Visa's for China
 

I was looking on Delta.com for info regarding required travel documents for China, as I am planning on taking my 14 year old grand daughter there for a visit this summer. The only reference to a visa is when traveling in a group and the travel agent must arrange the visas. So what is the scoop, we are planning on flying in PEK and spending about a week. Do we or do we not need visas (both of us are US citizens traveling on U. S. passports). Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Yes, you will need a visa. Check the website for the Chinese Embassy in the US. (Info on Delta site at http://www.visacenter.com/home.aspx?..._content=visit )

You will want to check whether you need a letter from your grandchild's parents to travel. Some countries require this; I don't know about China

Yes, you both do. All US citizens need Chinese visa regardless of length of stay. A travel agent does not HAVE to do it; when I went my friend's dad took both of our passports to Chinese consulate in Houston and had it done there (we were not present). Cost ~$140 each due to reciprocal fees.

This is not specifically related to DL so I expect it will be moved.

Yes visa is required. You will need to either go to a Chinese consulate in person or use a visa service. I have used www.mychinesevisa.com and they were very quick and efficient.

You can use the form at the bottom of this page to check visa requirements. Simply fill in your destination country or countries.
http://www.delta.com/planning_reserv...tion/index.jsp


While true in most practices, passengers with US and other passports arriving in Shanghai via air can visit the city for 48 hours without a visa.
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/t84242.htm

I used http://www.uschinavisa.com/ recently for a trip to PEK. I paid for a single visit visa and they gave me a multi-visit one year visa at no extra cost. Prices are good as well.

Their trip must have been considered TRANSIT. There are now good possibilities for visa-free transit at major Chinese airports. The rules are different, for example, for PEK vs PVG. However, AFAIK just going to China and back, even for a short stay, does not qualify as one must be transiting to a third country. YMMV but I would never risk trying to get around the visa rules in this situation.

Consider the threads "REALLY, Delta.dumb?" or "Why has it crashed ... NO seats out of JFK all month?!" etc ad nauseam re. their ability to sell a seat on their own plane ..... and then wonder if it is not the ideal location to get advice on Chinese visas :D

Sounds like an awesome trip though ... you're a nice grandpa ... have fun!

Good point - thanks for clarifying. I too would not want to risk it as deportation would really stink.

I have used travisa.com for both India and China visas. Very nice web interface and it shows status of application etc.

You definitely need a visa as others have pointed out. I get one every year for work. It's easy to get through a visa agency. I would advise you get the multiple entry visa even if it's more $. It's valid for a year and will guard against unplanned stops in China. An example would be if your flight from a Chinese airport is canceled for some reason and you have to reenter the country. You don't want to have used your single entry for a misconnect that falls short of your destination. Also, make sure you have at least 6 months remaining on your passport from the time the visa will expire. Otherwise they won't grant you one.

YOU Don't need to be at consulate in person, you just need to find someone(friend, relatives, agents) to submit for you

I took advantage of the visa-free transit in PVG last year to do a quick visit to see the expo. I flew NRT-PVG-ICN with 47:15 minutes on the ground in PVG. In the end it worked, but I had to convince the agent in NRT to issue my BP (she had to carefully read the exceptions), and I had to wait at immigration in PVG for about an hour while they verified my outbound flight (no idea why it took so long).

Chinese Visas
 

Thanks for all the information, I really do appreciate it.

The rule is that you are not required to obtain a visa only if you are transiting through a mainland Chinese airport to another international destination, you do not leave the airport, and you are there for less than 24 hrs.

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/t84242.htm

Before I had a Chinese visa, I transited through CAN on my way to TPE. Technically didn't require a visa but still got held up at immigration even though I showed them their own rules.

Of course, the rules were in English, not Chinese, so they had no idea what they were reading. :D

[QUOTE=mike_plat;15639433I would advise you get the multiple entry visa even if it's more $. It's valid for a year and will guard against unplanned stops in China.[/QUOTE]

I just picked up my Chinese visa from the consulate in Chicago yesterday. For US citizens, the cost for a multiple-entry visa is the same as a single-entry visa. The only added costs are the costs for mailing or for expedited service (I flew up to Chicago over my weekend and needed my visa quickly, and so spent the extra $30 for same/next-day processing). As long as you follow the directions on the visa applications—something that most people applying for the visas apparently failed to do—the process is fairly easy, even though the lines are long.