Originally Posted by
jeanie
Our agent in China tells me that it is very difficult to get a letter of invitation for a business visa, and she is asking me to go there on a business trip with a tourist visa. What are people's thoughts on that? It is a legitimate business trip. I work for a manufacturer of industrial equipment, and she is our only Chinese agent. She also says our customers would not be able to write an invitation letter that would be recognized by the Chinese Consulate, either.
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If your business activities are relatively low profile (small meetings, customer visits, and the like), then I would say doing it on a tourist visa is a pretty low-risk venture. It is rather frequently done by many, as is the reverse (doing tourist activities on a business visa). You might plan to sprinkle a few tourist sights into the mix during your time in China, for a little extra legitimacy in case anybody happens to be trying to keep track (unlikely).
I do find it curious that you cannot get a letter of invitation from your Chinese agent nor any customers, in order to get a business visa. The first thing that pops into my head is that your product is one that is sensitive or under some sort of foreign (i.e. USA) export or Chinese import control, and your agent/customers don't want to appear on any official radar. But maybe there could be other reasons. Is this a new agent for your company or did they issue LOI's for your previous Chinese business visa?