I am about to travel to China in this situation (10-year multiple-entry tourist visa in expired passport, no data changes in new passport). I know China says it's fine. My question is what people's experience has been -- especially when checking into a flight from the US, where the airline agent may not understand the rules correctly. Tips?

In order of escalation
1. Ask the agent to double check
2. Ask the agent to get their supervisor involved
3. Ask the supervisor to contact China Immigration for confirmation you can fly

Having a valid visa in an expired document is not specific to China and is not unusual, I am fairly certain it applies to US visas as well.

I emailed the consulate and you can drop off for someone else no problem as long as you have the confirmation page.

If you don’t have the previous visa/passport you have to sign a form saying you don’t have the visa/passport and won’t use it in the future.

Visa Datapoint: Approved for 10-year multiple-entry L visa with each entry valid at 90 days (I had put 60 on the application) - US citizen applied in-person at San Francisco visa office - applied on Wednesday, picked up on Monday despite not selecting expedited processing - no appointments needed - no Turkish stamp - overall processing and wait times on site were not significant

Another visa data point: as a US citizen, approved for 10-year M visa with each entry at 90 days (as requested). Applied in person at Washington DC (less than 45m total including waiting); took three business days for standard processing.

Interestingly they picked on my Kenya stamps, of all places (there are plenty of more traditionally 'sketchy' countries in my recent travel history), and made me fill out an additional declaration as to what I was doing there.

I helped my father also apply for an L visa at Washington DC. Similar to the post above, his application was approved in 3 business days. No queue when we arrived, no questions asked.

I had put 10 years/60 days per visit (similar to what i received in Francfort last year), but 90 days per visit was given anyway.

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I'm thinking of booking a visit to Shanghai for about 10 days in November. This thread is definitely the best place to ask and hopefully let me understand what the visa requirements are. Seems going onto google, there are so many links, many are obviously rip off third party companies - but many appear to be kosher Chinese visa sites - but the info conflicts! I saw one site (and annoyingly I cant find it again now, .stating that visa applications in 2024 were at a reduced price (to encourage tourism) I'm from the UK and hold a UK passport.

My passport expires in 2027, though it is possible I could return in 2026.

The image below shows (I think) the fee for me would be 130. (is the up to 2 years reference related to the expiry date of passport or how long the visa is valid? Is it multiple entry or just one? It probably is shown in there someone, but Ive yet to see it and I'm not entirely convinced Ive even found the right site!

Its also confusing about appointments to the embassy or postal? I'd certainly prefer to do so in person. (I dont want to risk losing my passport!)

Any advise appreciated.



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...98457c1080.png

Whatever site you grabbed that chart from appears to be third party simply based on the fact that China doesn't issue visas to countries other than China. There's also some profits baked in. Is it convenient for you to apply directly through an official channel?

Visa Fees to China

Thank you. I guess that's the reason for posting - its unclear which is the real site and which is a third party. It really isn't obvious unless you're in the know and guess that's why these sites exist. I did find the site again before posting - but there are several links within that don't work, so brings its validity into question! That site doesn't also have links that go to the site I posted about. (https://bio.visaforchina.cn/LON3_EN/qianzhengyewu) If you click on the visa menu, then Chinese Visa service centre - it takes you to it! Funnily, the real site even warns about scam sites! I took the other countries listed being the charges for a China visa for those countries, not to them.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6fb2441420.png


I did say I saw a site that showed the visa was discounted until the end of the year and your link is definitely the one I referred to, so grateful you've pointed it out for me. Happy days. Its £64 not £130.

But its still confusing...... It looks like your link is still saying you need to use a third party "service centre". - so those doubly of fees will be payable after all? I'm confused!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d1ea8257b4.png

Hmmm. This site is the site most commonly shown to start a visa application from. https://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VISA/

looking at it, London is not on the list of places (or anywhere in the UK) and states you need to apply to Visa services - which is actually the site I posted that image for originally and is priced at £130. Thats some mark up for this from the £64 its saying it should cost!

