Late last year, China began issuing 10 year visas for Americans. In general, the whole visa process really frustrates me: -- It involves lots of paperwork, which I'm not good at -- It requires me to part ways with my passport for some amount of time, which makes me feel uneasy (I know I should…
Continue reading: I’m Now Applying For A 10 Year Chinese Visa!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@ Thanh - That's what the blog is about...are you the blog's core audience?
@ Lucky - Are you going to visit the Harbin Ice Festival then?
How much paperwork do you have to send in? I recently got this visa too (no more one year visas for me - yay!) and only had to send in the form, a photo and a copy of my grandfathers Chinese ID.
😉 I think more importantly you should give Air China first class a sample. Maybe even throw China Eastern double bed in there somewhere
that is a good deal.
i got my 10 year visa last december. it took about 15 days costing $220 in total.
I've never felt the need to pay some one else to do it. In general the paperwork for most visas is quite straightforward. I will acknowledge that living in the DC area helps since I can hand deliver/pickup at the embassy. The visas I have gotten just require a form that is a page or two, a photo, and (most importantly I suspect) a money order or cashier's check for the fee. Drop it off and pick it back up a week or two later.
You will be disappointed by the quality of services offered by all Chinese branded airlines, especially air china.
Thry dont know a thing about being polite.
Is there something like this also for germans? Would be pretty useful for me...
Strange, that they allow this for the US...I mean you/they are the class enemy to china 😉
It's not so bad. I have a Chinese wife and she has to get visas for pretty much everywhere. We had to get three for our last trip! We also do it all in person ourselves which may need to be done in various cities.
@RakSiam as you alluded to, it's very useful when you don't live in a city with an embassy or consulate, and a country like China that does not accept applications via mail.
My 10 year China visa application is currently out for processing as well.
I want to get one of these but what happens when your passport expires? Do you have to pay to get them to transfer the visa or do you just bring the old passport?
Last December, shortly after the bilateral 10-yr visa agreement was reached, I went to apply for a visa for China at the General Consulate of PRC located at 42nd St and 12th Ave in NYC, where I live. Just for the heck of it I asked if they could evaluate me for the new 10-year visa option based on the MINIMAL paperwork (confirmed round trip plane ticket and evidence of lodging accommodation in China) that I had supplied. They said no problem; it did not seem like a big deal at all. Then they noticed that my passport had just over a year of validity before it expired, so I instead got the 1-yr visa that I have been getting yearly for at least the last 6 years. I always apply in person and for the expedited service where I go pick up the visa the next day (they used to have same-day service -- apply in the morning, pick up the same day after 2 pm -- which has been discontinued). In any case, I am renewing my passport next month and will be traveling to China at the end of the year, so I will take another shot at the 10-yr visa then. I like my chances...
One thing is certain, though. Getting a tourist visa for China is rather easy, as it seems that they do not care who gets approved since they want people to go there and spend money, preferably a lot of it, and then leave 😉
Can we hope to get the Etihad First and Iceland reviews soon if you are going to stay in the US for a while?
@ AdamH -- It should be valid even after your passport expires. Simply keep your old passport and bring it with you when entering China.
With visa for most countries including china, you can show the old passport with the valid visa along with your current passport... except for India where they require you to fill out a form and pay a small fee (I think $25) to transfer your visa to your new passport.
@Dylan. Incorrect, very few countries will allow you to travel with a valid visa in an expired passport (traveling with a new passport). The only countries that allow this are Brazil, now, China and the USA. You are correct about India transferring their visa label to the new passport.
Alvin, are you this blog's core audience? There's earning and redeeming miles for luxury experience which most if not everyone can actually do, and then there's having to apply for a visa to anywhere you go like most of world have to and nothing you can do about it. If you are from Hong Kong, I think you won't ever understand.
Well, as a Chinese(mainlandee), I need to get a visa to travel to virtually everywhere except China and Canada...
I don't see the option for the 10 year visa on the visa application from the Chinese consulate website? Would you write it in under "other"?
Just applied for a 10 year tourist visa at Chinese consulate in Sydney. Required no additional paperwork (just regular tourist visa application form) and cost the same price as other visas (it's a flat rate here). Dropped it off on a Monday, will be available for pickup on Thursday. They were relaxed and proactive. No fuss. Very pleasantly surprised by all of this! Great stuff.
Can you provide how your experience went with this visa company? When I get back from Vietnam, I'm going to just go ahead and get the 10-year visa.
Submitted on Monday and collected on Thursday. No problems at all - the process was surprisingly (shockingly) easy. Highly recommend obtaining this visa if you plan to travel to China.
Somehow, the consulate in Houston is so out of date with their online information. There's no mention of a 10-year visa. At least, I couldn't find anything about it.
So let me get this straight...
then...they must physically TAKE the application to the engineers...
no..
So huh um what is it exactly that you do here.....would you say...
Ivan, I think everyone is still using the V.2013 form while the 10 year visas started at the end of 2014. In section 2.2 ("Intended number of entries") I just selected "Other" and wrote "10 year please". My proposed itinerary was for only for a handful of days but I just picked up my visa and they gave me 10 years without issue.
Just used Allied Passport & Visa to get my 10-year China visa. They have a clear example on their website of a completed visa form. I'm very happy with Allied Passport. Professional and prompt. They saved me the cost and time of a full-day trip to the consulate in Chicago. Well worth it.