Do they need anything other than the slip to do the pickup? Can I give them my credit card to make a payment? I'm glad you posted because I was going to show up at 8:45 so now I will try to get there at 8:30. If I can be done by 9:30 or 10am that would be fine.

No

Not just yet....but coming!

As an aside, my wife's TA recommended NOT to use her Taiwan passport anymore given US passport gets 10 yr. Also they claimed China tightening up on Chinese descent with dual passports (HK, Taiwan)???

Just an update since I picked up my visa today from NY consulate. Got there at 8:30am and it took about an hour total (about fifteen minutes once I was inside). Significant line outside, but they have a second line setup for people just picking up visas only. They apparently let people with small children in without having to wait in line. While I understand the premise its a bit obnoxious when I have been standing in line for 40 minutes waiting and then a bus pulls up and people with a child get off and walk right through the door in front of me. I almost wonder if some people bring their children just to cut the line!

In terms of the visa it is good for ten years and multiple entries (with 60 day duration stays). I had just asked for the one entry, but this will be fine in case I want to go back. Does everyone get the same length of tourist visa?

They're practicing for China, where creative and enterprising locals "rented" elderly and handicapped people in order to jump the lines at Shanghai Expo.

Okay, so I can happily report that I was issued my visa here in LA! Ten years with sixty days per entry. I'm still very pleasantly surprised that the consulate here is not as busy as the Chinese Embassy in Manila, and they accepted my previous visa in my Philippine passport. Also, I wasn't asked for proof of residency. That's awesome! :D

If I remember reading back through this thread, some were issued ten-year 90-day visas. How did you guys get that?

After searching the threads in this forum along with several pages of this thread and the 10 year visa thread, I have a question that I would like feedback on.

Our agent in China tells me that it is very difficult to get a letter of invitation for a business visa, and she is asking me to go there on a business trip with a tourist visa. What are people's thoughts on that? It is a legitimate business trip. I work for a manufacturer of industrial equipment, and she is our only Chinese agent. She also says our customers would not be able to write an invitation letter that would be recognized by the Chinese Consulate, either.

When I have gotten visas in the past, I have always made sure that it was the right type of visa. The only other time I have been in China was for vacation, and I did get a tourist visa for that a few years ago. But if I am on a business trip, I have always gotten business visas in the past. My China visa has expired, and I have to get a new one either way.

Feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

If your business activities are relatively low profile (small meetings, customer visits, and the like), then I would say doing it on a tourist visa is a pretty low-risk venture. It is rather frequently done by many, as is the reverse (doing tourist activities on a business visa). You might plan to sprinkle a few tourist sights into the mix during your time in China, for a little extra legitimacy in case anybody happens to be trying to keep track (unlikely).

I do find it curious that you cannot get a letter of invitation from your Chinese agent nor any customers, in order to get a business visa. The first thing that pops into my head is that your product is one that is sensitive or under some sort of foreign (i.e. USA) export or Chinese import control, and your agent/customers don't want to appear on any official radar. But maybe there could be other reasons. Is this a new agent for your company or did they issue LOI's for your previous Chinese business visa?

It's possible your agent doesn't understand exactly what the invitation letter entails. As I recall, there was a brief period a while ago when these letters did have to go through some bureaucratic formalities in China first, but it seems that now a properly-registered Chinese company can issue an invitation simply using its own chop, without any government approval.

Of course China being China, it is possible there are nonetheless restrictions on issuing these letters that aren't public.

The only "brief period" I know about is the summer of 2008 (Beijing Olympics). At the time, only Chinese government agencies could issue invitations (eBay/taobao price was y1000), and the ensuing visas were really crappy.

During normal times, any PRC entity can produce compliant invitation letters (but, I advise directing the process yourself because it's essential to nail all of the key points).

Also, do your own dd on the Chinese company first; if it is not in good standing, its invitation letters are meaningless.

Thank you for the responses!

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines--the company has problems.

After rereading post 877, here are my thoughts:
-agent is an individual
-customers are legit companies that can issue invitation letters
-agent will lose face on both sides and risk being cut out of the equation if he/she tells the truth
-agent wlll incur unnecessary work for self by facilitating process (I.e. hand holding required)

Under these circumstances, my advice is to go with the tourist visa. That having been said, if the above poster doesn't want to be branded as a tourist for the next ten years, now is the time to act, and I'm happy to advise as needed.

The comments in #883 by moondog are a very common scenario and should be considered as a possibility by any foreigner who is meeting resistance in getting what should be a routine Letter of Invitation for a business visa. However, PM information by jeanie suggests that she is encountering a different scenario due to nature of the product, and the Chinese agent's position is understandable once the complete context is known. It would seem that with this set of circumstances which I do not wish to detail further, obtaining a tourist visa is the way to go.

In this case, it wouldn't hurt for the person to include some tourist activities on the trip.