It appears that China processes the visas for some countries through the China Visa Application Service Center, and others process them directly (using the COVA form). UK seems to be one of the countries that use the former.

Looking at the China Visa Application Service Center, it appears that the price is £64 for the visa plus £66 for the application service fee. Not sure if it's possible to avoid that fee (and how, if so).

(Unfortunately) I think you are correct. Thats very annoying! So they gove you a discounted from normal Visa price with a reduction down to £64, but then still make you pay the full amount because of using a third party company!

I spoke a short while ago to a TA I'm booking a cruise through to see if they had any idea. They told me to use CIBT - who I contacted.

They want to charge Service Charge £130.45

Courier Waiting Time – up to 2 hours £ 55.00

Visa Fee Normal (4 days) £130.00 (When it should be £64 - so fraud IMHO)

Royal Mail Special Delivery (if required) £ 18.35

£333.80 for something that should be £64 - Are they run by a Nigerian Prince?


I'm not toying with the idea of flying in and out a couple of times instead and taking advantage of the 144 free visa - though think thats potentially a risky thing to do and probably unwise.

Has anyone from the UK applied for a Visa recently?

My (perhaps completely off base) running assumption has been that those service center places are functionally no different than the consular visa offices the rest of us deal with....just a simple outsourcing arrangement. And, that the net cost to the customer is also the same. I do know that we checked HK (CTS issues visas there) prices in one of these threads last year and there was no mark-up over the (country specific) rates we otherwise are expected to pay, based on reciprocal agreements that are usually taken pretty seriously.

That having been said, since I experienced a hidden tax that greatly enriched a select few designated blood test labs prior to a flight in 2021, I wouldn't be shocked if there was a bit of (presumably legally vetted to some degree, so maybe pointless to contest) funny business at play with some of the visa service center arrangements.

I think your understanding is correct.

I also understand that the £66 is avoidable but only if you are well connected with important people in the consulate/embassy, and because of your connections you can get your application considered directly by the consulate without needing to pay for the outsourced visa application service. And you still need to share your biometrics, directly at the consulate/embassy.

I remember going down to the basement of a dingy Chinese consulate building in Portland Place in the noughties before it all got outsourced.

Ok, I have booked my return flights (LHR to Shanghai) for Nov 2024 for 11 nights and can see there is no escaping the £130 visa fee to the agency in London. Annoying, but is what it is.

If my travel plans for the future just consisted of this one incursion to China, then I'd be all set. However, on top of this trip in 6 weeks, I am now planning a further visit for the end of September 2025 with my wife joining me this time. My thoughts for this trip would be to fly to HK and visit Macau and Shenzen. Would the 6 day transit visa be valid for Shenzen from Hong Kong? I remember on my last trip to HK in 2018, I was going to take a guided tour day trip into Shenzen with a Visa cost of about £100 and decided against it. Its not very obvious what can and cant be done and if Hong Kong is counted as China and therefor any movement into (and back from) Mainline China would be allowed?

If it was, then we would both be fine to do the 2025 trip without a further Visa.

If its not allowed and she would need a Visa, then we would stray further into China, but to be honest, Shenzen would be enough, so I'm hopeful we can. If that is the case, she would need to make the same application that I am about to make for Nov 2024 at a cost of £130.

Which brings me onto the second question. With my entry set to be before 20 September (The expiration of a BA companion pass), am I correct in thinking this £130 Visa is just single entry and has an expiry of 24 months? Would be great if it could be valid for both - but I'm guessing I would need to bite the bullet and buy the 5 year multiple entry at a cost of £194? (My passport expires in May 2027 - so its not really going to be much more than a 2 year visa!

Any advice on the Shenzen bit especially would be appreciated. If its not valid - I assume people unless they have a full visa, no longer visit Shenzen from Hong Kong?