China Now Requires A Letter Of Invitation For Tourist From Thailand

[el jefe]

This sounds like a panicking crowd. Before you do, read the lines word by word. If you doubt about the rules, ask the embassy before starting a panic-wave.

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

Apparently they are worldwide number 3 now in foreign visitors, after France and USA.

Probably most of the "visitors" are just Chinese immigrants traveling back & forth.

You wouldn't believe the problems I had just to get a China tourist visa. I had to pay a huge amount of money for the visa because I"m American.

So who in their right mind would want to travel there? Besides, much more interesting places can be found elsewhere in the region.

I never saw many foreign visitors there. Thailand has the most international visitors in Asia based on my observations.

Your can have your own observations but you can't have your own facts. There are plenty of tourists in China.

Chinese visas are expensive. So are Thai visas. If you "had to pay a huge amount of money for the visa because I"m American", then other nationalities must pay less. Why wouldn't they want to go?

If "Thailand has the most international visitors in Asia" (your observation), please enlighten us as to the wonderful tourist sites in Thailand that are so much better than anything in China

[asiawatcher]

Applied for and received Chinese Tourist visa a couple of weeks ago, after three (yes three) trips to the embassy to get the paperwork in order on my fourth visit I finally received a visa valid for a stay of 12 days (actual trip was 5).

They finally received from me:-

Both visa forms A and B

Confirmed flights

Confirmed hotel booking

A non-immigrant visa of some form (if you have any type of Thai tourist visa or visa exemption, forget getting a China visa)

Your Work Permit (I'm on a work extension here, don't know how married or retirees will get on)

A Certificate of Employment (ditto above)

Copies of your PP photo page and permission to stay / extension

But no requirement for an invitation although one is required for a business visa along with a letter of intent from your Thai employer.

FYI - I received an APEC Business Travel Card for AUD200 (3 years expiry) and I come and go as I please, no visa requirement (cost), no queues at airports (they have APEC lanes) for departure and on arrival. Works the same for VN, Taiwan etc. The card states 17-22 countries but can take up to six months to obtain as you are put thru Police checks. The cost of the card is negated by the cost of visas every time you want to travel but oh so nice to walk into swampy, breeze thru immigration and clean entry on arrival at all the other APEC (and other) countries. It also works (privileged lanes) now in US and UK - straight thru the air crew and diplomats lanes. Worth a look I am sure as what you went thru sounds like a nightmare. http://bit.ly/PFAz2D

[Kaviar]

2) Tourist Visa (L Visa)

One of the following documents is required:

- An Invitation Letter for Tourist Group of Invitation Letter for Tourist by a Duly Authorized Tourism Unit;

- An Invitation Letter issued by companies, corporations, institutions and individuals in China. If the invitation letter is issued by an individual in China, the photocopy of the ID of the individual is required.

- photocopy of the roundtrip airline ticket and hotel reservation.

Taken from the Chinese embassy website in the US

http://www.china-emb.../eng/visas/adr/

As usual with TV the sky is not falling down but that doesn't stop the panickers and neenannys coming out.

The "changes" do not apply to SAR zones Macau and HK

Absolutely correct! with one addition. If it's a letter of invitation from an individual. You need a copy of both sides of their ID card and their address.

There has been much speculation as to why the Chinese government have tightened their visa regulations.

1. Clamping down on the "riff raff" element both pre and post Olympics.

2. The undignified process that Chinese have to endure when applying for a USA visa.

3. The drunk British guy who attempted to rape a Chinese girl in the Centre of Beijing. he was here on a tourist visa and and reportedly teaching English.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9257261/British-tourist-arrested-in-China-for-sexual-assault.html

[tombkk]

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

The top 10 international tourism destinations in 2011 were:^[3][4]

Rank Country UNWTO

Region International

tourist

arrivals

(2011)^[2] International

tourist

arrivals

(2010)^[2] Change

(2010 to

2011) 1 France Europe 79.5 million 77.1 million +3.0% 2 United States North America 62.3 million 59.8 million +4.2% 3 China Asia 57.6 million 55.7 million +3.4% 4 Spain Europe 56.7 million 52.7 million +7.6% 5 Italy Europe 46.1 million 43.6 million +5.7% 6 Turkey Europe 29.3 million 27.0 million +8.7% 7 United Kingdom Europe 29.2 million 28.3 million +3.2% 8 Germany Europe 28.4 million 26.9 million +5.5% 9 Malaysia Asia 24.7 million 24.6 million +0.6% 10 Mexico North America 23.4 million 23.3 million +0.5% Note: see the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer for the full rankings.^[2]

I never saw many foreign visitors there. Thailand has the most international visitors in Asia based on my observations.

