China Visa Problems - Be Warned

[schbang]

I was holed up at the China Visa section in Bangkok for a day. They refused to give me a visa to present at a major medical conference in China. I did have with me: 1) the invitation letter from the CEO of the Chinese Medical company hosting the conference; 2) my flight bookings; 3) my China hotel reservations 4) the other required documents as per the China Visa webpage.

The Chinese visa section staff refused to give me a visa, demanding that I needed these additional documents:

- a letter of my qualifications as a teacher

- a bank statement

- a work statement of my teaching experience in australia

- a work permit from the hosting conference

- a statement from the hosting conference, of what kind of advice I was presenting

They wouldn't explain any reasoning why they needed these, but the accusatory tone sounded like I was either trying to seek work as a teacher in China, or working illegally.

I talked calmly to them for some time, denying both of these, and changed my occupation from teacher to retired - hoping this would eliminate the work/income issues. But it didn't.

I concealed my anger. The Chinese official office supervisor intervened, and we went through it all again. He was dismissive. They both were.

"Would you prefer that I didn't visit China and medically assist young Chinese children? Would you prefer that I didn't share my expertise with Chinese medicos? Is that what you want?" Blank. Uncaring response.

Was feeling desperate - not being able to get these documents and maybe not able to go to China, and disappoint the company and conference and the team. After two hours the impasse continued.

I finally agreed to get them a bank statement - not easy in Bangkok without a savings bank book on me.

I returned with an ATM bank statement and at 4.30pm finally got the visa - for 8 days!

Something to add to the memoirs!!

Do be warned. If you can get a Chinese Visa in your home country do so.

[bunnaag]

as I already mentioned today I made an application for one week.Wrote retired and tourist purposes.They

only wanted proof of health insurance and return ticket

General Consulate Songkhla.

[stevenl]

Well, you're going there to work, and wanted to meet the visa requirements for a tourist.

[mooris7]

Not be warned! It is common knowledge for well travelled people in Asia that a Chinese visa can be easily obtained in your home country anywhere else the red flags always go up. Best advice is to do your research before applying!

[tingtongfarang]

Earlier this year i spent 3 days there trying to get a visa, they wanted something new each time and in the end gave me a 5 day visa,

[theblether]

I found Chiang Mai to be remarkably easy, and a same day service.

OP, in future have the phone number of the person that invited you to China. A one minute phone call from him would have over ridden these problems. Youa are just the "farang" so to speak. They go white when calls from China start flooding in.

So the tip is, when you are going to apply for your visa, have the person on stand by in case you have a problem. Simple.

[Jangot]

I have obtained many business visas from the Consulate in Chiang Mai over the last few years.

Like theblether, I have found them to be quick and courteous.

However, I have been advised by colleagues that over the last few months, China is imposing new rules and making application more difficult. Perhaps OP experience is to become the new normal - I hope not.

[claffey]

of course you only got a visa for your length of stay! you were traveling to present at a conference.if you just applied for a tourist visa you would've fine.your lucky to get any visa..you need to meet all the requirements to get a visa.I doubt they have special visas for conferences..your arrogance is astounding!

Sent from my Vodafone Smart II using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[mooris7]

of course you only got a visa for your length of stay! you were traveling to present at a conference.if you just applied for a tourist visa you would've fine.your lucky to get any visa..you need to meet all the requirements to get a visa.I doubt they have special visas for conferences..your arrogance is astounding!

Sent from my Vodafone Smart II using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I don't think the op is arrogant but rather just looking for a forum to rant about his experience. I lived in China for 4 years and the problem is simple. Before when you needed to travel to China on business, not to work you needed to apply for an F visa. This visa had so many grey areas and was abused by many people using it to work. Many foreigners were deported working with this F visa when it should only be used for instances like the op described above. Because of the abuse of the F visa the embassies and consulates now put up red flags when people apply for the business visa. So the L tourist visa seems to be the best idea for this. But if needed you can still apply for business visa but remember you will ways get the least grief from your home countries embassy!

