-the de facto requiremennts differ from the written stuff; if you are nice to them, they will hook you up
-i have 90 days per stay on my current visa. that's enough for me because i like to go other places. i've been told that 1 year is the max for f visas. if you have a z visa, you can stay as long as you like
-we recently paid a visa consultant here in beijing y2500 to get my colleague's days-per-stay increased to the one year limit. however, she ended up getting him a new one-year visa in place of his two-year visa, which i felt was bs

I have an "F" (business) visa at the moment for when I travel to China on business. I am going to be going on leisure in September will I have any trouble getting in on my visa or do I need to get an L visa.

There will be no problem with this at all. When filling in the immigration form that asks you your main reason for visiting you can choose the 'leisure' category. It doesn't matter.

Peter N-H

How much does a tourist visa at the airport Shanghai cost?

For passport holders from most OECD countries, a tourist visa must be acquired before arriving in China. Paying for a tourist visa at the airport in Shanghai is not an option for Americans, Brits or most other EU nationals.

sort of....

-the (48-hour) transit visa program in sh is pretty legit these days; probably, partly due to the urging of mu, which is trying to establish an international hub there (i believe an overnight is required either to or from australia for european pax).

-i've also been told by a friend that is pretty high up at the us embassy in bj that those "visa-on-arrival" desks actually can issue a variety of actual visas in special and not-so-special circumstances; presumably, one should make such arrangements with their home consulate before taking flight

-although not too relevant here, hainan province has a visa free travel program in effect so that it can attempt to compete for tourists with [much better] beach destinations in se asia

regarding my second point above, i've entered china 10 times to far this year and on 9 of those 10 occasions, the desks were actually staffed; on 5, there were people standing in line.

Transiting at Shanghai without a visa (or without using your visa) should be well possible for Americans, Brits and a good number of other EU nationals under certain circumstances, but it still puts some of the PVG immigration officials into a bit of a spin and will result in a pax being pulled to the side. Sort of amusing to see the faces of immigration officials there and especially of a passenger who is being "pulled aside" there.

When someone is doing the transit at PVG, the Chinese immigration officials should be told in advance (upon getting to the desk), especially if you are on a limited number of entries visa or are doing so without a visa (i.e., including a visa on arrival kind of situation). And then being shuffled over will be facilitated and the option of preserving such a visa for later use actually may exist (if done properly and competently). That said, it's a tourist visa that is of interest to said poster, right? Any rather consistent way to convert the transit visa into a tourist visa upon entering China?

Earlier in July, I did my first 60-minute international-to-international transit at PVG. Not generally recommended by me.

This typically involves an invitation from a state-recognised entity cleared with the consulate, all details supplied in advance to said entity which then does a lot of running around and has further paperwork deposited with the immigration authorities when you arrive. Really only a business thing, and I would imagine there are occasionally some hassles at check-in counters with airline staff who've been told only to allow those with valid visas to board.

This is supposed to be for groups only, is only valid for a limited time, and only valid for travel in Hainan (although I dare say there are those who have got round some or all of this, one way or another, and particularly in fudging the group issue).

It's also possible to get a limited visa for the Shenzhen area only when crossing on foot from Hong Kong, but this is often time-consuming, costs the same as an ordinary tourist visa in Hong Kong, and isn't currently available to U.S. citizens or Britons.

There are sometimes other occasions when it is asserted that there are ordinary tourist visas available on arrival, but these are cases where one is dealing not directly with the Chinese authories, but with a travel agency in 'no man's land' before passing through Chinese immigration. This is possible at the crossing between Macau and Zhuhai, for instance, used to be true at Fuyong Matou en route from Hong Kong to Shenzhen Airport by turbojet but that office is now closed, and is said to be possible on arrival at Guangzhou East station by train from Hong Kong, but I've never tested this.

In general it's far safer to have a visa already even when using these crossings, especially since they all involve passing through Hong Kong where visas of all kinds are quickly, easily, and cheaply obtainable.

Peter N-H

As Peter N-H said there is a "visa on arrival" booth at the Guangzhou East Train Station for passengers coming in on the thru train from Hong Kong. I've only seen it staffed 50% of the time I've come thru this border crossing although I'd imagine that the immigration people would be able to issue a visa even if the booth wasn't open. I have seen people at the booth before getting helped. The worst that would happen would be being sent back to H.K. by train.

I have a refundable ticket and am not yet 100% sure of my arrival or departure date. However, I know the earliest arrival date and latest departure date, both which are less than 3 months from today. Is there any reason not to use these dates and will there be a problem if I arrive later or leave earlier? If I use exact dates but arrive earlier, I assume that would be a problem. Right?

My TA recommended ZVS (Zierer Visa Service) http://www.zvs.com/ at a cost of $209 for two of us. Is that a competitive price and is it a good service? I saw someone near the start of this thread had used them.

Thanks.

it doesn't matter what dates you pick.

re the visa agency, figure out how much the agency's fee is (by subtracting the official fees from the total); $35 or less would be competitive imo

Standard 30 day visa is $50 each. Figure $30 for the agency fee per person and $15 or so to mail them back.

http://www.mychinavisa.com

I just used an agency called "Chinese Service Center of America" to get our visas. They were pretty quick and had the lowest fee I could find ($19.95 for one person or $17.95 ea for 2+).

Here is their website: http://www.visamailservice.com/

Hey Moondog and anyone else, whats the deal with getting an X visa (Multiple Entry 1 year)?

I've heard a ton of different stories. I know that I've gotten all of my medical tests and the forms have been filled out by my physician and myself. I hear that some people have been successful in getting X Visas in Washington and others have only been given single entry visas and being told to get another medical checkup when in Beijing with the forms filled out and then deal with it, via PSB or whoever the authority is...

What is the deal with getting a visa for Tibet? Is this something that is not easy to get, or is it just a matter of filling out a form and paying a fee?

Do you have to go with a tour, or can you travel on your own?