Kindly specify which destinations you have travelled and how big your sample size was. Your observations must be more than UNWTO's!

Edit: This is not a mod mail but my personal observation regarding your observations.

[geriatrickid]

This is just communism at work

Now they want to control their citizens and now that want total control over tourists

There are enough places to visit with less stringent visa rules

China hasn't been communist for quite some time. The economy of china with its market and trade positions has more in common with a capitalistic system than a communist system. Politics is more totalitarianism/military dictatorship than communism as the people really don't have much of a say.

[chuang]

Still " Chin Daeng "

[topt]

If you are applying from the UK so use the UK Chinese visa site and look at the requirements for a Tourist visa it clearly states -

(iii)Applicant applying for tourist and family visa (L-visa) also need to provide:

1. Invitation letter from a Chinese organization or a permanent resident in China;

A. Invitation issued by organization (including government at the county level and above, company and public institution) should contain information of the applicant (i.e. full name, gender, date of birth, purpose of visit, date of arriving and leaving China, place of visit, relations between the applicant and the inviter, financial support during stay in China) and information of the inviter (i.e. name of organization, contact number, address, stamp of the organization, signature of the organization’s representative).

B. Invitation issued by personal inviter (including Chinese citizen, residence from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan holding legal residence in mainland China, and foreign citizen holding legal residence in mainland China) should contain information of the applicant (i.e. full name, gender, date of birth, purpose of visit, date of arriving and leaving China, place of visit, relations between the applicant and the inviter, financial support during stay in China) and information of the inviter (i.e. name, contact number, address and signature).

OR

2. Air ticket booking record (round trip) and hotel reservation;

Etc Etc

and for those who haven't seen many tourists/foreigners in China I suggest you were either in a real backwater or had your eyes closed. You certainly could not have gone to Bejing, Shanghai or Guangzhou. In the latter where I work I am falling over them all the time........

Edit to add link http://www.visaforchina.org/LON_EN/visainstruction/250040.shtml

Edited August 26, 2012 by topt

[spidermike007]

The Chinese Ambassador to London said last night

"We looked carefully at all the visa requirements of countries in our region and noted that those with very lax immigration requirements suffered greatly from what I think you English call 'riff-raff". We were particularly worried that China might become another Thailand - have you seen the quality of the people that are settling there, drunks, druggies, vagabonds and thieves the lot of them?"

Yes, they only permit officials who will rape, main, steal, and evict people from their own land at a moments notice, if it benefits them on any level. Oh, and did I mention wive's of party officials who kill foreign investors and businessmen on a whim? Oh, and did I mention party officials who arrest, and imprison for life, people who are critical of the party. In other works we permit grave crimes in China, but only if they are officially sanctioned by one of the world's most heinous governments. Control, control, and more control. No wonder they do not want riff raff. They could commit crimes that do not benefit the party!

[geriatrickid]

The Chinese Ambassador to London said last night

"We looked carefully at all the visa requirements of countries in our region and noted that those with very lax immigration requirements suffered greatly from what I think you English call 'riff-raff". We were particularly worried that China might become another Thailand - have you seen the quality of the people that are settling there, drunks, druggies, vagabonds and thieves the lot of them?"

Yes, they only permit officials who will rape, main, steal, and evict people from their own land at a moments notice, if it benefits them on any level. Oh, and did I mention wive's of party officials who kill foreign investors and businessmen on a whim? Oh, and did I mention party officials who arrest, and imprison for life, people who are critical of the party. In other works we permit grave crimes in China, but only if they are officially sanctioned by one of the world's most heinous governments. Control, control, and more control. No wonder they do not want riff raff. They could commit crimes that do not benefit the party!

LOL, meanwhile everyone is lined up ready to kiss the Chinese posteriors in hopes of getting rich...........