Edited August 20, 2013 by mooris7

[siam2007]

those new Visa rules in China came into effect July 1st, and there was a HUGE crackdown on teachers without degree or non-native-speakers working there, so there are probably hundred-thousands of vacancies for English teachers now there, (stupid government, they should rather be happy for everyone willing to go and work there - according to statistics, they need 400.000 English teachers per year, after all)

therefore, it was not exactly a good idea to put " teacher" in your Visa-application.

I am not sure about Chiang Mai nowadays, it would be interesting to learn from people who applied for a Visa there after 1st of July 2013.

Getting a Visa there was always very straightforward, but I am not sure how the situation is now.

maybe somebody can share recent experiences.

All experiences made before 1st of July 2013 regarding China-Visas are actually not relevant anymore.

I am in need of a China-Visa too, but want a mutliple entry (at least 2 entries of 30 days each), as my passport is quite full already (only 6-7 pages left) and I won't have a chance to get a new one before June next year.

But maybe we need to ask in the CHIANG MAI section of the Forum to get more replies ?

Edited August 20, 2013 by siam2007

[HullyGully]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

[metisdead]

Please do not post using all caps, even in topic titles. Topic title edited to remove all caps.

[tingtongfarang]

I found Chiang Mai to be remarkably easy, and a same day service.

OP, in future have the phone number of the person that invited you to China. A one minute phone call from him would have over ridden these problems. Youa are just the "farang" so to speak. They go white when calls from China start flooding in.

So the tip is, when you are going to apply for your visa, have the person on stand by in case you have a problem. Simple.

Honest i had everything required even down to the invitation letter and they made phone calls to the exhibition organizers to confirm, On the first day at the consulate sitting there for 4 hours i came to realise some people were already on there 2nd-3rd visit only to be turned away again,

On my 3rd visit a very arrogant woman took me into an office for an interview and told i would now need an invitation letter from the chinese government, I told ok i accept that you are refusing my visa application but please could i have in writing your reasons along with an explanation for the request of an invitation letter from the chinese government, she then agreed to issue me a visa for 5 days which was the length of my stay,

she then told next time apply for your visa in your home country.

[siam2007]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

would you mind to elaborate further ?

what sort of Visa did you apply for ? how many entries ? how many days ? did you get exactly what you were applying for ?

what tickets did they want to see ? ticket to China and onward ticket ?

what hotel bookings did they want to see ? only for the first day / the first few days / your entire stay ?

I think this would be very helpful to all future Visa-applicants travelling to China, thank you for your time

[tingtongfarang]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

would you mind to elaborate further ?

what sort of Visa did you apply for ? how many entries ? how many days ? did you get exactly what you were applying for ?

what tickets did they want to see ? ticket to China and onward ticket ?

what hotel bookings did they want to see ? only for the first day / the first few days / your entire stay ?

I think this would be very helpful to all future Visa-applicants travelling to China, thank you for your time

Application form, proof of bank balance, air tickets, hotel bookings, invitation letter, travel itinerary, colour of your underwear,, ect I feel sure that the internet cafe down the road has a booming biz with the people running out to go online for a printout of their bank bank balance, if identity theft scams are not already in action there they soon will be,

Before i was issued with a 5 day visa i had to hand write a promise on A4 not to travel outside of beijing or attempt to enter another province, as i understand it these problems are only when applying in bangkok and i have no idea of the reason for this but its a complete turn around to how the system worked in previous years.

BTW i,m not a newbie in regards to acquiring a visa for china, i used to live and own a shop in yunnan.

Edited August 20, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[Tomtomtom69]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

would you mind to elaborate further ?

what sort of Visa did you apply for ? how many entries ? how many days ? did you get exactly what you were applying for ?

what tickets did they want to see ? ticket to China and onward ticket ?

what hotel bookings did they want to see ? only for the first day / the first few days / your entire stay ?

