Seems like the mainland is following HK's trajectory with cancelling circuit breakers and reducing quarantine from 10 to 8 days (7 is what HK did), so we may well see it drop to 3 in a few months' time.

I will go to China to visit my family under this quarantine restriction provided that China embassy issues me a visa, which is still impossible for the purpose of family reunion because I am a U.S. citizen.

Airlines also need to increase the number of flights to China so that inbound airfare will be more reasonsble.

HK is back to no quarantine. Going there, you just risk turning positive on one of the 11tests on arrival.

That said, I 100% agree with the rest of your post. Pre Covid, I was going to mainland once a month. And I did my fair share of Q during the past 2 years… but it’s 2022 now, soon 2023.

No way I’m putting myself through another week of Q and all the Chinese healthcare charade, no matters the business opportunities I pass on or the friends I miss…

I believe Q visas have been getting issued for a few months now, including for US citizens. Tourist visas (L) are not being issued, but single-entry Q visas can be obtained fairly easily.

There seems to be some disdain emanating from your posts in regards to China.
I am sure you have valid and sound reasons and experiences to bring you to your point of view.
I just don't share that sentiment, and look at this news favorably.

You always mention 10 vs. 8 days.
I am not so sure that is accurate though.
For Beijing, for instance, I needed 7+3+3 a few weeks ago. That ended up being 10 days in a quarantine hotel, then 3 days at home in my apartment in Beijing.
Total of 13 days.
With this new rule, I am expecting either 8+3, but more likely 5+3 depending on entry point, and then-current Beijing rules.
It could be 5 days in quarantine hotel, and 3 days at home; that would be 5 days less in a quarantine hotel, or exactly half!
To me it's 5 days [120 hours] instead of 10 days [240 hours] in a quarantine hotel + 3 days at home.

Still one of the last countries to enforce such strict rules, not disagreeing with you there, but it's a complex issue, and I am not so sure it can be easily solved.
My guess is, by the time I come back here in March/April 2023, it might be down to HK quarantine regulations...but who knows?

There has not been any change for the requirement of Q visa (see below).

5. For application of emergency humanitarian visa not specified in the above form, such as attending a funeral of an immediate family member or visiting an immediate family member in critical condition, the Basic Document is Death Certificate or a certificate of diagno sis/critical illness notice issued by a hospital.

What's stopping you from applying for a normal Q visa? At least one of the numerous articles that we were inundated with last week mentioned relaxed requirements for Q visas.

Moondog's right. Info from the Chinese consulate in LA says Q1 and Q2s can be applied for:

????????????2022?8?23????

Requirements don't seem onerous.

Now it seems Chinese embassies overseas will require only one test, not two, within 48 hours in order to get the green code for return flights.

The fact that they aren’t locking down GZ at this time is kind of showing they are trying a new way of managing Covid outbreaks. Shanghai was locked down by the time they reached the current GZ case count.

Not only that, but it looks like we *might* be able to use PCR tests from our own countries to get HDCs in transit countries. If true, this means we'll no longer need to choose between paying through the nose for 857 or slotting in 2 or 3 days in transit countries.

Yes, but the pre-application procedure will filter out a lot of applicants. Chinese embassy/consulates only issue Q2 visa for emergency humanitarian reasons unless a new policy allowing family reunion has recently been issued. I do not see this in any of US consulate websites. I have a ten-year Q visa, which was declared not suitable for travel to China during the pandemic. If the requirements are not onerous, Chinese embassy/consulate just re-stamps my Q visa. Why bothers to have pre-application and provides the same materials again?

Did you call or email your consulate? I believe they will issue you a new short term Q visa if you have a PU letter. My understanding is that pre 2020 L, F, M, Q, and X visas have been permanently cancelled.

This has been confirmed by the Chinese embassy in the US, with more to follow in the coming days I'm sure.

Have they actually canceled (as opposed to suspended) the old visas? I have not heard anything but it would be inviting a reciprocal move from any number of countries which would not be good. I thought their game plan was to run the clock as long as they could.

I believe everything is currently suspended. The theory is they might get unsuspended in the future. But who knows when that will be. By that time many visas may have expired. It is also possible that they may force everyone to reapply.
You are not allowed to have two visas, so if you apply for a new one now, your old one is cancelled. This was the policy before COVID too.

I believe the language used with regards to pre-2020 visas has always been "temporary suspension," and at least publicly that hasn't changed. E.g. "Announcement on the Temporary Suspension of Entry by Foreign Nationals Holding Valid Chinese Visas or Residence Permits（2020-03-27）"

This.

If you have a 10-year visa with a far off expiration date and don't have to travel immediately, I'd recommend waiting until mid-2023 to see if old visas become un-suspended. The consulates are only giving out single-entry visas right now. The worse case would be applying for a new visa, getting a single entry visa with an existing 10-year visa with a 2029 expiration getting cancelled, and then China announces un-suspension of pre-2020 visas a week later.

