Asia - Expedited Chinese visa?

I did a search but couldn't find anything... Years back, I needed a Chinese visa and got 48 hour service through an expediter that's sadly no longer around. Does anyone have a service they can recommend based upon personal experience? I may have a somewhat short notice trip coming up in the next few months and will likely have 3-4 business days leadtime between E-mail and butt in seat. I'm not thrilled about playing 'russian roulette' with my passport so a known quantity would be a great help.

YGPM with a few suggestions.

This may not work for many, but I find that personally popping into the Chinese consulates/embassies and getting same day visas comes with far more certainty than any visa service I've used repeatedly for Chinese visas in the US. For Chinese visas, personally stopping by the Chinese consulate/embassy when outside of the US seems to work better than most anything other than getting it done in HKG. This way, done outside of the US (excluding HKG), getting the visa often takes no more than 45 minutes from entering the Chinese consulate/embassy to leaving there with passport and newly issued Chinese visa.

Years back, I needed a Chinese visa and got 48 hour service through an expediter that's sadly no longer around.

Prior to my most recent visa renewal 2 months ago, I once again turned to google to shop for an agent. To my chagrin, the fees such agencies charge have gone up across the board. Perhaps more troublingly, none of the agents I called were willing to process 2-year visas (though at least one FTer has used an agent to get a 2-year visa recently).

So, I blocked a day to get a visa at the Chinese consulate in Washington DC. They offer same day service for a fee, but I opted for the mailback service, which worked just fine. I don't know of any ways for Americans to get 2-year visas issued outside of the US.

IMO, 2-year visas are worth the extra hassel because, aside from the convenience factor, if you have one, next time around when they start issuing even better visas, you'll be qualified to get one.

A word of warning, many consulates in the US will try to slap you with a 30-day stay limit by default. Getting this changed is annoying (a colleague of mine just got his stay limit changed to 1-year here in Beijing; for this he paid $400 and only one of the dozens of agents we contacted was capabable of getting the job done). Therefore, whether you apply in person or through an agency, I suggest preparing a valid reason for needing to stay more than 30 days at a clip. I know the DC and LA consulate people will go as high as 120 days without giving much pushback; the current maximum on F visas is 1-year.

I had a similar problem. Lots of helpful info. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=475897

Even with all the help, I just didn't feel comfortable leaving the US without the Chinese visa. I used an agency in Los Angeles. Made all the arrangements in advance-phone, email and Overnight Mail. Flew PHX/LAX, rented a car at LAX, drove like a mad person to Alhambra and back to LAX with passport and visa in hand. Service by this guy, who is Chinese, was absolutely great. Timely Visa, Inc.

http://www.timelyvisa.com/

If you're not anticipating repeated trips and a 30 day stay is enough, you could consider getting a tourist visa now. They are now good for 6 months from the date of application.

I agree with KweezyFlyer and you can always pop into a chinese consulate for a same day visa (you must go early in the morning)
its fairly easy and reliably quick.

You can also ask a friend to drop it off and pick it up for you.
I've done that for my friends.

I did a search but couldn't find anything... Years back, I needed a Chinese visa and got 48 hour service through an expediter that's sadly no longer around. Does anyone have a service they can recommend based upon personal experience? I may have a somewhat short notice trip coming up in the next few months and will likely have 3-4 business days leadtime between E-mail and butt in seat. I'm not thrilled about playing 'russian roulette' with my passport so a known quantity would be a great help.

My company uses Expert Visa (http://www.expertvisa.com/) for expediting Chinese visa's. I shipped my passport and visa request on the Friday before Memorial weekend and it was returned the following Thursday. I selected 48hour processing. They have a 24hr, 48hr, 72hr, and standard processing option.

Same day consulate service is what I've generally used in the past. Quick, easy and you are only without your passport for a few hours. Of course, you need to be reasonable close to a consulate for this to work. I usually just combine it with a day of business in YVR.

I know the DC and LA consulate people will go as high as 120 days without giving much pushback; the current maximum on F visas is 1-year.

I think you mentioned in one post that if you ask to leave the # of days as
blank the consulate may do this and that would give you 730 days. And you had seen this done before.

Will try this in LA on my next visa request. Maybe by then...next year they will
have higher than 2 year!

I think you mentioned in one post that if you ask to leave the # of days as
blank the consulate may do this and that would give you 730 days. And you had seen this done before.

Will try this in LA on my next visa request. Maybe by then...next year they will
have higher than 2 year!

yeah, i did mention that before. but, in the post above, i was merely passing on info from the visa specialists i spoke with here. maybe they don't leave it blank any more with the 2-year visas. or maybe they do. in any event, i'll let y'all know what my colleague's amended visa looks like when he gets his passport back on monday.

edited for clarification: "leaving the field in question blank" on a 1-year visa (like i've seen in the past) amounts to a maximum stay of 1-year. i've never heard of anyone getting a blank days/stay field on a 2+ year F visa. the visa agent people i spoke with recently seem to think this isn't possible. that said, 2-year F visas are not common in beijing; when told about my colleague's problem, all but one agent wanted to replace his 2-year F with a unlimited days/stay 1-year F. we ended up going with the agent who offered the better solution, but we're still awaiting her "results." (incidentally, when i told the other agents about her services, almost all told me that what she had promised, was "impossible". however, during our phone calls and single face-to-face meeting, she seemed quite confident in her abilities, so we enlisted her.