I think this would be very helpful to all future Visa-applicants travelling to China, thank you for your time

Application form, proof of bank balance, air tickets, hotel bookings, invitation letter, travel itinerary, colour of your underwear,, ect I feel sure that the internet cafe down the road has a booming biz with the people running out to go online for a printout of their bank bank balance, if identity theft scams are not already in action there they soon will be,

Before i was issued with a 5 day visa i had to hand write a promise on A4 not to travel outside of beijing or attempt to enter another province, as i understand it these problems are only when applying in bangkok and i have no idea of the reason for this but its a complete turn around to how the system worked in previous years.

BTW i,m not a newbie in regards to acquiring a visa for china, i used to live and own a shop in yunnan.

In Kunming?

[laowai1960]

I got a Chinese visa today in Hong Kong. Even though I spent the past 6 weeks in Thailand, I didn't bother trying (and never would) to get a visa in bangkok.

I flew out of Bangkok at 4:20 pm on Sunday August 18, and arrived in Hong Kong at 8:00 pm (there's a one hour time difference).

I caught the A21 bus from Hong Kong Airport to Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui at a cost of HKD33.00 (B134.00).

In Hong Kong I stayed at Wing Tai Guest House, Mirador Mansion in a twin room (2 single beds - the room is bigger than a double room)) at a cost of HKD300.00 (B1,225.00) per night for 2 nights.

I went to the office of a Chinese visa agent at 9:00 am yesterday, Monday August 19. I filled out a visa application form and gave them a passport-size photo. No other documents needed.

I collected my passport with a 30 day 'F' (business) visa at midday today. It cost HKD650.00 (B2,600.00). Had I chosen the 4 day service, the cost would have been HKD350.00 (B1,430.00) but the expense of 3 additional nights in Hong Kong far outweighs the extra cost of the express visa service.

At 1:00 pm today, I caught a train to Lok Ma Chau border crossing at a cost of HKD39.00 (B160.00). One of the many entrances to the train station is next to Mirador mansion. The train journey took 40 minutes and getting through Hong Kong immigration took 5 minutes. It took 10 minutes to walk to the China immigration checkpoint and then 15 minutes to get through China immigration.

I then caught the subway train to Shenzhen airport at a cost of RMB8.00 (B41.00).

There are lots of cheap flights from Shenzhen to virtually anywhere in China.

[MeowBundit]

"Would you prefer that I didn't visit China and medically assist young Chinese children? Would you prefer that I didn't share my expertise with Chinese medicos? Is that what you want?"

-----

No, they just want to see you not some other foreigner, who want to work illegally in the country. The same way I can blame them "When I visit China, a lot of restaurants, hotels, airlines and some nice Hubei girls will be happy much to see me!".

So, you can give them proof of funds and they happy. Nothing much difficult.

A lot of tourists frustrated same way. They even not ask how much they must to have... I can tell, just $100 per day.

I forget my passbook first time, then come back once more with it and apply without problems.

[tingtongfarang]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

would you mind to elaborate further ?

what sort of Visa did you apply for ? how many entries ? how many days ? did you get exactly what you were applying for ?

what tickets did they want to see ? ticket to China and onward ticket ?

what hotel bookings did they want to see ? only for the first day / the first few days / your entire stay ?

I think this would be very helpful to all future Visa-applicants travelling to China, thank you for your time

Application form, proof of bank balance, air tickets, hotel bookings, invitation letter, travel itinerary, colour of your underwear,, ect I feel sure that the internet cafe down the road has a booming biz with the people running out to go online for a printout of their bank bank balance, if identity theft scams are not already in action there they soon will be,

Before i was issued with a 5 day visa i had to hand write a promise on A4 not to travel outside of beijing or attempt to enter another province, as i understand it these problems are only when applying in bangkok and i have no idea of the reason for this but its a complete turn around to how the system worked in previous years.

BTW i,m not a newbie in regards to acquiring a visa for china, i used to live and own a shop in yunnan.

In Kunming?

shuhe...ladies clothes and jewlery... very baanok very lucrative at the time,

infact one of the many places which claim to to be some kind of utopia, although everything around was 200 years old or more the infrastructure was light years ahead of thailand. when my rental contract was over after 4 years and the big money came from shanghai my landlord offered a rent increase of 400% they did,nt see my ass for dust, although i admit the origianal contract for the shop with appartment above was only 6000bht per year,

The ganga mafia roamed the streets from morning till night fall, but in reality in those days i slowly went downhill because of lack of western contact around me, strange feeling being the only laow wai around,

nice feeling to walk around in a tshirt allday with snow covered mountains around along with eternal spring all year round,

the memories are good albiet a little hazy.

