Hey all. So my girl and I want to visit China in March 2027. We are already visiting NYC in August and thought it would be nice to do it all on that trip.

We then noticed the online application says departure dates must be within 3 months and applications outside of that window will not be proccesed. Since we're both asking for 10 year multi entry visas, what's stopping us from putting dates such as for september, submitting, then going in person to finish the process? If all is granted would it really be an issue if we didn't go in september and instead went 7 months later?

Either way.. we're likely having our friends who live in NYC submit and pick up our documents. It seems like the most legit way while staying truthful.. but seriously, wouldn't this method work just fine?

hello, I am not sure if I’ve missed a step or what .. kind of panicking tbh

My employer said yesterday that my work permit was approved on their end in China, that I am to turn in my passport and get my visa now here in the states.

the paper they sent me says “NOTIFICATION LETTER OF FOREIGNER’S WORK PERMIT

IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

（WORKING PERIOD OF MORE THAN 90 DAYS）”

i had planned to use an agency as im In FL and my Chinese embassy location is Washington DC ( this one charges $60 service fee , $60 more for priority submission then the regular gov fee for visa ) vs a flight currently is around $250-450 doesn’t include Ubers lunch etc to go in person for the day. Plus the gov fee.

but problem is that they want the “submit passport now” off COVA..

im hoping i Understand correctly and I just need to submit my cova application on my side now? Was I able to do it before, I asked the school and they said no they have to apply for me..

how long is cova application gonna take if I have my permit paper ?

thank u!

should add that I had asked for 1-2 weeks of time before teachers go back for PD week; they said arrive before August 7 or after the 14th due to a employe’s schedule aka the person picking me up and doing all the arrival stuff; is Before August 7 even possible with this time frame?

the agency gives a time frame of 6-10 business days after they have the passport n documents in hand ( I’d do 2 day shipping to them) and then the 2 day shipping to me back.

Hello! I just received the email confirming my tourist visa (July 22). I live in MP, so I'll have to fly to Delhi to submit my passport on July 24.

Question:

My flight to China (edit) is on 6 August. Do they give you the option to collect your passport in person instead of having it mailed back?

The standard processing time for normal service is 6 business days, plus courier time (which I'm not sure about). I'm wondering if I could collect my passport on 5 August, assuming they'll hold it for a while after it's ready and stamped.

hi, china visa is unapproved. can you please share the email id where I can ask for the reason?

nationality indian

Hello all,

I am currently applying for a new job and everything has been going well. Except now suddenly they are asking for Chinese translations of half of my documents like my degree and such.

Has anyone had this come up before? I worked in Sichuan before and also in Korea and never needed to get my documents translated. Is this an issue for the school, or for province, or is this an old rule that has been abolished that the school doesn't know has changed?

Hi, I’m applying for my husband’s dependent visa in Hong Kong . I have a loan of HK$150k and my credit score currently is I. my savings were HK$0 last month and HK$50k from this month. Questions: 1. Can I submit statements showing zero then HK$50k, or should I wait for 3 straight months of HK$50k+? 2. Official docs don’t mention credit reports, but some say it’s required. Does my credit score affect the application.

Hi folks. I have a flight from Bangalore- Singapore- Beijing- Ulaanbataar and same return.
However, the PNR is different. I have one PNR until Beijing and another PNR from Beijing to Ulaanbataar. The layover is less than 12 hours. I am an Indian passport holder

Will i be eligible for TWOV?
Will singapore airlines let me board in Bangalore without a china visa?

To be on the safer side- i applied for a transit Visa for china but haven’t yet gotten an approval online.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Me: born in US and have lived there all my life. Also have Taiwanese citizenship with household registration and Thai citizenship

Father: born in mainland China in 1942, family moved to Taiwan because of the war. Has Taiwanese and US citizenship, lives in the US

Mother: deceased, but had Thai and US citizenship

I don't actually know if my father became a US citizen or had a green card before or after I was born, but I can ask. It sounds like this is important to know to determine my eligibility for a visa?

