Has any foreigner on here successfully entered China from Hong Kong since the borders closed to foreign residents late March?

This would involve getting a new business visa from the Chinese visa office in HK with a letter of invitation from your host company (or employer), a second letter of invitation from the Guangdong/Shenzhen Foreign Affairs office, and a Covid test.

Anyone here successfully done it yet?

I am sure there has been some.

Most did not because of the 14-day quarantine.

14 day quarantine is the least of my concerns after having been stuck in Hong Kong the last 3 months. If my university offered the opportunity I would jump at it. I've already quarantined a month in Shenzhen then 2 weeks in Hong Kong. 2 more weeks to get to go home and see my girlfriend again after 4 months? Sign me up. Much better than waiting here for another month, or 3, or 6.

Agreed. I would welcome 14 days quarantine in Shenzhen if it got me home in my own bed after being trapped in HK since March.

I returned to HK on Cathay expecting to cross straight away into Shenzhen but arrived in HK on the Friday that they imposed the mandatory 14 days quarantine for all arrivals (and before they banned all non-resident arrivals so at least that was something). By the time I was out of HK's quarantine, China had closed its borders to foreign residents. So here I am.

Hence my question if any foreign resident has gone from HK to SZ during this period and how they got the invitation letter from the Shenzhen Foreign Affairs Office to do so.

There's a report somewhere in SCMP today that talks are progressing on a HK-Guangzhou "bubble" that may go into effect "in a few weeks." That'd permit travel between the two areas without quarantine.

But it's useless for many unless the Mainland also permits entry from HK to foreigners with "old" visas. Note that quite a few HK people who could qualify for HRPs also prefer to travel to the Mainland on their passports, if they have a foreign nationality.

EDIT: That report I saw was on RTHK, not SCMP.

https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compone...3-20200609.htm

Thanks for the link 889. You are correct that "old" resident visas need to be recognised again for this travel bubble to work rather than making us apply for a new business visa supported by an invitation letter from the Foreign Affairs office. In reality, our "old" resident visas are no different to those also held by the foreigners who are still living at home in China. They just stopped accepting them at the border. I don't see them reissuing residency visas for every foreigner legally entitled to live in China but what do I know. Odder things happen daily.

The pessimist in me sees two scenarios when the travel bubble opens: (a) it's only for residents with ID cards (includes foreign residents in HK who have HK ID cards but excludes foreign residents in China who do not have Chinese ID cards); or (b) the HK Covid-19 test process requires a HK ID (as pretty much everything does in HK) to register so non-residents waiting to go home to China cannot be part of this process and we fall through the gap. Both, extremely believable scenarios.

The part of that story that gives me hope is that they are already talking about extending the bubble to Thailand, and that definitely is intent to allow foreigners to enter. If that is the case there is a fairly decent chance they are working with this alongside the Chinese government to allow foreigners to enter from countries in the bubble or at certain ports of entry. Now, I'm not getting my hopes up and nothing would surprise me at this point, but it would be pretty strange if they allow tourists from Thailand into the country before people with residents permits who are already IN part of their country.

Its gonna be entirely dependent on whether they just open the bubble to passport holders from that country or anyone living in the two bubble countries. My money is on passport holders as it’s much easier to manage than checking if the Swedish passport holder trying to enter China from Thailand really spent the last 3 months in Thailand. Not fair or reasonable IMHO but this is the PRC government we’re talking about here and safety from Covid is their first priority.

Oh, I am certain that it will only be Thailand passports from Thailand that would be allowed. Absolutely. I have zero expectation any other passport holder would be allowed in from Thailand. I just hope along the way to that point, separately, they would consider letting someone holding a valid residence permit from China to enter the country, from Hong Kong, SAR, China. Especially considering anyone in that situation is guaranteed to have been inside the bubble since March 28 or earlier.

But that would require logic and...well, you know.

First time I’ve seen a post-March visa https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activ...377771520-B7ho

Did anyone else join the online seminar held by the Foreign Affairs Office in Shenzhen a few weeks ago where they detailed the process for foreign residents to return?

This department has also got a web page that details the process to apply for an Invitation Letter from the FAO and has the forms to download.

