heraclitus

Thanks for the currency advice and the heads-up re: visa at Luohu.

Yes, I'm Canadian... I was only planning to go for the day to wander around Shenzhen for the day as part of our HK vacation, maybe shop and check out an attraction or two. I was prepared to pay around C$150 for me, my wife and son under the old going rate, but if it's now US$100 a head that more than doubles the cost. I'm not so sure I'm going to do it anymore... maybe I'll just spend an extra day in Macau instead. I'll look into it!

HKtraveller

Pacific Exchange upstairs has better rates. They offer among the best rates fo all currencies except CNY (Cleverly Street, Sheung Wan) and IDR(Chandra Exchange, Sugar Street Causeway Bay) .

jerrywu

Chinese Embassy charges US$140 for US Passport, and US$90 for other nationalities.

moondog

There isn't a Chinese embassy at luohu, and Americans can't get visas there anyway. Canadians can, but $90 for a 5-day visa that is only valid in a small area seems kind of silly to me.

heraclitus

So $90 USD for the 5-day visa, this is confirmed? Yikes. I only wanted to go for a day trip to SZ with the wife + child... I might rethink that now.

moondog

Not confirmed by me fwiw.

heraclitus

Fair enough... I'd be grateful for any details anyone can provide as it would affect my trip plans if it's true! Seems like a steep price for a 5-day visa.

islandcub1

In vague reverse order of the questions I remember (too lazy to click back and take notes ):

Shenzen visa: available on arrival for Canadians at Lo Wu (might also be available at Huanggong, and Shekou). HK$150/person (around CA$24), good for 5 days. The price quoted above is for a regular Chinese visa; the Shenzen visa limits travel to the Shenzen Special Economic Zone.

Money changing: my friend brought US currency with him as he has a USD bank account and the HK dollar is pegged to the US dollar. Walking around, we found the best rates at the currency exchange booths outside the Wan Chai MTR station (as much as 7.7 to 1 and no extra charges, when the bulk rate (only available to people trading massive amounts of money, like banks and governments) is about 7.75 to 1. The more touristy the area, the worse the rates will be. Using ATMs you'll be hit with the PLUS or CIRRUS ATM fee, unless you have an account at Citibank or HKSB. Using credit cards you'll be hit with a foreign currency exchange fee, unless you're lucky and have a fee-free credit card.

889

Is that HK$150 based on visit to Luohu since March 9?

The concern is that visa fees for Canadians were changed to CND100 "no matter what type of visa" on that date, when the new 10-year visas were introduced. In the case of at least some other nationalities, the Shenzhen fee tracks the standard visa fee.

https://www.visaforchina.org/YVR_EN/...s/276232.shtml

islandcub1

From reading the website, those appear to be for long term visas which have to be applied for in advance. There are dozens of different Chinese visas, reflecting the purpose of your visit, the length of you visit, and where you want to go, and pricing varies depending on the nationality of the person applying. The information I provided is based on a web search, with an idea of which sites are generally reliable and which ones aren't.

Also: logic. If the 3 day transit visas, the 5 day Shenzen visas, and the various 10 year regular visas were all the same price, nobody in their right mind would ever apply for the shorter duration visas, unless they were stuck.

moondog

US citizens have paid the same price for all PRC visas for the past 5 years (10 years for most useful visas; the outliers were varieties like exit visas and VOA), so it's not especially hard to fathom Canadian citizens now being subjected to the same principle.

Do you have any evidence proving border visas for Canadians were exempted from the March 9 price standardization?

889

The fee for Americans at Luohu is indeed 967RMB:

http://welcometochina.com.au/hot-tip...ewal-2047.html

(In general, Americans can't get the Luohu visa, but apparently there are a few exceptions for Huaqiao and such, thus the fee listing.)

If I were a Canadian, I would not head to Luohu until someone posts a current price list. The whole point of the 10-year visa for Canadians is to pretty much track the American treatment.

"From reading the website, those appear to be for long term visas which have to be applied for in advance. There are dozens of different Chinese visas, reflecting the purpose of your visit, the length of you visit, and where you want to go, and pricing varies depending on the nationality of the person applying."

I think it's reasonable, though admittedly not absolutely certain, that "no matter what type of visa" means no matter what type of visa. And of course, this is all about Canadians, not other nationalities.

islandcub1

The only absolutely certain answer would be to go to the border and find out, as even Chinese embassies have been known to give conflicting answers (not actually that surprising. Anything else is just argument for the sake of argument, since we're the website is not actually clear. Do they mean visas that can be applied for through the Chinese Visa Application Service Center, since in the same sentence they talk about their fees?

moondog

Once you show up at the border, you're already committed to crossing it (because you've already left hk).

islandcub1

This is true. Although I suspect that there is some way to go back if you're turned away at the border, I definitely can't guarantee that you won't be thrown into some sort of immigration holding cell for refusing to pay the fee. We may have to wait for a traveller to actually make the trip, pay, and then report back to know for sure.