New visa rules will not impact China as the people of use to the country will still be able to enter

[Fgis]

Who wants to travel to China for tourism !!!

:-)

[moe666]

This is just communism at work

Now they want to control their citizens and now that want total control over tourists

There are enough places to visit with less stringent visa rules

China hasn't been communist for quite some time. The economy of china with its market and trade positions has more in common with a capitalistic system than a communist system. Politics is more totalitarianism/military dictatorship than communism as the people really don't have much of a say.

I think you are splitting hairs here.

[jackh]

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

I think it's a good thing to tighten the visa requirements in China. Anything that helps keep out riff raff like the above poster works for me. I've been here 7 years now, and also really enjoy coming to LOS on frequent short visits. But I know I'm leaving which makes my visits that much more enjoyable. Riff raff factor too high in LOS for my taste.

As far as nothing interesting here? What drugs are you on?

[londoedan]

3. The drunk British guy who attempted to rape a Chinese girl in the Centre of Beijing. he was here on a tourist visa and and reportedly teaching English.

http://www.telegraph...al-assault.html

You're right about this one - it caused a lot of comment inside China and was mentioned by several of the people I was working with at the time. The state media hyped it up out of all relation to the actual incident IMHO.

[saroq]

I just came back from China. No need visa nor invitation.

I believe that the story indicates that they now need an invitation letter, not in the past. It is usual for the Chinese to require this of tourists from some countries if they are not traveling as part of an organized group. I travel to China often and every time my Thai girl friend was stopped, her bags checked and many questions asked. It got so bad that I could not let her travel without me and eventually we got married just to ensure that she would be allowed to enter the country. China is indeed getting tougher on visas because so many foreigners are working here illegally. They also like to blame foreigners for many problems but they are not alone in doing that, every country does it's just that the West feels the need to apologize for these sentiments whereas many other countries do not.

[londoedan]

Who wants to travel to China for tourism !!!

:-)

Its a fantastic country to live-in or visit for tourism - possibly only 2nd to India.

You could spend a life-time visiting the provinces, cities, mountains, valleys etc. And as for the people - their friendliness, warmth and good humour puts LOS to shame.

Get there quickly though - it's not going to last for ever - maybe another 5-10 years ?

[saroq]

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

Who wants to travel to China for tourism !!!

:-)

I agree. I spend extended periods of time in China. It is a heavily polluted country with a population whose national sport seems to be spitting and displaying other filthy habits. Aside from those negatives their places of "beauty" have been destroyed and as the Olympics proved the Chinese are too uptight to know how to have a good time let alone allow anyone else to enjoy themselves. They're not serious competition to other countries in the region because they don't understand that tourists want to enjoy pleasant weather with air that won't cause cancer just by breathing it in, beautiful scenery that has not been smothered in litter and manicured to within an inch of its life so that it no longer looks like nature should and they want to have a good time while on their vacation without being herded around like sheep.

[saroq]

3. The drunk British guy who attempted to rape a Chinese girl in the Centre of Beijing. he was here on a tourist visa and and reportedly teaching English.

http://www.telegraph...al-assault.html

You're right about this one - it caused a lot of comment inside China and was mentioned by several of the people I was working with at the time. The state media hyped it up out of all relation to the actual incident IMHO.

Yes it did indeed but they didn't mention the multiple sexual assaults committed by Chinese taxi drivers in that same year did they.

[saroq]

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

I think it's a good thing to tighten the visa requirements in China. Anything that helps keep out riff raff like the above poster works for me. I've been here 7 years now, and also really enjoy coming to LOS on frequent short visits. But I know I'm leaving which makes my visits that much more enjoyable. Riff raff factor too high in LOS for my taste.

As far as nothing interesting here? What drugs are you on?

Yep agree the Chinese should try to keep the riff raff out, who doesn't travel see so many people in Thailand that you just wish would have stayed at home. Don't agree that it's an interesting country for a tourist but I guess it depends on what you're looking for in a holiday.

[bangkokrick]

Applied for and received Chinese Tourist visa a couple of weeks ago, after three (yes three) trips to the embassy to get the paperwork in order on my fourth visit I finally received a visa valid for a stay of 12 days (actual trip was 5).