Mom became a US citizen before I was born, but I'm guessing that's not important because she wasn't Chinese.

What are my (good/convenient) options for visiting China as a tourist?

Hi guys, please help. I'm French, holding Chinese residence permit and I have Chinese wife. We have child who holding Frech passport same as me. I'm applying visa for them to reside with me to Thailand. I have Thai visa and Thailand work permit already. but when i applying for my son visa, the system keep asking me to submit the residence permit of China (issue at Zhejiang,Jiangsu,Anhui,Shanghai), but we don't have it. I try upload my son's Entry - Exit permit, Birth certificate along together. They still ask for the residence permit. Please advise what to do.

Hi everyone,

I made a huge mistake by not saving the form I did for my boss for a tourist visa application. I have initially filled out where it says "if I had a chinese visa before" and "if I ever went to China before" I should've put yes instead of a no. I know I can no longer edit that since I have already submitted the form though it wasn't paid yet. Application says preliminary review in progress. Do you think I have to fill out a new application? How does that work?

I appreciate the respectful responses.

Running close on time, will rush. My teen will be staying with a friend, is it better to use their home address and a letter or a hotel. No flight booked yet, because waiting on Visa. I’m lost - any help ASAP is appreciated.

PS - the photo is approved!

%22)Sorry if this has been asked before. We are flying as a family of 5 from San Francisco to Beijing on United standby. We are then planning on going to Shanghai, and then flying back to the US on standby from there. When researching, we found out that the Chinese are quite strict about having a confirmed ticket out of the country, so I assume a standby ticket won't be good enough?

If that's the case, do you have any advice on what we can do? We were thinking of perhaps buying refundable tickets out of the country and then cancelling them, but I'm not sure if that's risky. We were also thinking of buying tickets to Seoul out of Shanghai, as we've never been there, but of course the best case for us would just be being able to fly back to the US out of China.

Hi guys,

I am planning to go to China in about two weeks, and I just noticed that my passport expiration would be in less then six months when I enter the country. My passport would be from a country that has the unilateral visa exemption. The Chinese government says the passport needs to be valid only until I leave China. Still wanted to confirm if this will be ok and the airline will let me board.

tysm for any help

Edit: the airline is Tianjin airlines.

Hi everyone, I have my X1 student visa appointment soon at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Madrid.

For those who recently went through the process, is there anything I should be aware of?

Any common mistakes, questions they ask, or things you wish you knew beforehand?

Thanks!

Sharing my recent experience of applying for a China Tourist (L) Visa from Mumbai. I hope this helps anyone planning to apply.
Step 1: Online Application & Document Upload
I submitted my online visa application on 2 July and uploaded the following documents:
✅ Passport-size photograph
✅ Signed cover letter
✅ Detailed travel itinerary
✅ Return flight tickets
✅ Hotel bookings
✅ NOC from employer/company
✅ VFS fee receipt
✅ Bank statements (last 6 months)
✅ New & old passport copies
✅ Salary slips (last 3 months)
After uploading all the documents, my application went into Online Review.
Online Review Timeline
2 July: Online application submitted
6 July: Received the online approval email from the China Visa Centre (Bengaluru).

Step 2: Physical Passport Submission at VFS Mumbai
On 14 July, I visited the China Visa Application Centre (VFS), Mumbai, for passport submission.
I carried all the documents that were uploaded online, along with my original passport. Although only a few documents were checked, I recommend carrying everything to avoid any last-minute issues.

Visa Collection
20 July: Received my passport with the China Tourist (L) Visa stamped.
Overall, the process was smooth and straightforward. From submitting the online application to receiving the stamped visa

Hi everyone,
I’m applying for an X1 student visa through the Chinese Visa Application system, and I’ve run into something confusing.

My situation:
🇮🇳 I am an** Indian citizen and have never been a Chinese citizen.
✈️ I have visited China three times before, so I entered my previous Chinese visa information in the application.
📄 After entering my previous visa details, the system now shows a **mandatory document upload section related to previous Chinese passports/Chinese visas.
The instructions on the page seem to be intended for former Chinese citizens who obtained foreign citizenship, but because I entered my previous visa information, the system is asking me to upload five required documents.