Shenzhen Foreign Affairs Office process to return to China

All this implies that it's possible for foreigners with the cancelled residents permits to return to China by applying for a new business visa with an Invitation Letter from the FAO. Your company has to apply to the FAO for this letter on your behalf. It's nothing to do with the GD-HK-Macau travel bubble idea that's being talked about.

I'm looking for anyone who has successfully done this. Anyone?

There's a few stories in a Shekou WeChat group of people who are currently in China and had visas renewed through various means.

I'm looking for the evidence that foreign residents who are stranded outside China have successfully applied for a new business visa and been allowed back in to their homes. So far... I've only found fellow exiles.

That’s just a humanitarian visa extension. He can’t leave and come back on that one, only stay in China. Anyone currently in China can get one of these. The real golden tickets are visas issued outside of China post March 29.

I know a few people in Shanghai who’ve been able to return. They either work for huge multi-nationals in high levels roles or they own businesses with significant tax contribution to their districts. Generally it seems the entire family is let in at the same time. The average English teacher is gonna be staying put for a while I’d guess.

I know there are people who have successfully getting visa to get back to China, but the issues no flights.

Under the 5-1 policy, only limited flights into China each day, and the transit rules at HKG and TPE don't allow China flights.

Singapore allows transits to/from China, but only from a small number of low-risk countries.

Well, I'm currently about 25km away from the land border with Shenzhen. I'm also not a teacher and work for a Fortune 500 company. I have found no foreign colleagues who have been able to get back using the process. I'm not saying there aren't any, I'm saying I haven't found any. That's why I am casting the net wider and asking if anyone on here knows of anyone using the specific process publicised by Shenzhen's Foreign Affairs Office. They've been very open about it so somebody must have attempted it and have some experience to report.

UA_Flyer was asking about the best ways to fly between the US (applies to other countries too) and China now. I'm also somewhat curious about this myself because I don't fancy dropping 40k to fly to JFK in MU economy class, but even if I did, those seats are hard to snag. The connecting options that show up on Google Flights are actually reasonably priced; it's just that some of them are illegal (e.g. HKG) and others don't exist.

So my American friends that have been outside China since the CNY Holiday flew back to Shanghai this weekend according to their photos on WeChat. Husband works for an American chemical company and is heading back to continue work on the newest plant they're building. I didn't get any details since I didn't know until I saw the photos but if I find out more I'll post any pertinent info.

i think those flights are primarily servicing repatriation.

Perhaps they have been getting the economic necessity exception. Honestly I don’t see why resident permit holders willing to subject themselves to 14 days’ quarantine at Govt facility shouldn’t be allowed to return, but I’ve given up trying to divine reason out of PRC regulations ten years ago.

I have successfully hit the SFO-PVG jackpot for Aug. 15. It does require a whopping 270K miles in J.

Also booked award ticket on LX JFK-ZRH-PVG on Aug.6. If this is approved by CAAC, then it's better deal: 88K miles for J.

The required PRC new visa, however, is another issue. We will see.

On the SFO-PVG August 15 flight, it is not the announced flight with one-stop in ICN, correct? Would it be subject to cancellation or will UA move you to the one-stop flight?

On LX, I have also seen those inventories, but it is showing availabilities on multiple days in the same week. We all know that each airlines only allows one flight a week, so not sure that will impact your booking.

Good luck on one the two will work out for you.

That’s pretty lucky if you were able to use miles to get on the new Sfo-Icn-Pvg flights! Congratulations!

What do you think the chances are you’ll get the visa as I think this is the bigger issue. Do you have someone or some company with good connections in the PRC helping you out?

Aug. schedule has not been updated. The ticket is still showing SFO-PVG direct with old departure time. I expect it will be updated with ICN stop soon.

The rumor was Saturday for UA 857 before announcement, so I picked Aug 15 which is Saturday.

The rumor for LX ZRH-PVG flight is Friday. So I picked Aug. 6 Thursday for JFK-ZRH, connecting ZRH-PVG on Friday.

There is another rumor that LH will run Monday FRA-NKG. So I grabbed another ticket EWR-FRA-NKG.

Both LX and LH tickets are saver J awards. I can't guarantee they will not be canceled. At least I have UA 857.


