Can I get a 10-year China VISA?
 

US citizen in San Diego. I recently got a brand new US passport because the old one ran out of insert pages. So it has 9 years left and plenty of pages.

I have a trip to Haikou coming up in early April and want a 10-year "L" Visa (30-day max stay is OK).

My trip is booked like this

LAX-HKG (2 days in Hong Kong)
HKG-HAK (one-way, about 5 days in Haikou)
HAK-HKG (one-way)
HKG-LAX (4 days in Hong Kong, then return flight home)

1. Does the LAX-HKG rt matter for the Visa application?
2. Do I need to list one or more Hong Kong to Shenzhen ground trips to increase the odds of getting a Visa with long validity? I'll probably want to do a day trip to Shenzhen anyway in my last four days in Hong Kong.
3. Are these guys reliable? www.mychinavisa.com
It's probably worth their $99 fee + FedEx charge to avoid two trips up to the China consulate in Los Angeles.
4. Any thoughts on staying at the Hilton resort near HAK?

Your plan is okay.

Contemplating an ORD-PEK-ORD MR because the fare is too cheap. Can I leave/enter US using my UK passport (with USA visa in it) and turnaround in PEK (same day, 2.5hours layover) with just my HRP (+ HK passport)?

Possible issues...?
1) ORD GA doesn't know what an HRP is (I guess that's impossible tho?)
2) If I were just American/whoever else I would need a visa to turnaround at PEK. But can I use just my HRP in this case...
3) When departing PEK I will need to show the airline my UK passport. How about the border? Is just HRP okay? I'm afraid if the border official asks where the US visa on my HK passport is, which there obviously isn't one.

HRPs are better than visas; no worries.

I think you don't have the new type? The ont that says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainla...nts#Appearance "This card is intended for its holder to travel to the mainland of China"?

I haven't either. But nevertheless it is accepted for entry on its own from points other than HKSAR/MSAR, this Timatic extract can be shown to satisfy any check-in agent:

Tell agent to replicate the Timatic search with you as a Hong Kong (SAR China) national, not British National/Citizen as you are not entering the PRC as such (using a HRP implies an assertion of Chinese nationality, it's not like a HKID where you can possess even as a foreign national

P.S. Just make sure it's valid. This is the part where people here stumble on and get turned back.

You need a visa for this route, you shouldn't have any problem getting a 10-year L. We have used www.mychinavisa.com a few times, no problems. This included a 2-year L back when they were normally only issued to overseas Chinese. One consulate would issue them to the spouses of overseas Chinese. (I'm white but married to an overseas Chinese.)

No ideas on hotels. I'm not sure if you'll get a 30-day or a 60-day visa. I have a 60-day but we have a long history of visits without doing anything to upset the officials.

He has an HRP!

moondog you're confusing Bowgie for G-CIVC

Oops, my bad:D

Thanks moondog and percysmith !

I'm still a bit uneasy about the border control parts tho (especially heading out). Do they really not bat an eye on the BP destination?

The other issue is the PEK turnaround but I guess there's a thread somewhere for this.

Hold expires in 20 hours :$

PRC border control won't check the documents you used to exit US in the outbound or to enter US on the inbound.

Airline will check that but presentation of the HRP along with the timatic extract above should satisfy any reasonable GA (we can't do anything about the off-the-rocker ones)...

See http://www.stylehiclub.com/cruising-...two-passports/

How do you know?

See 1059; mistakes happen

In the end I let the hold expire. The reward wasn't worth the risk...

According to some of my ABC schoolmates, they will 101% grill you if you were a Chinese citizen, went to US/got some foreign nationality and do not renounce Chinese citizenship and use Chinese immigration docs to enter/exit PRC. Since this year we've seen on TV how da party defines a UK national as 'firstly a Chinese citizen' since he has an HRP, I figured out that it simply won't be worth it, plus the time off school... :rolleyes: just gonna hope for a flash sale to CGK/HKG soon instead :D

You're comparing apples and oranges. By law, Mainlanders lose Chinese citizenship automatically if they acquire another. Using PRC docs will then be illegal. Every renewal abroad they'll want to see your proof of status there.

However, Chinese citizens having residency in HK/Macau do not lose Chinese citizenship until they renounce to the HK/Macau governments. Instead of not allowed, dual citizenship is simply not recognized while such a de facto dual is on Chinese soil. That's where the "firstly" comes in.

UK has confirmed Lee as a citizen, not just national. (Well, a British non-citizen national is essentially a Chinese nowadays.) How he obtained it we don't know. (The 1990s scheme is rejected by PRC.) Regardless, Lee is a HK native who never renounced. He's Chinese when on Chinese soil.

How Gui became Swedish we don't know. If he had not obtained HK residency at that time, he's not even Chinese anymore, regardless of what he said he felt on national TV.

Back to PEK or any Mainland airport: Immigration officers understand permissive dual of HK/Macau Chinese (those with HRP) and won't bother you.

But at land borders they'll bother Mainlanders exiting to HK with passports (instead of permits) to make sure their entry to HK as transit (to fly out) is legitimate, having a ticket and visa.