Special Topic: China Visa Guide

For the first part of this article on getting your visa before China.

This is a continuation of our visa information section for people traveling in China or staying here for an extended period of time. It’s important to note that visa regulations abroad and once you get to China are extremely different. There are many changes that take place in Mainland China on a regular basis and new regulations are very hard to confirm. Therefore, information even only a week old may be outdated. We will try with this new visa article to provide you with updates on what is happening since at present there are a whole slew of new visa regulations that have just taken place during the month of May 2009. The problem is that in China it is very hard to get precise information so based on what we have found we will inform you accordingly.

Photo: Wesley Fryer

There are two main developments, which we will discuss here; all information is subject to change:

Swine Flu Changes:

The first visa change, which obviously affects many of our readers, is the H1N1 Swine Flu outbreak, which has been largely taking place in Mexico and North America, but has spread to some other countries as well. Notably, because of the SARS epidemic in China several years back, the Chinese authorities are much more stringent in the visa process at this moment. At the time of this writing, most flights from Mexico have been canceled and many people have been quarantined both in China and outside

For Americans, as of May 3 according to World Travel Watch, American citizens cannot receive rush service on their visas as before, when visas were available in as little as one day. Now, all visa processing has been extended to 6 full days. In addition, all citizens must fill out a declaration form (download here) regarding the countries that he or she has visited within the last 2 weeks. In addition, invitation letters from visa agencies have been temporarily suspended as well for the time being.

For information on the regular procedures of visa extension in China see here.

Sixty -Year Anniversary of China Changes:

As of the 15th Apr 2009, as a result of the China 60 Years Liberation ceremony in Oct 2009, visa regulations have tightened:

It’s still possible to get a 6-month F visa with maximum 2 entries (you can leave and come back 2 times during the 6 month) valid until September 15 2009.

We are told that a multi-entries or 1 year F visa is not available anymore.

An L tourist visa can be extend twice- each time 1 month- so if you are traveling around China you can still extend it twice before September 15.

If you can get a multi-entry tourist visa from your own country with 90 days entry each time, you can stay during the 90-day period through September and October.
Z visas with the correct papers from your company are still available.

According to visa agents, after September 15, 2009 you cannot extend your visa in China. You must leave the country, most likely Hong Kong or Macao being the easiest, to get a new visa and come back. If you go back to your home country you will also be able to get a new visa as well and sometimes the offer more options abroad than in Mainland China.

There are some unconfirmed new developments but we will release them when we have confirmed them. 

For 0086.com’s list of the Top 10 Visa Agencies in China click here:

In addition, 0086.com has visa service as well.

Special Topic: China Visa Guide

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