iahphx

I need to get tourist visas for my family for August travel. I've always done this myself, by showing up at a Chinese embassy or consulate in various US cities when I happen to be there. If my memory is correct, I've typically gotten a money order for the right amount and dropped off a "next day air" envelope for the consulate to ship the passports back to me.

I'm going to be in DC in a couple of weeks and planned to apply there. But, looking at their not-very-clear website, it looks like things have changed. First, they seem to want to be paid by credit card. That's certainly a good thing! Second -- and not so good -- they don't seem to want to mail the passports back to me.

Can anyone who's recently applied -- especially in DC -- shed light on what's going on these days? If I can wait a day, can I get my passport back, or is processing slower than that? And how slow is it? Am I allowed to rope a colleague or family member into picking up the passports (and mailing them back to me) -- or can I cajole the Embassy into doing it for me despite the supposed prohibition? Finally, is there an easier way to do this, if I don't want to spend a lot of money on a passport service (there are 4 of us, so it's usually "real money" to use a service)?

I'm also assuming that the maximum validity for a visa is still under a year (so that I'll have to do this nonsense again if, say, I want to visit next year).

Thanks for the help!