Hope you don’t mind if I pick your brain a bit for some information regarding your journey from the UK to China… Which airline did you take to get to China, I haven’t checked but assume there were no direct flights so where did you transit?

I’ve been in China now for just over two years and finally taking the plunge at the end of November and returning to the UK for a three month visit. I already have a valid Chinese residency permit so will not have to jump through as many hoops as you did…I’m double jabbed with the SinoVac vaccine and will again be getting double jabbed with a western vaccine while in the UK….

Hi there! No problem at all. Do PM if you want my WeChat.

I flew Lufthansa to Frankfurt then connected on to a Condor flight to Xi'An with a thirteen hour layover. I spent fifteen days in quarantine in the Grand Nobel Hotel, before flying down to Shenzhen and being told - after being free - another seven days quarantine there.

The LHR - FRA was a breeze, but in hindsight I feel this in part due to only being checked in as far as Germany.

The Condor leg was nothing short of an 'admin disaster'; essentially anyone with a UK passport never received their IgM results in Germany, were denied boarding and cue a long argument at the airport later... we had to upload our boarding passes to the consulate and wait for an exemption letter:')

Good luck heading back, jealous is an understatement!

As for flights, Hong Kong are allowing in 2,000 people per day, and, OW flights back from there are extraordinarily cheap at the moment (I bought HKG - LHR, QR J for GBP801... next June). You can pick up Y for GBP 231 it seems... .

One thing I've been told (and not sure if whispers or not...) is ensure you have 6 months left on your RP. Have not seen it backed up anywhere else but it might be a hidden rule somewhere!

Thanks for the post, good information. Had you stayed in Xian for another 7 days would you have been able to return normally to Shenzhen?

I am checking to see if pre-approval is no longer required for RP holders.

My RP was issued in Q1 this year, and I have already made one trip back to US this summer. I did apply pre-approval before I return to China at the end of the summer.

I have a number of meetings back in the US in Nov and Dec, and will now plan to go back to the US and return at end of December via UA 857 out of SFO.

Based on what i have read so far in this thread:

1. Pre-approval is not necessary for RP holder (issued this year)
2. Schedule all the required tests at designated labs in San Francisco/San Jose area
3. Submit the test results, declaration, questionnaires to SFO PRC Consulate for clearance and issuance of green code for travel
4. Show UA the code and board the plane
5. Go through tests and serve the required 14-day quarantine in Shanghai (and any other additional days of quarantine as required by the local government)

Please confirm if above understanding is correct.

Thanks

1. The following is the email I received from health.sfconsulate at gmail on September 9 (might have posted it upthread)
2. yes

3. yes. Upload to the website mentioned in the point #1 email. They also wanted a "Statement on COVID-19 Vaccination" before they would issue the green code. I think I mentioned this document upthread. It's a pdf so I signed it with my Acrobat signature, and he was fine with that. If you can't find the pdf online, message me and I'd be happy to send it to you

4. yes, BUT there is a second code that I (and many other passengers) didn't find out about until I was at the airport. I gather this happens a lot because UA had people standing by to assist

5. I still have 4 days to go in those first 14, and will most definitely report back upon my release:D
-bring a knife with you if you plan on having produce delivered; my hotel, at least, doesn't lend out knives (or space heaters, but I digress), and they sort of prohibit them in deliveries (I say "sort of" because getting the knife I ordered past the guards simply entailed me asking the sender to put it in a SF Express mailer)

Where did you take your PCR and IgM tests at Frankfurt, at the airport?

Frankfurt, Vienna, and Zurich airports all, reportedly, have airside testing available.

Approved by the PRC consulates?

Reading the Chinese embassy in Germany website it would seem, if I've read it correctly, that you can take both the PCR and IgM tests at the Medical Center situated near gate Z12 in the transit zone, then upload the results to the health app for the QR code with HDC......


http://de.china-embassy.org/det/gdxw/t1836306.htm

Starting from 1. December, 2020, all Chinese and foreign passengers who are to fly to China will be required to take nucleic acid and IgM anti-body tests and then apply at the Chinese Embassy or Consulates in Germany for a green QR-code with the “HS” mark (for chinese passengers) or a green QR-code with the “HDC” mark (for non-chinese passengers) before boarding the flight. (please upload your tests results here: https://hrhk.cs.mfa.gov.cn/H5/ )

I. The practice of allowing China-bound passengers to board the flight with only the original negativity certificates of the Frankfurt airport (Centogene, Medical Center and the testing agency in the Non-Schengen area) is terminated. Passengers flying to China who complete the tests at the Frankfurt airport must upload the negativity certificates via the Wechat mini program “Health Code International” or its web version and obtain the corresponding QR-codes (for chinese passengers QR-Code with the “HS” Mark and for Non-chinese passengers QR-Code with the HDC Mark). Passengers can be allowed on board with the original negativity certificates from both nucleic acid and IgM anti-body tests issued by the testing agency of the Frankfurt airport, as well as the corresponding QR-codes. To obtain the above-mentioned testing certificates, passengers need to complete the sampling and testing within 48 hours before boarding.

That's pretty slick. None of the norcal places are convenient if you're trying to just stop over. I assumed other consulates were similar.

When you assume.. :)

Europe is in a unique situation. If these airport testing clinics didn't exist, Chinese nationals in the UK wouldn't be able to return home because there have been no direct flights between the UK and China since Christmas 2020.

The SF testing sites are all less than an hour from the airport via Bart and walking. Not bad. I think LAX has on airport testing for those leaving from there.

I have had 3 different domestic trips cancelled due to covid in the past 3 weeks.[mod removal per rules] Not a fun place to be anymore now that the rest of the world is moving on.

I'm finally actually in China!