They finally received from me:-

Both visa forms A and B

Confirmed flights

Confirmed hotel booking

A non-immigrant visa of some form (if you have any type of Thai tourist visa or visa exemption, forget getting a China visa)

Your Work Permit (I'm on a work extension here, don't know how married or retirees will get on)

A Certificate of Employment (ditto above)

Copies of your PP photo page and permission to stay / extension

But no requirement for an invitation although one is required for a business visa along with a letter of intent from your Thai employer.

I applied a while back and i don't have a work permit here in Thailand, but I am married to a Thai. The asked for a copy of my marriage certificate and the wife's ID card.

Visa issued OK and no need for an invitation letter.

[bangkokrick]

The reason that they are tightening up on visa issuance is because they have found that many people on Tourist visa's are not leaving the Country and working illegally. I think that the alleged rape was the last straw.

[saroq]

The reason that they are tightening up on visa issuance is because they have found that many people on Tourist visa's are not leaving the Country and working illegally. I think that the alleged rape was the last straw.

Welcome to the club. This is not a problem for China alone but good on them for trying to stop it.

[Tomtomtom69]

meatballs, on Yesterday, 01:14 , said: China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

Sorry meatballs and Fgis, I don't know why you guys are such China haters, but the fact is China is an incredible country for tourism. The landscapes, particularly in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet are out of this world and there are places where you can truly be alone. You guys should go see the recently released Thai movie "Shambala" which was shot in Tibet to see what I mean.

I've spent a lot of time in both Thailand and China for tourism, study and employment purposes over the years. While I like Thailand, the multitude of scams, government mandated dual pricing at many tourism related sites and the large number of questionable foreigners in Thailand makes China look like a good option by comparison as all these things are less common in China than they are in Thailand. While China isn't perfect either, you can be assured of being just about the only foreigner in many areas of the huge and fascinating country that is China.

Edited August 26, 2012 by Tomtomtom69

[JurgenG]

What I understand is that China is applying a tit for tat visa requirement, which basically means that the condition for you to obtain a chinese visa should be the same that the condition for a chinese to obtain a visa for your country.

Anyway, it's a worldwide trend, its getting more and more difficult to obtain visa for almost everywhere.

[cosmont]

Last year, I applied for a tourist visa in Bangkok Chinese consulate. They requested as a new policy an hotel booking confirmation and flight booking or airplane ticket. They did not requested a work permit, I am on O visa extension.

They granted to me a 6 months visa with multiple entry without problems.

[Semper]

The Chinese Ambassador to London said last night

"We looked carefully at all the visa requirements of countries in our region and noted that those with very lax immigration requirements suffered greatly from what I think you English call 'riff-raff". We were particularly worried that China might become another Thailand - have you seen the quality of the people that are settling there, drunks, druggies, vagabonds and thieves the lot of them?"

Sounds about right to me.

[ARGUSEYE]

In the Chinese consulate in my home country (a Schengen state) there were these new rules posted on the wall, too. At first I just wanted to give China a miss, since I do never travel with reservations.

But then I gave it a try, spoke to the gentleman behind the counter, and in the end got a 60 - day tourist visa with just a one - way ticket to BKK(!!) to show.

Nothing else.

... And for anybody who thinks the Chinese travel industry needs Farang tourists, I suggest having a look on Dali's or Lijiang's old town streets:

Not one in a thousand is a whitey!!

[Tomtomtom69]

@Arguseye, you're right, Chinese tourism seems to function quite well without lots of westerners, which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. The good part is that there are fewer scams directed specifically towards foreigners or westerners in general compared to SE Asian countries like Thailand. This is probably because 1) with fewer foreign tourists there are fewer potential targets 2) there's always the language barrier since relatively few Chinese can speak English and 3) the government in China wants tourists to receive a good impression of their country. The bad part if you will, if that in some parts of China, particularly less travelled rural areas or less well known cities, foreigners can expect to receive a fair bit of attention with cries of "helloo!!" particularly by small children being quite vocal and having their pictures taken etc.

