moondog

I'm still waiting for an FTer to try to swing the 7 day visa on arrival in Dalian for $10; would be neat to know how well this works in practice.

jiejie

I assume you are incoming international and outgoing internationa. 22 hours is less than 24 hours. You may avail yourself of visa-free transit (VFT). Both PEK T2 and T3 have "international transit" dedicated desks where you show your onward international itinerary. After you pass this point, you can leave the airport and do what you want until you need to return. It's really that simple.

There's a lot of disbelief that the authoritarian Chinese would allow VFT, and in fact, it's only been in VERY recent years that it's been allowed. But it makes sense. Essentially, money is at the root of the issue. In particular, the Chinese airlines benefit from international pass-through passenger traffic that would previously have routed through Japan, Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong...on other airlines. Also, since the VFT thing started, there has not been a rash of problems caused by marauding foreigners on short layovers, tearing up the cities! The segment of the VFT foreigner traffic that has long enough layovers to see something of the sights, eat, take local transport, maybe a hotel night--is spending incremental cash that the Chinese are happy to take--it's quite low risk for them and so far, I haven't heard of a lot of attempted abuse of the VFT privilege by foreigners. In fact, rumor has it some officials want to expand the time period from 24 to 48 or 72 hours everywhere...but don't hold your breath on that one.

jiejie

There are some limits to this though:
--be in transit (so it's essentially a Transit Visa on Arrival)...it's just a l-o-o-ong transit!
--have to have the confirmed onward tickets
--can't be travelling on HK or Macau documents
--can't be a holder of the following passports: Afghanistan, France, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United States

Now there's an interesting list of exceptions!

I have a feeling this Dalian thing--which is somewhat of an anomaly--was a political goodie cooked up with the benefit of the South Korean investors and businesspeople in mind. But it would be nice for someone to offer up themselves as a guinea pig.

moondog

Based on that wording, it appears that there is no stipulation that the traveler depart from Dalian or by air. Still, if I were try this (very unlikely since my visa status is usually current), I would probably buy a refundable ticket from Dalian to show the visa people at the airport (which I may or may not use). DLC-ICN is a relatively cheap ticket any way.

trooper

THANKYOU!!!!

It isn't the visa fee I'm annoyed by.. it is the 4-page document one has to fill out..AND add a passport photo as well... Jeez...

As it now appears we can avoid that...

jiejie

There isn't any specific wording about leaving Dalian by air, so presumably you can leave from elsewhere. Certainly the regular transit visas (which this Dalian animal most closely resembles and probably is indeed a G category) allowed entry and exit by different points and different means.

If you are traveling on a USA passport, you aren't eligible for this (refer back to my previous post on exceptions.) So please, don't try it unless you can use a different country's passport! I'd try it myself but I've got the same problem. Perhaps we can find a sacrificial Canadian or Brit to try for us.

jiejie

The only Chinese visa applications I've seen are two pages.

moondog

And you only have to submit one of those pages to the visa people.

moondog

I can understand why US passports are on the list of exclusions (they are determined to squeeze $140 out of us for reciprocity reasons; we don't like this policy, but that's just the way the ball bounces). And, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc make sense as well... but, France is perplexing to me.

BTW, for those that aren't aware, there are numerous (significantly more destinations than PEK, believe it or not) flights between Dalian Japan/Korea.

Taiwaned

This changed on Feb 18, 2011. Its now 4 pages and if you are applying for a visa from a country that is not your own, it becomes 6 pages.

On March 1, 2011, the new "rules" for the time being came into effect.

Our VISA consultant says this is hopefully temporary but due to the political unrest in the world.

jiejie

Can you mention (or PM if you prefer) your visa consultant and location? And if you know of a downloadable version of this new 4-page form, link? My usual visa agent in home country (USA) still has the 2-page form up, which is odd since they are normally extremely up to the minute on this stuff. This issue will be front and center for me in the next few months.

ETA: I may have just found the answer. My agent is Houston-based and uses that Consulate, which has apparently not adopted the new 4-page form. So for now, the 2-page one is still in effect if applying through Houston. I presume this is subject to change, though.

tauphi

If you have HK/Macau documents, then you can usually enter mainland China at will.

Taiwaned

Sorry, for the delay. I see you got the answer already.

My wife's consultant is in Tokyo, her home country is Japan. I am Canadian, we both used him when we both needed to get new visa's in February. He was the one that explained this to us. Come to think about it, he did mention that new rules are implemented differently by consulate so he could not accurately advise me on what/when Vancouver was going to do.

jiejie

Usually, but this particular 7 day VOA in Dalian, use of those documents is specifically and explicitly excluded. That doesn't mean that HK/Macau document holders can't enter at Dalian, just that this particular vehicle isn't available them. As such people wouldn't need a 7-day (transit) visa on arrival in the first place, it seems a bit of regulation overkill on the part of the Chinese. Maybe the drafters of the regulation were getting paid by the word?

gatorjos

Well an earlier poster suggested the "diamond" stamp (it actually looks a lot like a hexagon to me) was at the discretion of the officer. If I can get it without fuss I will definitely go into town and check it out -- never been to China. The cancellation fee alone is $230,never mind booking a new ticket (at this point) two days out. I'm at peace with my mistake and can tough it out. It's just a little time

Great advice -- this forum delivers every time! ^