Edited August 20, 2013 by tingtongfarang

[PoodMaiDai]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

Did you need to show proof of health insurance?

My last trip to China they didn't ask for anything at all, but that was a couple of years ago.

[siam2007]

I got a Chinese visa today in Hong Kong. Even though I spent the past 6 weeks in Thailand, I didn't bother trying (and never would) to get a visa in bangkok.

I flew out of Bangkok at 4:20 pm on Sunday August 18, and arrived in Hong Kong at 8:00 pm (there's a one hour time difference).

I caught the A21 bus from Hong Kong Airport to Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui at a cost of HKD33.00 (B134.00).

In Hong Kong I stayed at Wing Tai Guest House, Mirador Mansion in a twin room (2 single beds - the room is bigger than a double room)) at a cost of HKD300.00 (B1,225.00) per night for 2 nights.

I went to the office of a Chinese visa agent at 9:00 am yesterday, Monday August 19. I filled out a visa application form and gave them a passport-size photo. No other documents needed.

I collected my passport with a 30 day 'F' (business) visa at midday today. It cost HKD650.00 (B2,600.00). Had I chosen the 4 day service, the cost would have been HKD350.00 (B1,430.00) but the expense of 3 additional nights in Hong Kong far outweighs the extra cost of the express visa service.

At 1:00 pm today, I caught a train to Lok Ma Chau border crossing at a cost of HKD39.00 (B160.00). One of the many entrances to the train station is next to Mirador mansion. The train journey took 40 minutes and getting through Hong Kong immigration took 5 minutes. It took 10 minutes to walk to the China immigration checkpoint and then 15 minutes to get through China immigration.

I then caught the subway train to Shenzhen airport at a cost of RMB8.00 (B41.00).

There are lots of cheap flights from Shenzhen to virtually anywhere in China.

thanks for sharing your recent experiences & good to hear HKG still seems to be okay.I have never applied for a Visa in HKG via an agent, but did so many times in Macau, where I went to the China Visa office (part of CTS) in person.

The Visa fees always increased every time I went there, but at least I was given the Visa I wanted.

2 months ago or so I emailed a reputable big HKG Visa agency and asked about mutliple F-Visas. Indeed the requirements were now a lot higher and not possible for me to fulfill. But a single or maybe even double entry of 30 days each seems to be still easy to come by in HKG or Macau.

When applying for a Visa in Thailand, I always did that in CM. I went to the China embassy in BKK once and found it very intimidating, disorganized and unpleasant, so I waited for my next trip to CM and applied there successfully without any problems.

[paquito]

This morning I picked up my passport with a 30 day L visa (tourist) at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok.

Last week Friday, I applied and had a one-way ticket to Chengdu, the first two nights accommodation booked, just the name and contract number of my health insurance, no copy thereof, and a bank statement showing more than sufficient funds. Plus a letter explaining that I try to avoid flying and that I would leave for Vietnam over land, plus the vague itinerary in western China. I also don't work so I checked 'other' under occupation and explaned that I manage my own means.

I was told that I would need to write a letter 'certifying' myself that I live off my own means. It would need to look formal. Right, took 15 minutes tow write up and format on the laptop.

I was also told to bring hotel reservations for the whole trip. So I made some sort of detailed plan (which I won't really be able to follow exactly - I like to be more flexible so I made sure I had bookings that didn't require to give a credit card deposit) complete with hotel bookings all leading to the Vietnamese border. Still, the plan is to leave for Vietnam after 30 days.

By then it was too late on Friday and I had to come back Monday to hand in the application.

The lady first said I would have to talk to her boss and she couldn't be sure if I would get a visa. Then she obviously reconsidered and just gave me the slip with which I picked up the visa today at a cost of 1100 Baht.

