supposed iteinerary is sound just end it at Shenzhen.

I just got my 60 day L type visa 3 days ago and only had a 1 way ticket from London to Beijing. No questions were asked!

cheers,
Greg

Hello everyone - many thanks for all the advice!
I actually e-mailed the Embassy here and they seem to be fine with it; it's the visa company I was going to employ to get the visa for me that insist on the ticket/itinerary. So I'll go direct and fingers crossed!

Tiziana