I am working on this by contacting PRC Embassy in US.

It's for humanitarian reason, as my dad passed away few months ago.

I hope they will show some sympathy.

Sorry about your father's passing. My condolesences.

On the LX and LH itineraries, will American be allowed to transit in Europe? That is something needs to be clarified.

Absolutely no problem, '

Anyone can transit, as long as you don't have double connections in EU.

Update: My company is now embarking on the application process for an invitation letter from Shenzhen's Foreign Affairs Office. This is one of three documents required to get a new (business) visa from the Chinese visa office in Hong Kong to re-enter China: company invitation letter, FAO invitation letter, Covid-19 test result.

If you're interested I will keep you updated on the progress and my experience.

Please note that this will be the very specific use case that was outlined by Shenzhen's FAO in their seminar a few weeks ago: returning to Shenzhen by land from Hong Kong and the implication was that this scenario would not require 14 days quarantine back in China but the seminar and its occasional translations were suitably vague on many points so we'll only get a definitive answer to this by actually doing it. Onward.

The Hong Kong border is closed to Chinese citizens until at LEAST August 7. Hong Kong is closed to foreigners until at least September 15. Unless you are a Fortune 500 CEO or have a company in China willing to go to bat for you and argue that your presence in China is critical to their business, that new visa isn't happening I'm afraid.

Just saw the news about your father. Sorry to hear that. I hope they listen but I'm doubtful unfortunately. Mine passed away a month ago, in the US, while I'm trapped in Hong Kong. Good luck.

He only wants to come to Shanghai, so HK isn't an issue. As I mentioned upthread, during Q2 2008 China also wasn't issuing visas willy nilly, so I ended up finding a guy on ebay to issue me a provincial level invitation letter. IIRC I paid Y1000 for the letter, and the market rate is presumably higher now, but I'm guessing that this approach still works.

(Sorry, wrong thread. Reposted in https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32501787-post654.html)

Messaged with my American friends that flew over to Shanghai on Saturday on WeChat yesterday evening. They're on a 14 day quarantine at the moment in a hotel. Told me that they're one of the first SAS Puxi expat families to make it back in. From the sounds of it, there are a lot of SAS teachers who are stuck out of the country and don't have the resources to get them in. My friends shared a 23 page PDF describing the procedure and requirements. The husband's company, both in the US and in China, had a number of lawyers working to get them back in. The family had gone to Japan for the CNY holiday then back to the US when the holiday got extended. They expected to return back at the end of March but couldn't once the travel restrictions came into effect.

is it possible to share most of the info from this 27 page pdf document? You can delete sensitive info.

I've uploaded it to Google Drive..... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VFF...ew?usp=sharing

This is one of the most helpful things anyone has ever done in the entire history of Flyertalk. Thank you so much.

I'm embarking on this exact process with the Shenzhen FAO being trapped in Hong Kong with a British passport and residency in China.

Thank you again for sharing this.

This is very helpful.

I can't open Shanghai quarantine hotels info. It's not attached?

I have just secured my visa yesterday at the China Embassy in the US. The process I went through is consistent with the process described in the linked document.
My colleague in Singapore also went through the the same process and secured the same visa. The only difference is my colleague received a M visa and I got an F visa, although we provided exactly the same documentation and invitation letters from the same local FAO.

Those of us who have 5-year residence permits don't want to lose them in exchange for 6-month visas that are limited to 30 days per stay. We invested a lot of time and money to get our RPs. I can go to the US anytime I fancy because I am a US citizen, but I want to be able to return here.

Yes! Once I enter China, I will apply for new resident permit knowing that with the new resident permit comes with restriction for no international travel out of China until travel restriction is lifted.

That being said, my visa is for 60-day and my work will likely require me to travel regionally. I will need to consider further and perhaps explore other possibilities.

Off the topic: any hotel recommendation on quarantine hotels in Shanghai?

i thought it's not your choice (even if it is your cost) - do you get a choice where you spend your quarantine?

You do have some choices. There are some 40+ hotels participating. Some do not have AC, some do not allow ordering takeouts and some have pretty bad internet connections.

Hilton double tree is on the list and looks pretty good. I had relatives stayed there a couple of years before.