Some questions regarding a Beijing visit
 

Ok, We have a week long meeting in Beijing.. I think I understand the Visa requirements (unless they change again ;))
We all have the official invitation letter from the Chinese Standards Body (actual mailed original, as the emailed copy has been refused by some consulates) and we have our Hotel and Airline reservations.

But now someone has told one of our members that when we LEAVE China, we need more paperwork. I knew that there was an 'exit tax' that we needed (and I believe that needs to be in cash), but is there other paper work that we will need to come home?

Thanks
I hate needing to ask all these questions, I'm normally a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of guy... but others in my group are quite "antsy"

To be honest I do not recall anything except for the departure card.. (I think)
And I do not see any mention of this on the PRC Consulate sites.

The paperwork to leave is just fill out a small departure card.
No exit tax. At least not out of Beijing.

Used to be some exit airport departure fee at PVG.

save your cash for the T3 international departure area
luxury shopping center. Plus you can hire one of those
golf cart guys to drive you around for RMB20.

I just verified with someone who is visiting out US office from Beijing. According
to him, the procedure is exactly the same out of Beijing. No departure tax
or extra paperwork when he left Beijing last week.

No departure tax or paper works for me either when I left beijing 2 weeks ago.

Great! Thanks I'll let everyone know that they can quit worrying and try to enjoy the trip. My wife and I sure will :)

Let me say a bit more.

Faxed invitation letter is allowed, but not emailed copies. Although original copy is preferred, they are not fussy about faxed copies.

The only country I knew charging an exit fee is New Zealand, China has never asked an exit fee in the history.

The paper work confusion started 2 weeks ago. Majority of athletes attending the Olympic Game does not require a visa to China, they only need a special permit, which when depart from China, like leaving USA, and they need to hand that remaining paper back to Chinese immigration. Guess what happened, a lot of "very intelligent" sports personnel packed that paper into their check in luggage. That caused a big trouble for themselves and Chinese authority.

As long as you are not an athlete attending the Olympic Game, you don't have to worry additional paperwork when leaving China, just fill in a departure card.

PS. I have attended a lot of long meetings in China, still can't believe you have a "week long meeting" :)

I'm not aware of any country that charges an 'exit fee' in the truest sense - i.e. a fee you have to pay before being allowed to leave the country.

What does happen in some places is that the usual airport tax is, instead of being incorporated into the ticket, something that has to be paid for separately at the airport. NZ has done, and IIRC still does, this (NZ$27?) and China used to do it (RMB90).

But certainly as far as China goes now there are no taxes/fees that need to be paid on departure - just fill in the departure card and you're good to go.

The old RMB 90 tax in China was Airport Construction Tax - used to build and maintain airports. And its not just for international passengers, it was for all air passengers, from RMB50 tp RMB90 depends on the distance you fly.

The New Zealand one is nothing to do with any airport - if you stayed more than 24 hours, you have to pay a $25 New Zealand Departure Tax, collected by Bank of New Zealand for their government before you allowed to leave that country. And it is only targetting international passengers. Total nonsence.

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/tra...y-facts.cfm#10

After charging $130 for a single entry visa, it would be criminal to charge a signficant departure tax. :)

No one collected any money from me leaving PEK. Two years ago, I remember everyone scrambling to fill out some sort of paperwork at the airport, but no new paperwork was required this time.

The new airport terminal is pretty easy to navigate. Check in was relatively slow though, and it's spread out. To be safe, on an int'l departure, I'd probably try to get there almost 2 hours in advance.

FWIW, before you go through immigration, there are money changers who give a fair rate with no commission for your left over yuan.

As mentioned before, the 90RMB tax should be calculated into your ticket and available on a fare breakdown from ITA or even some airline issued reciepts.
Also, for the NZ comments--I think Costa Rica did this too--something like $30 cash that you had to pay.

They still do. Argentina does this as well.

It's an International Standards Organization working group meeting, actually five meeting that overlap... I'm involved with three of them, all involving the new Acrobat PDF standards.

Does anybody know if there are some airport taxes at China airports to pay these days? This thread is 2yo.

International or domestic flights. PEK airport, and Xian and Guilin... No taxes to pay?

You still pay them, but they are collected by your travel provider (and often kept by that same party in the event you don't fly).