Applying for a Chinese Visa from the 'wrong' consulate?
 

I am a United States citizen living in Dallas. My boyfriend is a Canadian citizen and a United States Lawful Permanent Resident living in the Los Angeles area.

We are going to China next year and I am wondering if we can both apply together for our tourist visa from the Los Angeles Consulate office the next time I visit and then he could pick up both of our passports/visas when they are ready The hotel reservation is only in my name as Marriott does not show two names and we are flying together on the same plane to/from PEK. I would not go into detail that we are a couple, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this (travelers applying for visas from the same office when they are technically in another consulate area), as this would make it a lot easier for me to get my visa in-person.

I would actually suggest that both of you get a visa service agency and apply individually. It is much more reliable and less time consuming. As far as hotel, just make a separate reservation in his name.

@op Do you have any addresses, apart from your boyfriend's, within the LA consulate jurisdiction that you could use? I agree with cxfan that you and your boyfriend should apply separately (him being Canadian is fine, but could complicate things if you apply together). You can go to the consulate together; just apply as individuals.

Have your BF make a hotel reservation. They are easily canceled without charge once you have received the visa. They do not cross-reference this info at immigration.

The same applies to airplane ticket reservations, but I personally prefer aa.com printouts because they show confirmed tickets.

It worked for my boyfriend and I at the Los Angeles Consulate. We each took a number but then appeared together at the window. He doesn't live in the Los Angeles Jurisdiction but I do. I showed the officer the flight itinerary with both mine and his name. 4 days later, we picked up our visas. No question asked about his present address (Nevada) on the application form.

Thanks, metoo. It was nice to read this when I woke up this morning, as we were going to the Consulate today.

We got there a minute or two after 9:00am as we were running late. While it was a Friday (which many people on Yelp think is a busier day), since it is the Friday before Labor Day, this day didn't seem to be particularly busy. We pulled numbers 51 and 52 when we came in, and they had called up 9 already. We were out of there in just a hair over 30 minutes.

We too went up together, although our numbers were called to the same window. As my boyfriend passed his papers, he stated that we were traveling together and then I gave mine (I thought it would be good to give his first, since he is the local.) I think it helped our paperwork was all in order (and the guy in front of us was slightly problematic, trying to get a sameday visa so he could supposedly fly out and propose to his bride). The rep handed back the photocopies of our drivers licenses. (I had read mixed things about including them on Yelp. I heard someone being asked for it at another window, so I think it depends which type of visa you are applying for maybe. Anyway, my license clearly says Texas and the rep didn't blink at that.)

Anyway, it was super easy to do it here and together. We did make a 2nd hotel reservation since Marriott doesn't show 2 names on their confirmations. My bf will pick the visas back up next week on his own since I'll be back home.