Originally Posted by
RichardInSF
US and British citizens are never eligible for visa on arrival as far as I know. Be nice if the new agreement between the US and China does actually grant folks from the US a 10 year, multiple entry visa, as advertised.
1. US citizens have been eligible for VOA at various times in the past, and I wouldn't be surprised to see periodic recurrences. However, the fee has always been the same as full blown visa (not the case with other nationalities and VOA), which makes getting a border visa a pretty dumb idea in most cases.
2. The 10-year visas are the real deal. Some people are skeptical about the staying power of this policy, but I'm confident that they're here to stay (the US awarding 10 year visas to PRC nationals was a very big deal... unprecedented, even... and the state department shows no signs of retracting the offer).