I plan to travel by train all the way through China (from Saigon to Ulan Bator) next year, so I wanted to test if it works. Otherwise it would have been easy enough to have the return flight booked, which was the main thing they worried about...

BTW, I'm a German national and have been to China on tourist visas 4 times in the last 15 years, but the last visit was in 2008, so I couldn't produce the previous visa.

Also, here are photos of what's posted at the embassy, nothing that isn't on their website either:

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc254/frankinasia/random%20images/Linked%20images/2013_08_22_09_26_02_Bangkok_zps8b188243.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc254/frankinasia/random%20images/Linked%20images/2013_08_22_09_26_18_Bangkok_zps550838a9.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc254/frankinasia/random%20images/Linked%20images/2013_08_22_09_26_32_Bangkok_zps12b4a518.jpg

I hope that helps

[fvw53]

For residents like me with an extension based on marriage, my Thai extension was not a sufficient proof of income...indeed such extension requires prove of income (my pension is paid by my EU government on an account in the home country)

Since 25 years I transfer money to the joint account of my (Thai) wife and myself and for extension I produced certificates of sufficient income issued by my government and certified at my embassy in BKK

...however I was refused a visa because they here in BKK they want to see "bank book" which I did not have and in the end I did not go the China where I lived 6 years (long time ago) and where I have visited friends every years the last 25 years.

It has to be said that "visa" is not a right but a "favour" so that the Chinese authorities do what they want

[linglop]

Forms A and B are no longer valid. New form V2013 is applicable to both Thais and foreigners.

Three hour wait to submit application on Tuesday 5th November.

Signs on walls still mention forms A and B so correct documentation still a mystery. Best stock up on the following:

Passport

Photo

Form V2013

Return air ticket

Copy of last chinese visa, if any

Bank statement/copy of savings account book

Hotel booking [or invitation to stay supported by chinese national's id card]

If on retirement visa in Thailand, copy of retirement visa and re-entry visa

Copy of id page in passport

Seems the embassy less strict than earlier in the year for issuing a visa for a trip from Hong Kong to Shenzhen

Cashier opens at 0900 hours and shuts down around 12 noon - this applies to paying for and picking up the visa on the third day

[topt]

People may want to be aware that new Business Visas are no longer designated with an F - it has been changed to an M.

F still exists but it is for other reasons.

A story for interest -

Even in Hong Kong it is apparently still difficult to get multi entry business visas for China even if you had them previously. A friend of mine (UK national)who has been here 15 years (and yes uses F type which he should not have) had to send his passport to HK to an agency which said they could get him a 1 year Multi entry business visa with a 90 day validity - cost 6,700 RMB (about 34,000 baht!) but they needed his passport for 25 days. When he got it back he found the visa was issued in LA....

The same visa from the China London visa centre (but only 30 days at a time) takes 3 days on Express and costs about 12,000 baht.

[bangkokrick]

Getting Chinese visa's is becoming more difficult, more documents each.

Recently obtained a vis in Chiang Mai, need tickets, hotel reseravations etc

Did you need to show proof of health insurance?

My last trip to China they didn't ask for anything at all, but that was a couple of years ago.

I applied for a Chinese Business visa in the UK and they wanted proof of health insurance. I would not waste my time trying for any type of Chinese visa in Bangkok because i suffered a similar fate to the OP. get the visa in your own Country.

[Arkady]

Went to apply for a Chinese visa last month in Bkk, having last done so in 2008 when it was a breeze. I don't think they wanted anything then apart from the application form, a photograph and, of course, the money. I can't remember be asked for a copy of travel ticket or hotel reservation but it is possible they did. Previously the only problem I had encountered was in trying to use a second passport that didn't have a Thai entry stamp in it to prove legal entry to the Kingdom.

