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-   -   M visa invitation letter for 10 year visa (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/china/1905632-m-visa-invitation-letter-10-year-visa.html)

te36 Apr 23, 2018 1:32 pm

M visa invitation letter for 10 year visa
 
Whats the experience as a US citizen to get a 10 year M (business visa) ?

The inviting companies bureaucracy seems to be able to only produce invitation letters that explicitly ask the consulate to provide a one year, multi-entry visa. That sounds to me like a recipe for not getting a 10 year visa.

The templates i have seen on the Internet for an invitation letter did not try to specify the length of the visa.

So i was wondering what others experience has been. If there is any evidence that its possible to have the consulate give a 10 year visa even if the invitation letter has explicit text saying 1 years, that would be lovely.

moondog Apr 23, 2018 5:31 pm

I used to always prepare my own letters for the inviter to chop. Ten years isn't a problem, but if you want more than 30 days per stay, you might need to settle for 2 years (at least if applying in DC).

synthkeys Apr 24, 2018 7:05 am

I'm a US citizen with 10 year multi-entry, 60 day stay, M Visa received in late 2015. Unfortunately I can't find the letter of invitation I used to obtain the visa. However, I remember explicitly writing 10 year on the visa application form. Where I wrote this, I do not recall.

Most of my US coworkers also received 10 year visa, all issued from PRC consulate in NY. Another coworker is a Canadian citizen, also received 10 year tourist visa. At this time, the hearsay was that 10 year visa was given pretty easily, sometimes without asking. I don't know if the situation has changed recently.

Unfortunately, I don't think the workers in the consulate will tell you what visa you will get. You typically find out when you pick up your passport.

moondog Apr 24, 2018 8:08 am


Originally Posted by synthkeys (Post 29677801)
I'm a US citizen with 10 year multi-entry, 60 day stay, M Visa received in late 2015. Unfortunately I can't find the letter of invitation I used to obtain the visa. However, I remember explicitly writing 10 year on the visa application form. Where I wrote this, I do not recall.

I forgot that 60 days per stay is the default; I wanted 90 or 120, and got the former last time around...before I bit the bullet and get a residence permit.

The invitation letter is really just a formality as long is contains the required information (and nothing more), is chopped, and issued by a real company (i.e. small consultancies often don't make the grade).

synthkeys Apr 24, 2018 9:02 am

I hear ya. With the way things have gone for me, I would prefer a longer stay since I spend a lot of time in PRC now. But I stay in Shenzhen so if I need to reset the clock a quick trip to HK will do that.

fumje Apr 24, 2018 10:07 am


Originally Posted by synthkeys (Post 29677801)
I'm a US citizen with 10 year multi-entry, 60 day stay, M Visa received in late 2015. Unfortunately I can't find the letter of invitation I used to obtain the visa. However, I remember explicitly writing 10 year on the visa application form. Where I wrote this, I do not recall.

Most of my US coworkers also received 10 year visa, all issued from PRC consulate in NY. Another coworker is a Canadian citizen, also received 10 year tourist visa. At this time, the hearsay was that 10 year visa was given pretty easily, sometimes without asking. I don't know if the situation has changed recently.

Unfortunately, I don't think the workers in the consulate will tell you what visa you will get. You typically find out when you pick up your passport.

There is a section with a checkbox list of different visa durations and number of entries (sth. like 6 mo 1 entry, 1 yr multi entry, etc.), and then an item at the end of the list with a blank line. It seems to work for writing in '10 year M visa' or the like.

I think I have also heard from one person who got a 10 year tourist visa without asking for it, but that was maybe three years ago.

Hoyaheel Apr 24, 2018 10:53 am

I tried twice in 2015 & 2016 to get a 10 yr M visa - moondog helped me write the invite letter! But apparently because I work for a University, they don't want me to have a 10 yr visa because I'm not really doing "business" or something like that. Once was DC consulate, once was san francisco I think (I used a visa service through work). Specifically NOT to attend a conference, either, to meet with colleagues in Chinese universities working on govt funded research.....We had language about how the project would last for a while and I'd be making multiple trips and everything....Ah well.

I figure for my next trip (sadly I haven't been working on any projects in China since 2016 :-( I'll just try for a 10 yr tourist visa because I want to go to Xi'an anyway....)

uanj Apr 24, 2018 11:14 am


Originally Posted by moondog (Post 29678043)
I forgot that 60 days per stay is the default; I wanted 90 or 120, and got the former last time around...before I bit the bullet and get a residence permit.

