BootsnAll Travel Community

Can we get a visa for china in Vietnam. Anyhow idea how long it takes to get it.
Thanks
Jean

Don't know if you have your visa yet but,

Since April 2008 old rules for visas to China are being enforced after years of being forgotten.

Among the important changes:

1. May be difficult to get a Chinese visa in Hong Kong unless you are a HK resident or worker. Possible through an agency perhaps. Officially you should return to your home country.

2. Need to show return air tickets and hotel bookings (one or two nights) to get a visa.

3. Most people limited to single or double entry visa (30 day duration). No multi entry.

4. Restrictions on extensions after July 1 2008.

5. Visa costs have increased for many nationalities (Australian, NZ, European and British).

Visa's are a lottery now It is hard to keep up with the changes. What you need to do is go in to a search engine and type china embassy then your country then when you get the embassy website go and find the latest changes.
If you look at the Australian site it says "no multiple entries" on business visas.
I recently got three month L (travel visa) 30 days and duble entry so effectively it is a 60 day visa. This was done in Hong Kong using a travel agent. I was also told that I could have got an F (business) visa if I had wished. I am not sure whether either can still be done.
The government say nothing has changed but that is simply not true -even their website says that you can get up to a 24 month multi entry visa for business (2007).
The interesting thing is that there is now reciprical rites on multi entry with America. I will be surprised if this filters down to the grass roots level quickly.

Thanks both, no we still haven't got our visas we are in Vietnam now moving tomorrow to NHA Trang and still hoping we can get the visa in Hanoi. We are on a rtw trip 11 month in so we couldn't apply in England before we left. So we will just have to keep our fingers crossed I guess.
Jean

i'm also interested in this, i was planning on getting a multiple entry visa for 6 months. going over land in mongolia (not trans sib) and then travel round china with a brief ferry ride to korea and japan.
then working our way through china including hong kong to vietnam.

is there any way to get round the whole proof of onward travel and do we need a booking every night of our stay. i'm a uk citizen by the way.
The embassy website is a bit blurry when is comes to questions and specifics.

I just tried to get a 6 month multi entry through my employee here (a large global accountancy firm). I was rejected even though I do a significant amount of work in China. I have now got a double entry visa. Multi entry visa are no longer available in Hong Kong - furthermore, if you are unable to present a HK ID card with your VISA application you cannot get a Chinese VISA in Hong Kong

This will last until after the Olympics

I just dont understand it. What is the motive behind these new "old" rules. Has someone just taken over the responsibility for Visas and said "all rules amended by the previous administrator are now reversed" Thats what it looks like to me.
I was reading a Hong Kong newspaper while waiting for a ferry on friday night and the article was on visas. I let out a groan about what I had read and the chinese gentleman net to me asked what was wrong.
I said to him that it appears that someone in the Chinese government doesnt want anyone to come to the Olympics. he asked me to eplain. I told him the epat populaution in China are so often asked by their friends for advice regarding china as the media paints a bad view. We are generally quite positive about things like visas and ebtry and overall safety but now we are faced with having to tell our friends that visa rules appear to changing so often that even if you get one there is no guarantee it will be honoured. He was quite aghast at that and I re-iterated to him that some one needs to tell the government what is going on. I believe Donald Tsang will be the one as the affect is being felt big time by Hong Kong business people who are feeling similar affects (though not the same as they have a different system of entry but are getting similar restrictions.
If the reason for all this is to tighten up so that poeple who need to get visas do so then that part is fair but why should a business person who is negotiating with a Chinese company be only able to get single visit visas. It interupts negotiations no end and will lead to businesses going to perhaps Thailand or Vietnam instead

Got double entry Chinese visa in Hanoi in late march. No problems what so ever. 70 US dollars, 5 days for a double entry visa. Regular visas are 30 US dollars with 3 days processing time. No air tickets required, no hotel bookings required, but as stated this may of changed in April. Shop around, I got offered 3 different rates (its cheaper if you do it yourself but more hassle, esp if you want anything other than a regular visa)

Went to Sapa & Ha Long Bay while waiting, didn't bother staying in Hanoi for 5 days. Just explained that my passport is at embassy and handed over copy, no problems in either destinations.

P.S. Hong Kong is neither cheap nor an easy destination to get chinese Visas anymore

Regulations have changed in late March and mid April, so information about any visas got before then might not apply now.