This time things were very different. My wife and I waited for over 3 hours in the queue and began to realise something had changed when we noticed farang after farang having loud slanging matches at the counters. We found a list of required documents on the notice board that suggested we didn't have enough documents but decided to wait for our number, since we had already waited for such a long time. At the counter the Thai staffer declared both applications incomplete and handed us a list of required documents that was slightly different from the list on the notice board (later I found a third slightly different list of docs on the embassy's Thai website). She ticked the docs she wanted us to bring very imprecisely, so that on later examination it was impossible to tell which box had been ticked on some items, as the ticks fell between two boxes. For those working in Thailand one of the docs requested was a company licence which in Thailand is something only applicable in certain sectors. Schools, banks, insurance companies etc have licences, as do alien businesses but companies doing business outside these specialised sectors do not. (The notice in Thai on the notice board also said company licence which made no sense.) I tried to clarify this point with the Thai staffer in Thai in order to understand what company document was required (I assumed it was a company affidavit and probably a copy of the corporate registration certificate) but she just got angry and confirmed that I had to bring the company licence, if I was doing my own business, which made little sense but probably means that the company affidavit and corporate registration certificate are needed if you have your own business. From talking to others it seems that a company letter confirming employment is necessary for others. I also asked what was the case for retired foreigners living in Thailand and she at first said that a letter from your embassy was required to verify your retired status, although how they are supposed to know that was not made clear. Being a permanent resident of Thailand I then asked whether PR docs would be sufficient without the embassy certification. She replied that I should bring the PR docs as well as the embassy letter. Then my wife asked about the case of unemployed Thais and was told they only need to bring a bank statement.

We were thoroughly confused by all this conflicting information but, given the time constraints our lack of time before the trip and the lack of clarity provided over company docs we decided it was expedient for us to retire and become unemployed respectively. We went back the next day and got the visas on that basis. My PR docs and bank statement were accepted as adequate for a retired person without the embassy letter and my wife only needed a bank statement to support her uenemployed status. Fortunately they didn't demand certified translations into English or Chinese of the Thai documents, as we feared, but the Thai staffers can hardly speak English and I don't know if they can speak Chinese or not.

I still don't know what embassies can do to certify retired status. They can certify retirement income, if you have one from your home country, but can't do anything for those who don't and get retirement extensions based on a lump sum. As other posters have pointed out, it is the kiss of death to admit you are going on a business trip or to attend a conference. I felt very sorry for the many farangs who were obviously tourists in Thailand with onward trips booked and paid for to China, as used to be possible, but who were getting denied because they had no means of obtaining the requisite documents. Americans should be aware that they pay a special price based on the cost that Chinese have to pay for US visas, which is currently B4,750, compared to B1,100 for other nationalities for a single entry tourist visa. The good news is that this is same price for a 1 year visa for all nationalities. So Americans should apply for a 1 year visa, if there is any chance they might go back within a year.

Another unpleasant aspect of the process is the travel agents who are obviously queue jumping by arrangement. One of them came into the hall clearly touting for business with the Tha applicants offering to get them up to the front quickly. Later on someone told me they had paid a travel agent in the street below B1,000 and got up to the window within 15 minutes. Of course, it is up to China what visa requirements they choose to impose but making the requirements abundantly clear and consistent and widely announcing any changes well in advance of implementation seems like something they might want to adopt. As for the alleged payments for queue jumping......

[masuk]

Does anyone have information of how to get from Macau to Shenzhen and on to Guangzhou?

I plan to fly AirAsia from Chiang Mai, overnight in Macau and then ferry/train to Shenzhen.

[hermespan]

What I would like to know is WHY China (and USA, and India, and...) are so much stricter than in 1989. Terrorism risk? Political conflict with the government that issued the passport of the traveller? Xenophobia? Unemployment?

In the 90s international travel was much easier. I don't believe it can all be blamed on 9-11. I think there are more sinister forces at work. The rulers of this planet don't want us to have the freedom to travel.

[fvw53]

India is planning to relax visa regulations (even visa upon arrival for certain countries)

China is very sensitive about the visa restrictions and difficulties imposed by certain countries on its citizens and since 18 months China seems to apply to rule of "reciprocity"

I regret deeply that with the new restrictions imposed by the Embassy in BKK I can no longer make short visits to China - which I did during the last 30 years - but we must always keep in mlnd that a visa is not a "right" but a "favour" granted by a country.