FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - China Visa at Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico
Old Jul 1, 2008, 5:13 am
  #3  
jesus4jets
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: NYC/NBO/SAN
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 300
yes you can get it same day (1 hour, ime). I've done it 3 times. Multi-entry was more stingy than LA (when LA was offering 1 year TJ was doing 3 months), but no experience since China cracked down on visas.

The important thing to do is call the day before. They are erratic with days they are in the office.

If I didn't have mexican insurance and SENTRI, i would take a cab to the consulate and park on the US side of the border, gas prices included. Finding it is a little tricky and the return trip can have very long lines, especially if you don't get in the right one (out of the 24 lanes to san ysidro, only 4 feed into the most well marked path). Cabs are reported to be $5-$20 but i have no personal experience as i drive.

You must go in the morning. Sometimes they tell you to come back in 45 minutes: other times its after lunch. You can walk down the hill and eat near Agua Caliente if you have time to burn.

Now, you pay full US visa fee AND expedite fee.

Last time I got a visa (nov) was 3 hours, 5 minutes from La Jolla door to door. Beats driving to LA, but i've done it before, had my own car and sentri, etc. Still, more interesting and probably a little faster if using the park/taxicab option.

PS: you must pay in American dollars. The visa lady is a little quirky. Despite my Chinese being much better than my Spanish, she asked to habla espanol. She asked my wife (not me, i guess she trusts women more) to watch over the consulate while she went to Gigante to pick up some things. I was tempted to start playing the grand piano in the "living room" below, but resisted, and learned new spanish vocab from the pamphlets they had about Falong Gong (muy malo, apparently)
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