HOW TO GET TOURIST VISA FOR CHINA

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Or: How we felt better about ourselves by earsdropping 


We had headaches for weeks, knowing we would need to provide all the information about our every move in China. We have not yet booked our hotel in Vietnam, we don't know where we are going after Chiang Mai in Thailand, but for only entering China we have to present every night's stay, every airplane number.


So this Tuesday we went to the Chinese Consulate, nervous like never before. We knew we did not have our train ticket booked, so we thought that could be a problem.

We took a queue ticket and nervously sat down to wait for our turn. The waiting room was almost all quiet, except for the people talking to the administrators, so we enjoyed ourselves with a little earsdropping.
Turned out - we were well prepared. Three times did we hear the same argument, three times did we see people leave the office with the same disapointed and surprised faces. They had prepared nothing. One guy was even going in just one week and I wouldn't want to be in his situation as the VISAs takes a couple of days.


Don't be like these guys.
Spare yourself that anxiety not knowing if you'll get your VISA before departure.

DO these things before heading to the consulate and you'll be fine:

1. Start planning early

Booking hotels you'll like will take some time. Finding the best flights as well. So don't wait until the last minute, or even the last week. When you get the VISA you will have 3 months to enter the country, so we would recommend trying to have everything booked 6-8 weeks before the trip, and heading to the consulate 4-6 weeks before take off.

Jonathan being super concentrated with preparing....  

2. Know what kind of VISA you'll need

For a tourist VISA, you'll need to apply for category L. Don't ask me what that stands for. But that's the one you're going for if you just wanted to check some big wall and see where the avatar movie got those floating mountains from.

After that, you'll need to find the right VISA. We knew we were only going to enter China once under a three month period, and stay there about 19 days, so the Single Entry VISA was perfect for us. See what VISA you need on this site.



3. Check the consulate's opening hours

Might be obvious to some, but we were puzzled when we found out that the one in Gothenburg had kind of limited opening hours for two people working mostly 9 to 5 with no chance of leaving work for an hour in the middle of the day. So be sure you check out opening hours beforehand and plan you visit accordingly.

4. Come prepared

This is probably our best advice (not only because it's also almost a song from the Lion King); Don't be that guy who was supposed to be in Shanghai in a week to meet his girlfriend, just... spare yourself that. Instead, bring all of these below and you'll be fine:


● The filled in form you can download on this site 

- This include knowing exact days stay in China, detailed itinerary, your family's names and occupation, and about 4 pages more...

● A passport picture, newly taken, in color. 

- In Gothenburg, we went to Japan Photo and asked for a photo for a Chinese VISA. The guy knew exactly what we ment and the whole procedure was done in five minutes.

● A copy of the emailed booking reservation or similar for hotels for all nights in China, as well as a copy of flight reservations

● Actual passport AND copy of the picture page of your passport
-We had not fixed the latter when arrving at the consulate, but they said there was no problem and fixed it for us, even though the website clearly stated that you needed this fixed before. If possible, do it in advance, but don't sweat it.

5. Come back 4 days later and bring about $100 USD....


...depeding on your nationality. Swedes pay 870 SEK when applying for a Chinese VISA in Sweden, which is about $100 USD. That is for a 30 days, single entry tourist VISA. The living might be cheap in China, but the entry sure isn't.
But...

6. Avoid online intermediaries

First of all, you should always be careful about your passport. Sending it away is always more risky than delivering it in person, as it shouldn't, but of course could, happen something with it on the way.

Also, I wouldn't trust anyone or anything but an ambassy or an official consulate with my identification when it comes to this. Most of the sites are fine, but you can never be a hundred per cent sure as well as you can never be too careful.

Another big reason why you should not let an intermediarie handle this: IT'LL COST YOU THE DOUBLE.

And when it's already 100 bucks, we really don't want that...

Hope this little guide was helpful! 

If it was,
or if you are wondering
something else, 

make us wiser by leaving a comment!