Rediculous Chinese visa fees
 

Now I'm not one to normally complain about visa fees or other such neccessary administration fees, I just accept it as part of the trip. However, having just seen the fees table for the Chinese tourist visa, I think they're at serious risk of crossing the line from (un)necessary bureaucracy to flat out taking the piss.

I put off applying for a visa for a while because of how complex it looked, and when I'd been on their website in the past, I saw it said Chinese tourist L visa £30. I thought £30 was quite resonable and wouldn't have had a problem with that at all.

Once I really started to look into it the fees really started mounting, that £30 is simply for the visa, they charge you another £34.50 administration fees, which brings the actual cost of the visa to £64.50. As far as I'm concerned, I think that's extortionate for a foreign travel visa and quite frankly rediculous.

However, during my drip I'm considering taking a visit to Hong Kong also, for 4 days. I know Hong Kong is administered very differently from the PRC, but also I know that the PRC love to emphisise "one country, two systems" and all that propaganda. Considering how Chinese they like to think Hong Kong is, I didn't think for the life of me that they'd charge yet more money to go to Hong Kong.

To visit Hong Kong, I need a "dual-entry visa" apparently, as I'm leaving Mainland China, so that's an extra £15, bringing the total to £79.50, or lets say for aguements sake £80. Prehaps the term "One country, two charges" would be more appropriate?

Of course, I can see why they'd charge you for a dual entry visa if you were actually leaving the country and visiting Japan, Korea, or even Taiwan, but for them to charge you £15 extra for a dual entry visa to visit Hong Kong, supossedly part of the same country for 4 days is just taking the piss.

Another thing I find funny is how they charge British and Americans way more than anyone else. The flat rate for a single-entry visa for a British citizen is £30, for an American it's £65 and for a citizen of any other country it's £20. Seems very ironic that they're so capitalistic towards us decadent capitalists from Britain and America.

At the end of the day, I guess there's nothing I can do. I've booked the flights now, and if I want to go to China and Hong Kong, I've gotta cough up, but I still think it's rediculous and quite frankly if I could cancel my flights and accomodation I think I would.

You don't travel much, do you?

The visa fees you quote are not the highest in the world - Zambia was pretty expensive for a UK passport holder to visit last year at £75 single entry and £240 multiple entry.

Many countries introduce reciprocal visa charges. The wisdom of this is debatable, but it tends to result in high visa fees for UK and US passport holders. Visa fees often differ according to the colour of the passport - and sometimes also according to where they are issued.

Welcome to the world.

How much does the UK charge a Chinese citizen for a visa?

I thought - as Mr H does - that in these cases it is a matter of reciprocity?

Yeah, to be honest, I was probably looking at it from an overly negative "they hate foreigners" point of view. It seems a reciprocal charge is the most likely scenario.

For what it's worth, COF, I only rediscovered travel recently and was horrified at the extra charges for a Vietnamese visa (my first real visa). I can't recall the exact charges, but it included something like:

Buying a photo
Visa cost
Processing Fee
Registered post to the Embassy
Registered post back

It more than doubled the price of a visa.

Several visas later, this would no longer raise an eyebrow.

Bear in mind that the US and UK (just to name two) charge a hell of a lot of money for visas themselves. A good friend applied last autumn for a Tier-1 post-study work visa in the UK, and the British Consulate in his home city was kind enough to charge £250.

£64.50 is rather high, but I've definitely paid more for a tourist visa. Unfortunately it's reciprocity at work.

Actually, you got off easy.

The UK and China have a special agreement under the Approved Destination Status (ADS) program whereby 30-day tourist visas are reciprocally priced at £67 only.

If one applies for a UK tourist visa from elsewhere in the world, the nonrefundable application fee could be as high as £500 (since the latest price increases on April 9).

For your information, US consulate charges Hong Kong citizen HK$1040 (the equivalent of US$131) for a single/multiple entry visa. Not matter if the application is successful or not, it is non-refundable!

The price hasn't really gone up from £30. It has been that many years ago. The admin fee is not charged by the embassy but but the handling agents. I use to pay another company to apply for my visa as they did nto take postal applications.

As for require 2 visas. It seems fair. As you are exiting the country. If you apply for a single visa to the UK you cannot go to the falkland islands and expect to be able to reenter the UK on the same visa.

If Hong Kong Citizens need to apply for a visa to enter China I don't see why you think you can use a single entry visa.

A UK tourist visa costs £90 for a chinese Citizen.

It is a matter of reciprocity. I have entered many countries with a Australian passport and been charged no fee while my wife on a US passport has been charged a fee.

I think last rime I entered China Australians were the only country allowed to apply for the via at the border and was charged RMB100.

C

UK and US passport holders do not need a visa for Hong Kong, so I do not see why the OP has to pay the dual entry visa fee.

Because the OP wants to reenter mainland China after visiting Hong Kong.

I am American and yesterday paid €100 for a double entry Chinese visa, plus $2.50 to deposit the funds on their account. Russian and Central Asian visa cost about the same.

Absolutely correct.

I am in a process of getting a multiple entry Côte d'Ivoire tourist Visa. For US passport holders $150 for me 47 euros.

Let's be very clear about this "reciprocity." China charges US passport holders what the US charges Chinese passport holders. But there is one HUGE difference:

The China visa is good for 1 year.

The US visa is good for 5 or 10 years.

So much for "reciprocity."