I think you are the first one, or at least the first one on the forum to brag about it. As I stated up thread, it's not a typical avenue one would use and if your effort was on behalf of an "unimportant" guest (with importance as defined by the Chinese), it likely wouldn't have gone anywhere. In other words, an outlier situation that cannot be recommended to the average forum reader as a sure-bet way to obtain a visa.

Like you, I was a member of the "zero percent chance in hell" camp when Shimon first mentioned his idea, and I continued to have the same doubts as he plowed forward (though my doubts receded as his status updates came in).

In the end, he proved us wrong. What's more, I'm not convinced that the importance of the guest mattered much. Rather, the secret sauce was simply following a well defined process, and getting an important person to support it, two variables that were within his control. While I agree with you that 99% of the people who show up on this thread are in no position to avail of VOA, I give Shimon props for tenacity/perseverance.

I also agree that VOA isn't useful for 99% of the readers of this thread (e.g. you still have to pay for the visa), but I can appreciate the fact that it has value in certain cases (e.g. you have an inviter who has established a repeatable process, and need to get to China quickly).

I don't consider myself proved wrong at all. I have never been in denial that the prearranged visa-on-arrival exists since I have always known anecdotally of instances where it was used, for important/urgent foreign visitors. Shimon has never been forthcoming about his business or whereabouts in China (fair enough, no need for disclosure by forum participants) so in the absence of "inside knowledge" about the level of clout of him or his company and nature of the foreign expertise they need to pull in, there's simply no way for we outsiders to gauge chances of success or not. While it's nice that one member of a forum admitted that this can/has been done, I'd postulate that most organizations that are able to do this on a reasonably regular basis are carrying on quietly, and don't participate on FT.

Reality: The majority of posters on FT are not going to be sufficiently important/necessary to China, to get a prearranged visa-on-arrival and maybe only a handful in a position to do an invitation from inside China to get somebody in on one....so I don't really see much reason in publicly encouraging false hopes on this type of forum.

It's not something achievable by the average forum reader. I was hoping some of the seniors here could pull it off. I couldn't pull this off in my old business. The new business I started earlier this year has given me some serious connections.

The guest was a serious customer. The critical thing was that we were escorting the customer around China. E.g. arranging them private car from the airport etc... at the end of the day it's all about the $$$

I tried to apply for a PRC visa for my daughter with her US passport but a travel agency told me that because she's never had a PRC visa before, she needed to apply in her home country... which is ridiculous because she has a HK dependent visa (through me) and I'm not going to fly back to the States just to get her a visa so she can come with me on trips to the PRC.

Any ideas if this would be different if I went to do the application in person? It just boggles my mind but I don't know - maybe there is some arcane policy in play here.

Even USA passport holders without HKID?

That's what I've been told by CTS too, in respect of my nephew (has to be issued by CTS in HK). I'm pretty sure he does have a previous CTS visa in his old passport and CTS said they'll accept it.

Try going direct to the consulate. I'm pretty sure its OK but normally they only give single entry visas for the first time. Then multi entry on subsequent apps. At least that was how it used to work...

This has been a very confusing and frustrating research experience for me.

I am a US citizen living in the US. I have never had a China visa. I will be in Hong Kong. I just want to know if I can use a visa service company in Hong Kong to apply for a multi-entry tourist L visa, specifically a 10 year visa?

There doesn't seem to be a clear answer on this.

To apply for this visa in the US I either have to fly to DC or pay some visa company an additional $130 to do it for me. I think these fees are ridiculous.

:o1. You should contact a visa service company in HK if you want to know about their services
-I'm guessing that they WILL be able to help you, but for a fee of around hk2000
-plus, you'll need to spend several days in HK while the visa is being processed (I don't regard this as a negative, but it is something that needs to be taken into consideration)

2. Even if you go with an agency in the US that charges $130 (this seems a bit pricey to me, BTW), it's cheaper than using an agency in HK

3. You can also apply directly at the official visa office in HK (no fee, but no love either)

You can find agents in the USA for less. The highly reputable (and not cheap) www.mychinavisa.com charges $99 service fee. Travisa charges $72. I realize that when you add in the costs of express each way, that ups the total as well.

However, there is no free lunch, not even in HK. Moondog is pretty much correct. If you use an agent in HK and want to go for the 10-year visa which is a special thing, it will be at least as expensive as the sum total of sending the application via an agent in Washington, DC. This agent (Forever Bright) is a good one in HK, and can get a USA passport holder (nonresident of HK) a 10-year visa with 60 days per stay, apply Mon-Thurs morning and get back the next afternoon, but it will cost HKD 2670 (that price came from info from earlier this year). You can check with them for the latest, they are usually very prompt at responding to email inquiries: http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/index.html

The option to avoid agent fees and apply directly to the Commissioner's Office at Wanchai, Hong Kong, is open to you. But the queueing just to get in the door and apply during office hours is formidable and wastes a lot of time, and of course HK isn't cheap to pay for lodging if you have to wait around a number of days for standard processing. I'm not sure if Wanchai will even issue the 10-year visa to US passport holders on a next-day basis (there may be no rush option on this only standard processing). Most visitors have better things to do with their HK time than stand around for hours in a visa queue. In the end, I don't think there is much potential upside by waiting to apply in Hong Kong.

If you've got your application in order and head there maybe 45 minutes before the lunch break, it is actually possible to be in and out of the Visa Office in a matter of a few minutes. They seem to have drastically improved their service in the past year, surprisingly. Use an agent only if there's a problem at the visa office or you need the flexibility an agent offers on pick-up time, etc.

(The agents are asking scandalous fees on the US ten-year visas since the processing is no different than standard visas.)

Thanks for the replies, they are very helpful. I think we are just going to skip the mainland and go to Hainan or Macau instead. I would rather save the money and just go another time. The Wall will always be there.

We looked into doing the 72 hour visa, but the direct flights to PEK are not cheap and at that point it would cost the same to get a real visa and take the cheaper route through Hong Kong.

Hainan is part of the mainland.

I'm a US citizen applying for a 10 year Chinese Visa. Would putting down "unemployed" on the application section 1.15 hurt my chances for getting the 10 year version?