BTW the one time I was in Lijiang, there were a whole heap of westerners walking down the old streets, some of whom were clearly tourists, others probably expats. In Dali, there were fewer, but in Shanghai I found there to be almost as many westerners as in Bangkok or other major regional tourist cities such as Ho Chi Minh City or Kuala Lumpur. Apparently China receives about 3 times the number of international tourists that Thailand does, but probably because of the huge size of the country and population and thus being dispersed over a much greater area than Thailand, foreign tourists are less visible in China than they are in Thailand.

Looking at the current Chinese visa form, they want to see copies of your previous Chinese visa(s) for those travellers that have been to China before. For anyone that has ever travelled to China before, as long as they didn't overstay or cause any problems I would imagine the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok or any other Chinese post would be happy to issue another tourist visa possibly without even requesting any additional documentation.

[BKKBobby]

China largest tourist destination? Yeah, right. I didn't find it very interesting and there were not many international tourists either.

Ive been to Beijing and it was the most interesting place ive ever been to. Its packed with beautiful palaces, temples and history. For those who like western luxury you have more high end label stores than in most of the countries in the west. Never seen such gigantic flagship high end label stores anywhere really. The only chinese city ive been to is Beijing. Its my personal favorite destination amongst places ive visited.

Edited August 30, 2012 by BKKBobby

[LawrenceChee]

For the many TV members, I ask that you visit China and then form your own opinion

I have had the pleasure of working at every continent except for Africa and in my extensive travels , one word formulates cultural immersion and that is respect.

There is no right or wrong and while everyone has an opinion, seeing it from the other side of the coin best describes a seasoned cultural traveler

Visits to china and its many regions excite the traveler lust in everyone ...I have had the pleasure of working there for the last 10 years in many different regions

Seeing a 9999 room palace complex in Beijing, witness the Cosmo spirit of shanghai, travel to the quiet mountains of guizhou or lijiang , lakes in suzhou or hangzhou or witness the martial arts of the shaolin temples ...the north east winter splendor of ice shows

Most who have been there will tell u they have not seen more polite and friendly people who are willing to help , the place more western than some western places and the secret thoughts of the police ...well I have not seen one harass a foreigner unless u were doing something stupid or illegal

As for the cultural whims, one would chuckle right ? After all we all have been to Thailand where we don't understand some of the rules and we go with it ...the spitting took me a while to get used to and I asked around the Chinese TCMs and old people why they do it ...politely they tell me this is the way way to rid one of your evil imbalance ...the sound of the exercise is gross but how do you argue 5000 years of tradition ?

They are learning slowly it's better to use a tissue but old habits die hard and physiologically it just seems to be better for them to spit it out. Took me a while to understand this ...u will be surprised but if u go to hong kong and get out of the fancy haborcity malls, they do that there too and this is a supposedly Brit sophiscated city.

Same reason I have been trying to explain to the Chinese why rotting milk and cheese with worms is a delicacy to most of us westerners....they don't get it too but yet have it at the hotel buffet for us to enjoy since the westerners need it like we need rice.

Go and explore china ...the visa is not difficult and for the American complaining it is expensive have a look at your website and see what uncle Sam is charging the Chinese tourists for the visa to revive the flagging retail industry In USA

Don't see them complaining. Those who cannot pay simply don't visit.

Sent from my iPod touch using ThaiVisa app ; please excuse any typo errors

[tombkk]

@Arguseye, you're right, Chinese tourism seems to function quite well without lots of westerners, which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it. The good part is that there are fewer scams directed specifically towards foreigners or westerners in general compared to SE Asian countries like Thailand. This is probably because 1) with fewer foreign tourists there are fewer potential targets 2) there's always the language barrier since relatively few Chinese can speak English and 3) the government in China wants tourists to receive a good impression of their country. The bad part if you will, if that in some parts of China, particularly less travelled rural areas or less well known cities, foreigners can expect to receive a fair bit of attention with cries of "helloo!!" particularly by small children being quite vocal and having their pictures taken etc.

With regards to the language barrier "2.): There are few foreigners who speak Chinese." I think this will change soon. Very much like English is the lengua franca in many Western countries now, and Spanish is in Latin America, Chinese (Mandarin) will become the most important international language in Asia. It is quite possible that Westerners will lose out if they don't attempt to learn it.

There is more interchange within Asia than between Asians and Westerners. Who cares about English?