There's previous precedent for "un-suspension" in that existing residence permits were suspended at the same time as visas but became valid again a few months later.

That's my plan as well. If the temporary suspension is lifted next year, we'll still have over 5 years of validity.

Just got a 5-year WP and 5-year RP....I'm good through 2027! :tu:

Congrats! Are you an overseas Chinese? I always tried for 5 year RP/WP but never could get one whilst my colleague who is Canadian but was born in China got it with no issues. Are you going to try for the PR? It's pretty easy to get these days.

Thanks.
Nah, not Chinese. Just been here [on-and-off] forever, I guess. First time ever I got anything over 1 year.
PR, you say? Interesting. Hmmm...what's the requirement?

The main requirement is paying over 100k rmb in taxes for 4+ years in a row. If you’ve done that and live in a tier one city you’ll get it.

ha! I have to check...I might be close to that! :)

Judging by the latest news, I think further easing of entry requirements may happen as early as the next spring.

Data point 1: Cases are spiking way above previous levels, e.g. Guangzhou, but there are no widespread nationwide lockdowns this time, and last week's directives to ease covid rules are still in effect.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...st-cases-spike

Data point 2 (possibly the more important one): Xi's walking around un-masked in a crowded indoor ballroom in Bali, schmoozing and squabbling with other unmasked big cheeses like the good old days, so he has clearly overcome whatever personal concerns he's had about Covid. It's also likely a signal to the rest of his government as well as his citizens that it's alright to begin moving to normalcy.

From what I can gather, the "easing of Covid tests" issue has been almost entirely driven by "who should pay?" and our tendency to test extremely often because it is free for us. While it's true that going to restaurants isn't a necessity, public transportation is in many cases. So, the asking individuals to foot the bill is contentious. Meanwhile, regional governments don't want to be burdened either, and the central government's limits are being tested. Something has to give, but I don't expect the result to be elimination of the testing program.

[Unsubstantiated rumor] I hear speculation that quarantine may drop to 3+3 as of Jan 1, 2023 and to 0+3 by March 31. [/Unsubstantiated rumor]

This is based on a phony screenshot making the rounds purporting to be from the American Chamber of Commerce in China. They have denied receiving any such information.

I saw that screenshot too. My immediate reaction was "why would AmCham know something like this". So I discounted it. That being said, with what they are doing in GZ at the moment, I think they are planning to let it rip a bit and see what happens. Basically they are trying a bit of Sweden 2020 in Guangzhou about 2.5 years later.

Didn't GZ just announce they are building quarantine centers for 250,000 people? I don't have any idea what the direction is for the next 3 months, so many conflicting things going on.

Building that enormous new quarantine facility there is entirely consistent with "letting it rip". In fact, we're getting one here in Shanghai (on Fuxing Island) as well.

The only scenario I can think of that makes sense where you'd need quarantine centers for 250,000 people is if you're going to practically let everyone enter / travel "freely" with the exception that if you test positive (so testing will continue, although the methodology for testing is still unsure, maybe a mandatory test every X days) you must quarantine.

I guess one other scenario that "could" make sense is if you plan on being much more loose about sending people to quarantine (i.e.: "you were within 10km of a confirmed case, you must go to quarantine")

复兴岛 is going to evolve into a shopping mall within 3 years. (This is pure speculation, but I am willing to bet on it.)

That doesn't sound like letting it rip, if they were going to do that there would be no reason for a facility. It sounds like they're going to try to continue the game of testing and isolating those that test positive.

Shijiazhuang just locked down … so much for less mass testing

If you test positive, you will be sent there.

But that's not letting it rip.

Perhaps they are going to drop the quarantine but that's not the same thing as doing nothing.

From my post a few days ago about letting it rip until now there has been a lot of change, definitely backtracking on the opening up and instead cracking down harder in the battle between Xi Jinping’s China against the deadly Covid virus.

Based on the way this is going I’d advise anyone to avoid coming here in the near future until we see who wins out, ideology or nature. The risk of getting stuck or locked down is increasing day by day and I pushed up a trip to Southeast Asia by a few days in hopes of avoiding being stuck here.

Meanwhile, you're hard pressed to find any accomodation in Singapore.

Guess the PAP really should send a "Thank you" letter to Beijing.

BEIJING!

I am THAT far out of the city center, we don't usually get the most harsh Covid measures.....just today, however,
our apartment building has started checking for the health code (first time in months and months), and the health code
is now checked at work by "snow men" not the usual security guards.
If they're taking these measures out here,...well, it don't look to rosy! :eek:

We had actual police officers in my compound for about three days during April. Those guys were way more intense than snowmen, but my "need to hit the ATM" excuse still worked.

Even THEY understand the need for money! lol :D