The invitation letter is really just a formality as long is contains the required information (and nothing more), is chopped, and issued by a real company (i.e. small consultancies often don't make the grade).

When I got my 10-year M visa, like you in Washington DC, I asked for 10 years and 90 days per stay. Since it was not my first visa with 90 day stays they said it would be OK if I could show them the earlier 90 day stay visa. Unfortunately it was in my old passport so in the end I only got 60 days because the China visa in my current passport was a Z visa and I did not have time to fetch the old one.

From what the consular employee told me last year, at that time no new 90 day visas were getting approved. But you would be grandfathered if you had had one before. The situation could well be different now, though.

te36 Apr 24, 2018 1:16 pm

Thanks folks.

So unless i see a better invitation letter mentioned here, i'll try to get my inviting company issue just an invitation saying

Invitation, dates of first business trip, indicate there will be repeated business trips in future, ask to have consulate give me multi-entry business visa. Do not have invitation letter indicate desired length/length per entry.

Then i'll put 60 days, 10 year onto my application and see what happens.

Going in person to the consulate actually did work well for me to figure out why i do only get a particular visa:

Had to get three visa last year (pre citizenship) and could only figure out what/how when i went to the consulate directly for second and third visa. First time travel agency i think just drops application and never asks when it gets visas back why the original request was modified, so they couldn't tell me.

Luckily china hasn't outsourced the user-interface for visas to some useless agency that can't tell you crap (like India).

synthkeys Apr 24, 2018 3:23 pm

I just found the pdf of my visa application from Late 2015. I used form V.2013 which I think is still the latest version of the form. In section 2.2 for Intended number of entries, I checked "Multiple entries valid for 1 year from the date of issue". There is no selection for 10 year, since I don't think it was finalized in 2013. Even though I checked 1 year, they gave me a 10 year. I've read (possibly on this forum) that others had checked the 'Other' choice and wrote in 10 year but that is hearsay on my part.

I am based in NY, so I just did the visa application myself at the consulate, though I did have the benefit of some coworkers who had been through the process before. It was pretty easy, I already had a photo since I had also renewed my passport just before getting the visa. I just went to the consulate on 42nd & 12th in the morning. Waited about 45 mins for my number to be called. I remember asking and paying for expedited service and they gave me a receipt to pick up the passport a few days later. There is a check box on the form (2.3) for express service.

When I got the passport back, saw that the visa was 10 year.

Hoyaheel Apr 24, 2018 4:02 pm

I absolutely wrote in 10 yr multiple entry in the "Other" line of the visa application.

It has been surmised (by Moondog and/or the visa svc guy I work with - I've worked with the same guy for a few years) that if I had gone to the DC consulate in person I *might* have been able to get the 10 yr. But I didn't (I'm in NC and it's not exactly next door...) so, c'est la vie. The project had to pay for multiple visas.....

moondog Apr 24, 2018 5:41 pm


Originally Posted by te36 (Post 29679201)
Thanks folks.

So unless i see a better invitation letter mentioned here, i'll try to get my inviting company issue just an invitation saying

Invitation, dates of first business trip, indicate there will be repeated business trips in future, ask to have consulate give me multi-entry business visa. Do not have invitation letter indicate desired length/length per entry.

Other useful elements include:
-passport number
-brief statement about inviting company's line of business, and that recipient has extensive experience in this area
-multiple visits will be required during the foreseeable future
-"feel free to contact us with questions" (odds are, the consulate people won't)

In general, the KISS principle works best; nonessential information is annoying to read and you don't want to give the officers too much to process. Don't think of it as a job reference letter.

synthkeys Apr 25, 2018 11:02 am

I found my letter of invitation and extracted relevant bits and redacted personal info. I can't read Chinese and google translate really butchers it but I hope it can be of help. Even though the dates stated are all within 2 months of late 2015, I was still given a 10 year visa without explicitly asking for it.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aadbf70609.png

te36 May 2, 2018 10:10 pm

Ok, received 10 year M (business) visa, 60 days each entry, even though the invitation letter explicitly included text asking to give me a 1 year visa. I did explicitly mark/request 10 year on the application though. Nice!


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