This thread has been SO helpful to me over the years! I'm getting ready to apply for my 3rd Chinese visa- business. Should I do the same thing as you noted above for the tourist visa?

(my last visa application was August 2014 so I got a 1 yr multiple entry...Fingers crossed this time I'll be able to get the 10 yr!)

Going to China. Half the time will be spent at a hotel; the other half with a family friend.

The Chinese embassy says I need the following:

6. Documents showing the itinerary including air ticket booking record (round trip) and proof of a hotel reservation, etc. or an invitation letter issued by a relevant entity or individual in China. The invitation letter should contain:

A. Information on the applicant (full name, gender, date of birth, etc.)

B. Information on the planned visit (arrival and departure dates, place(s) to be visited, etc.)

C. Information on the inviting entity or individual (name, contact telephone number, address, official stamp, signature of the legal representative or the inviting individual)

An invitation letter seems very involved. Official stamp? Lawyers? Any one have any tips on it? Am I reading into this too much?

Keep it simple. There is no need to mention the private home visit. And, therefore no invitation letter needed.

It says full itinerary OR invitation letter. Invitation letter is simpler in my opinion, this is the way that I go most times. It is just a letter inviting you with a copy of the person's id (both sides) and their phone number. But if you have flight tickets already and hotel bookings, just go this way.

We have never provided an invitation letter and never had a problem but we have a long track record of leaving on time dating back way before they started asking for all that documentation.

I have my flight booked and my hotel booked (first half of the trip). Will they turn me away considering I have no hotel booked the second half of the trip?

Probably not, but making a hotel reservation that you print out costs nothing, so why not do so?

Hi,

I was planning to visit Hainan too, but I am very confused with if a Visa is needed or not for a visit of less than 15 days?
I am getting different information from different sites. Even from the Sanya airport site, it states that you can visit the island with Visa on Arrival even if you are travelling as a group.

I did call the consulate is they gave different stories. So I am very confused now.

Thanks.

My understanding is that there are actually two options that fall under the Hainan special deal category, so that may be why you are getting different stories. I don't keep up with the absolute latest on Hainan, but I believe the following is correct:
Option 1: Free Visa (or Visa Free, if you will):
--must be in a group of 5 people or more, available to holders of passports from 27 countries (including Netherlands)
--must be arranged with a Hainan agency in advance (at least the passport details of the arriving travelers must be provided >7 days before arriving)
--must arrive and depart Hainan on international flights, either Haikou or Sanya airports or combination thereof *
--stay maximum of 15 days (Germans, Russians, Koreans traveling 2+ people I think get 21 days)
--no charge

Option 2: Landing Visa:
--"group" can be less than 5 people, available to holders of passports from 27 countries as above
--must arrive Hainan (Haikou or Sanya) on international flight, but can depart from anywhere else in China
--stay maximum of 15 days (including Hainan and elsewhere in China)
--upon arrival, make application for "Landing Visa" and must provide photocopy of entry and exit air tickets, hotel bookings, passport photo
--processing will take 15-30 minutes, cost depends on passport country but my info is that it's pretty much what a standard visa would cost you.
--note that as with any visa application, there is always a chance that a Landing Visa will be denied if you look like an undesirable (or your country has seriously angered the Chinese).

* International flights into Hainan are limited. Normally there are dailies into Sanya and Haikou from Hong Kong, and also (may be seasonal) service from Taipei, Bangkok, and Singapore. If you fly to Hainan through another mainland airport, the deal's off and you need a regular Chinese visa to pass through Entry Immigration at the first mainland airport.

Just got our visas and we selected the regular one-time box (because I hadn't read here first) and they all came back as 10-year visas. Super stoked about that.

Hainan - Visa
 

Just wanted to come back to confirm - what JieJie wrote in the email is correct.

I just returned from the island over the weekend. Only deviations I observed are

- I actually got a single entry visa valid for 30 days [not 15 days as stated]
- the price paid was much cheaper compared to the normal per-arrival China visa
- you can pay either in HKD or RMB - there is a list countries and what you have to pay which I actually have no idea what's the difference - from what I gathered, it is the fees in either HKD or RMB. Which currency you pay in depends on the exchange rate.
- the process took less than 10 mins - only 1 passport needed. I was not asked to show the return ticket nor accommodation information.

Is the Chinese Consulate in NYC as bad as their Yelp page suggests? I was planning on going there Monday around 12:45PM. Would it be ridiculous for me to expect to be out of their within an hour?

Try to avoid Mondays and Fridays. Mornings during other week days are best; take a number, and chill at a nearby coffee shop until 15 minutes prior to your expected window. It's honestly pretty painless.

If Monday pm is the only option you have, I also predict a successful outcome, but you might need to wait 30 minutes just to get a number.

:(

Just got news from the visa service that my 4th China business visa since 2011 came back from the consulate as 3 month double entry. Not only did I NOT get the 10 year visa, I didn't even get the one year multiple entry I've received every other time. :td:

Apparently word went out to/from the consulates a couple months ago, "reminding" people that academics don't really count as business people:confused: I guess they don't think we can bring money to China like "trade" or tourism, so we get shafted on visa fees. Joy.

(and yes, it's inconsistent, as I have several colleagues who have received the 10 year business visa - guess my timing was just bad.....)

Of note, I'm in NC so send my visa to be submitted in DC. The visa service I used called me when they received my application and warned me this could be an issue and recommended my application be sent to San Francisco because they're said to be a little more lenient. I agreed but still no luck.

I understand it is totally their discretion which visa (if at all) to approve. I'm just bummed....

Why didn't you just ask for a tourist visa. I didn't think that there was such a thing as a one-year multiple entry visas any more in any case.