kb0fhp

Will be taking my first trip to PEK to attend a conference at the request of the PRC Heat Treating Society. I will be taking my family, making it partly business and vacation. I will be staying for 10 days. It is my understanding that a visa is required. What hoops do I need to go through to get the visa?

Thanks in advance.

IndustrialPatent

Assuming your permanent residence is in PA, print & complete the application (you'll need to attach a passport-style photo) and send it (I recommend UPS/FedEx) along with your passport, a copy of your airline ticket and a money order (they only accept money orders, the fee is $35 per person). You'll also need to include a prepaid/preaddressed return envelope... again, I recommend UPS/FedEx.

[This message has been edited by IndustrialPatent (edited 11-20-2002).]

kb0fhp

Thank you for the quick response (only about 10 minutes!)!

Will I need to mail each passport for each of my family memebers?

Thank you for the information.

Scott

IndustrialPatent

I updated/edited my previous post for clarification . You may want to read it again.

Yes, you will need to include each passport. The visa is a sticker they paste over one of the pages.

Yaatri

I was invited to attend a conference of the International Theromoelectric Socitey in PEK. Along with all the documents mentioned by IP, I also had to produce a letter of invitation by the hosts, a letter of financial support on my company's letterhead stating that they would respomsible for any expeneses incurred as a result of an accidnt or illness.

ATC

Most cities will have several private visa services that will take care of everything for a fee (typically $30-50). They know the process, and are a good option if you are time constrained. They typically hand-courier the passports to the embassy/consulate, and have a vested interest (their livelihood) in ensuring the the process is timely.

SeaMeFly

Your best bet is to call Chinese Embassy in Washington DC (considering your residency is PA). You may apply directly to the embassy or the consulate in NYC. Go on the internet and type CHINESE EMBASSY and you'll see several embassies' addresses for different regions. Choose the one closer to you. You will need to allow yourself 2 weeks from the time you apply in order for them to send your passport(s) back to you. Chinese Embassy is one of the pickiest of them all. Apply early!



[This message has been edited by SeaMeFly (edited 11-21-2002).]

IndustrialPatent

Yaatri: Those extra items are only necessary if you're applying for a business visa .

Lancerrr

Yes, call the embassy directly. They will be curt, but stay on the phone until you get every answer you need. Those visa services are a humorous rip-off. Literally, they receive your passport and visa photo(s) from one FedEx envelope, fill out the paperwork for you, then bicycle-courier it over to the consular section of the embassy along with a completed FedEx slip. The embassy FedEx's it back to the agency, who then transfers it to another FedEx destined for your house. Charging you $30-$60 for filling out your form and moving your passport from one FedEx envelope to another.

Just send everything via FedEx to the consular section of the embassy in Washington DC. Having called before, you've enclosed the proper applications with photos stapled to the pages. You enclose a FedEx slip written to send to your address and billing to your account/credit-card. Viola!

Timing is a matter of how much you want to pay. Most countries offer 2-day visa service for a higher application fee.

Remember that they are required to follow certain steps based on which boxes you check. So if you check that the purpose of your trip is business, then you need the sponsoring letter and so forth. If you instead check that the purpose of your visit is Tourism, you need only prove that you have a return ticket and sufficient funds to not become a public burden while you're in-country. Whatever you do, don't check that your wife and family are visiting the country for business reasons!

IndustrialPatent

One of my trips to China was bumped up a few weeks and I needed my visa within 2 days. I was going to be in Chicago for a day, so I stopped by the local office. I waited for 2.5 hours, then they took their lunch, then I waited another hour (there's one person waiting on everybody). I had a prepaid UPS Next Day envelope... they charged me the extra $35, but didn't bother to send the visa until two weeks later (a waste by then)! And of course, there's no way to retrieve your cash.

moondog

You won't into problems like this as long as you apply for an L visa. There's no reason, whatsoever, to even mention the conference to the authorities. Since you live in PA, you need to use the NY Consulate (not the embassy!) to get your visa; here's the link with mail service instructions at the bottom:

http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/eng/7547.html

Remember to include pictures and fill out the application completely.

BTW, this is a the same link that IP posted.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 11-21-2002).]

Yaatri

Thank you so much for the info IP. I may just arrange a trip for the family to PEK. The only places I have visted that require a VISA in advance are India, (the country of my birth) and the U.S. The trip to Beijing was cancelled due to sudden commitments arising at work here.

Yaatri

A quick search on the web for Chinese Visa would turn up several agencies that would get a VISA for you for a fee. I will do a quick search and post the links here. Some even have a toll free number.

Yaatri

http://www.regenttour.com/general/visa/

http://www.china-embassy.org/visapas...english/qz.htm

http://aolsearch.aol.com/dirsearch.a...chinese%20VISA

Lancerrr

IP, that's terrible! Was it close to a holiday?

I'm doing visas now for Dec and Jan trips into three countries that don't offer visa-on-arrival. I understand visa work comes to a grinding halt on and around both U.S. holidays and holidays in those countries (who ever remembers to check foreign national holidays!).