Most nationalities can still get a visa in Hong Kong (single or double entry, 30 day each visit) but unless you are a HKID card holder you need to go through an agent. You also need to show return flight tickets and at least one night's accommodation. They seem to be quite strict about the flight ticket.

There is a blacklist of countries that cannot apply in HK, including Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria.

Chinamonty:

If you email the CE in HK, your message is sent to the security bureau. You then get a reply which is copied and pasted from the Chinese Foreign Ministry press release (multi entry visas still available, nothing has changed) and totally ignores any questions you have.

Yes,I agree this is going to hurt Hong Kong - both business and tourism, but don't expect the HKSAR government to complain to Beijing.

The Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce will make him I suspect. If you look at the various Chinese embassy sites (US and Australia)you get conflicting info -the US says mu,lti entry still ok (dated 14/04/2008) but Australia says no multi entry (dated 15/04/2008).
The Chinese foreign minister was asked a Dorothy Dixer regarding the EU questioning the change in policy and he said nothing has changed. He obviously hasnt asked any expats. It is badly affecting the ones who prefer to live in Shenzhen and do business both in HK and mainland.
I spoke to one guy last night who since his American board memeber cant come and negotiate a deal (it requires back and forth to another Asian country)they are going to move the company out of China.

But does Donald Tsang have any influence in Beijing? I doubt it in this matter. Sorry, but I'm pretty pessimistic for the next few months, at least until after the Olympics.

Hi everyone,
We are still in Vietnam, our hotel here tells us that their recommended hotel in Hanoi can get the China Visas for us, they rang this morning. We are asking for a single entry Visa so we are assuming this shouldn't be a problem it will take 4 days to get so we intend going to Halong Bay instead of waiting in Hanoi for them to arrive. I'm sure that Hanoi will be the nightmare HCMC was, we were glad to get out of that place.
Thanks everyone for you comments.
Regards
Jean

Please do let us know if it DOESN'T work! We'll be trying the same as you soon!

I was Hanoi about a week ago and there were a ton of people in the hostel that had been stuck there for a week because nobody could get visas. Although technically there were still available, everyone said that even the slightest error (like writing outside the boxes) would send the application back.

One guy even had letters of recommendation from Communist party leaders and other important figures and he still couldn't get his.

Of course this is all second hand info so your mileage may vary. I'm just glad I got mine at home before I left, good luck!

Did you get it?
Some of us can't get ours at home first coz we're away too long!

HOORRRAYYY, WE'VE GOT IT.
The hotel was a complete waste of time, I'll not go into the details it would take too long.
What we did was shopped around in Hanoi and found a travel agent who could get us the Visa in 2 days. We paid US$65 for a 1 month single entry Visa, applied on the Monday just recieved it today Wednesday at 12 noon as promised and we fly to China today also at 17.40. Got a good deal on the Visa and the flight also and got a free taxi to the airport thrown in. Have to say I did quite a bit of negociating. The worse that can happen if you try to get discounts is that they so no, so I always try with everything.
Check out our website for our round the world trip
www.getjealous.com/trio
Regards to everyone and thanks for the comments.
Jean

has anybody tried recently to get a chinese visa from mongolia or russia. i'm starting to get a little concerned because although i have a weeks accom booked in beijing and olympics tickets but no inward and outward travel because we planned to go over land. has anyone got round this?
any miracles going around?

If you have a copy of your e-ticket for you out bound journey (printed from the internet) you should be able to explain it to them. You can do this down Hong Kong/Shenzhen way but it depends I would imagine on the experience of the immigration people and what mood they are in on the day..

Hi,

I wil be teachign in living and teaching in Guilin, however i'm just applying for an f visa as my company are in the process of sorting out the invitation from China, however i'm having so much trouble with the outward flight situation. I know i need to prove that i'm leaving mainland China, however, i'm on a very tight budget so am searching for flights between HG and Shenzhen / GUIlin, has anyone else experienced difficulty with this?

I need to get some sort of ticket in advance in order to get the visa... however i cannot seem to get a train or plane ticket in to Hong kong from Shenz or Guilin at all... Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks

Getting a Chinese visa in Mongolia is easy. We didn't have to show anything though we did have outbound e-tickets. I've heard horror stories from doing that in Russia so avoid if you can.