Tomio

A somewhat related topic. I have an American passport and 5 or 6 years ago I received a ten year tourist visa from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. Th actual visa is stamped in a passport that expired last year. Does anyone know if that visa is still valid and acceptable for another trip to China?

Took me around six weeks from start to finish. Would have been quicker if I did it all while in Thailand. Instead I had to complete everything with Thai Consulate Los Angeles, who aren't the easiest to work with. I went the self insured route where you must show twelve months of bank balances above $100000. This is where they try to screw you up. They actually require $200000 each month

I've flown the LAX Row BKk route on EVA so many times on Business class that I've had a Star Alliance Gold card for many years. The worst part was having to fly out of and into LAX, absolutely the worst airport. Then I discovered that China Airlines had a flight that goes thru TPE that starts in Ontario, about 50 miles from LAX. A world of difference not having to deal with LAX. Price wise EVA and China Airlines are pretty close and I have to admit that EVA is on top regarding quality and service But flying out of and into Ontario rather than LAX, makes my decision very easy. I'll be flying out of Ontario next week using my brand new LTR WP visa

I just received my LTR under the wealthy pensioners category. If you can meet the requirements, it's quite a good deal. If you earn more than $80,000 annually in pensions, you're almost there. If you don't want to fork out money for what sounds like a waste for health insurance, you can elect to self insure by showing that you've had a sizeable balance ⚖️ n your bank account. The rules state that you must have at least $100,000 in your account for the past 12 months. This is not exactly correct. Of the account is a joint account, you must have at least $200,000 in your bank account for the past twelve months. I started the process dealing with BOI online. Once I receives their approval, I has to switch to Thai Consulate in lis Angeles because I am not physically in Thailand. Cost me a little more. $1600 vs 50,000 baht. Six weeks from start to finish

I just received my approved LTR-WP. It tooke exactly one and a half months to complete the process. I had to deal with the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles which probably lengthen the time it took to complete. Was it an easy process? Not at all. But at least it was doable. Because I dealt with the Consulate it was a little bit more costly - $1600 versus 50,000 baht. Plus, having to do everything on line, it was not easy getting answers from them such as status of my application. All in all, although extremely frustrating at times, it was all worth it at the end