Chinese Visas - A Primer

Visas are required for all visitors to China.

There are several types of visa issued by the Chinese Embassy or the Exit & Entry Administrative Office of the Public Security Bureau (often referred to as the PSB). The most important thing to note about Chinese Visas is that you MUST have a valid visa BEFORE coming to China—you cannot simply show up and get one when you arrive.

Applying for a Visa
To apply for a visa, you must go to the Chinese Embassy closest to you and hand in a completed visa application form, along with a passport-sized photograph and your valid passport (your passport must be valid until at least your expected return date). If you do not live near an embassy, you can manage the process via mail, but be sure to leave lots of time for this process.

If you apply for a tourist ("L") visa in person, in most cases you can pick up your visa within a week, or may pay a rush fee and get it same-day, or in 1 to 2 days. Other types of visas may take much longer to process. You should check the procedures and regulations at your local embassy – see the article called “Chinese Embassies Around the World” for links to your local embassy website and contact information. Typically a single-entry tourist visa will cost US$50 in the United States, and US$30 elsewhere.

"L" Visa: Tourist Visa
It is easy to arrange to get an L visa at any Chinese Embassy before you come to China., and for the vast majority of people coming to China, this will be one of the things you will have to take care of before you come to China.

The maximum duration (from the date you arrive in to the date you go out of China) of L visa is 3 months, and in most cases if you apply for a 3-month visa, you will be granted one (but if you specify your trip is only 2 months, they will grant you only a 2 month visa). An L visa is difficult to extend once you are in China; there are only a couple options for getting around this. One is that we can offer you a service to extend your visa in Shanghai (there is different policy on visa management there), in which case your visa will be converted into a F visa for 6 months or more. The other option is to travel to Hong Kong (which counts as leaving the country for the purposes of your visa), where you can apply for another 3 month tourist visa. However, the cost of traveling to Hong Kong may be quite high and not worth the expense or hassle if it is not something you’re interested in doing anyway.

"F" Visa: Business Visa
In order to get an F visa, you will need to supply an invitation letter when you go to the Chinese Embassy. The duration of an F visa is from six months to one year. Usually, you can get a one month visa at Chinese Embassy in your home country. Unlike the L visa, the F visa is relatively easy to extend at Public Security Department in China.

Because we operate a certified official organization with permission from the government to invite foreigners, we can send you an invitation letter issued by our organization to you when we receive confirmation that you will study in China. You will receive the invitation letter within one week from the day we send it.

"Z" Visa: Teaching/Research Visa
It is a complicated procedure to apply for and manage a work visa. You will be requested to offer copies of your CV (résumé) and your Degree of education, as well as a signed agreement with a school (which is to be your employer). You will receive an invitation letter issued by the provincial-level Foreign Affair Office in the province you will going to. You can then take the invitation letter to your local Chinese embassy to apply for a Z visa. The duration of visa is the duration of your agreement with the school.

Going it on your own...
Many wushu schools in China, don’t have the appropriate qualifications to invite foreigners, nor the appropriate permissions to allow foreigners to reside at the school. Some schools that are very experienced with handling foreigners may be able to help you out, but some others will not even know that you need a visa to come to China. If you decide to book your stay in China through us, we can offer all the services for managing visas and answer all your questions by email or phone.

Penalties
What happens if you don’t have a valid visa in China? Well, if you don’t have a valid visa when you first arrive in the country, you will not be allowed to enter. In some cases, they may detain you while an application is made for you, in other cases, they may send you back home on the next flight – either way, not a good option.

As for staying in China beyond the validity date of your visa, there is some leeway, however the penalties beyond this initial grace period are quite steep. You are allowed to stay in the country for up to 2 weeks with an expired visa, without any penalty. If you are caught without a valid visa, more than 2 weeks after your last visa expired, the penalty is a fine of 500RMB/day, for up to 1 more week. Beyond this 3 week point, you may be levied additional fines (determined by the local PSB), or even detained (ie, in a jail) or deported from the country.

While some people prefer to travel by a spur-of-the-moment schedule, visas are one thing that you’ll have to schedule around. Always leave lots of time (2-4 weeks or more) for the process of renewing a visa. Don’t put it off to the last minute, and don’t take the regulations lightly!

Validity Dates and Duration
When you receive your visa, there will be two bits of information on it that you should pay attention to. The first is the Duration of Visa. For tourist visas, this is usually between 30-90 days. This is the length of time starting from the day you enter China, as marked by the date that will be stamped in your passport as your entry date that you are allowed to remain in the country.

The other important bit of information is the "Enter Before" or "Valid Until" date of the visa. If your visa has an "Enter Before" date on it (yours most likely will), then you must enter the country before that date (however it may be possible to return to the issuing office and apply for an extension). However, if you renew your visa while in China your new visa may have a "Valid Until" date on it-- in this case you must either leave the country or obtain a new visa before that specified date.

Single vs. Multiple Entry Visas
When applying for a visa you have an option of requesting a multiple-entry visa (regardless of the visa type). This will typically cost more, however, it allows you to enter China more than once using the same visa. This is handy for if you want to take a short side-trip to Japan or Thailand or a trip back home. If you renew your visa while in China, your new visa will usually be a zero-entry visa, which means that you are not allowed to enter the country using that visa (but since you're already there, that's okay). The number of entries you have made is determined by the number of entry stamps on your passport (on the page opposite your visa). If you have already reached your entry limit you will have to get a new visa before you re-enter China.