My questions are:
Has anyone else experienced this?
Is this section appearing simply because I declared my previous Chinese visas?
As someone who is not a former Chinese citizen, what exactly should I upload in these required fields?
Should I upload copies of my previous Chinese visas and the passport pages containing those visas, or is this a system error?

Has anyone successfully submitted their application after encountering the same issue?

I received this email:

Dear Applicant,

Your application form No.xxx has been rejected. Please visit Visa Application Service Center website to check and amend as required.

Reject Reason: 1.Uploaded photograph not appropriate (it should be as per

requirement; for more information, please visit website-www.visaforchina.org)

2.Covering letter required

What do i do? I applied for X1 visa Start a new application? What's a covering letter supposed to be? Do I pay for the application again? Should I get a new passport photo clicked?

New Delhi, India

I have a work related business need to travel to Shanghai in about 3 weeks… which is already short notice, but on top of that I leave for an unrelated vacation tomorrow.

The consulate for my area is in Chicago, which is about an 8 hour drive or a 2 hour flight. I don’t return from my vacation until the 27th… not sure I have time to travel to the Embassy in Chicago with enough time to get a visa prior to my planned departure on August 8th. Can I used a travel agency to obtain the visa on my behalf? Or do I need to go in person for finger printing?

My sister also lives in Chicago, is there a way I can send her my passport and finger prints for the consulate?

I should also mention that I don’t have a Real ID, so I need my passport for my personal travel return flight on 7/27… am I cutting things way too close?

I'm American and have been in China mostly for the past 20-ish years. I was on a Z visa for 10 years. Then changed to a Q visa for the last 10 years. I don't technically work in China, but I do own a company and employ about 10 people, so my company could sponsor my Z visa. Is it possible to switch to either of these new visa types while remaining in China. The toughest thing to get clear information on is the Criminal background confirmation document. I'm American, have no criminal background (apart from a few arrests as a rowdy youth, but no convictions or anything serious) but I don't know how to obtain this document. I actually have been in China about as long as I lived in America. And when I lived in America, I moved around a lot, so I don't really have a hometown. So I don't know where to even begin to get this type of document. I would be grateful for any clear tips on this and clarification on if Green Card or Z visa upgrades can be done without having to make unnecessary trips back to the US just for this purpose. Thanks in advance.

In this case, while resubmission, do I select “yes” when application asks if I have been rejected a VISA before? I am applying for New Delhi Centre.

I applied a week ago for the Q2 visa, and the preliminary review only took 2 days for me, so it seems that visa applications are being processed fairly quickly at the Los Angeles Consulate

Hi, I need to apply for L chinese visa - Indian Passport holder
As a salaried person
Do I need company NOC, leave approval letter?
How should the bank statement be submitted? Would the online pdf work, or do I need to go to a branch and get a physical one?

Any documents that would be required but not mentioned on the page?

So I was born and raised in the US but due to the circumstances of my parents resident status at the time of my birth I also have Chinese nationality. Due to this fact when I applied for a student visa for a short term study program I got accepted into for Peking university they said that I am ineligible to apply for visas as I am a Chinese national in their system.

I already asked the university if there’s any way for me to participate in the program if I enter the China using my (Chinese) travel document but they said that since I count as a national, and the program was for international students only, I wouldn’t be able to participate. They said that to enter the school I would need to contact the people who handle domestic students.

Is there any way that there’s some special travel document for studying purposes for people in my particular circumstance that I didn’t know about or missed? Or am I just at a complete dead end in this entire situation?

Hey everyone! I’m a Canadian citizen traveling to Hong Kong in September and planning a 3-day side trip to Shenzhen before heading back to HK.

Can any fellow Canadians confirm the entry process? My understanding is that Canadians get 30 days of visa-free entry to mainland China, so I shouldn't need to apply for a visa in advance, right? If anyone has done a similar trip recently, I’d love to hear how the border crossing went!