China visa?

[offtothegymagain]

A bit niche… but has anyone applied for a China visa themselves rather than through a tour company?

We’re currently about to apply for my son who plans to travel there independently. I just wondered if anyone had been through it? It looks like he needs to have booked all his travel- flights/hotels and needs to attend an interview. Thanks!

It's a slog. The best way is to go to the embassy or consulate, so if anything is missing, they will pinpoint it for you.

Thanks. Did you do that before you applied? So with the application form completed and got them to check it?

Yes, the visa process was simplified last spring and is relatively straightforward. You fill in the form online and will need to upload various documents such as your passport, itinerary, proof of flights, hotels, your sponsor/local agent etc. They then process this very quickly and you’ll get an email to confirm, at that point you then visit one of the visa places (we used Edinburgh), where they fingerprinted us, checked though and we made payment, only took 5 minutes and no appointment, just turned up and waited.
Definitely no need to used a visa agency, all you’ll be doing is giving them the same info.
We had an initial problem online as it kept asking for parental permission letter for my daughter who had just turned 18, I emailed Edinburgh visa who replied immediately just to say they would sort it at their end.
The application form is long and required employment, parents etc etc but just keep plugging through it.
Loved China, not a place I would have travelled independently so your son is braver than me!

Forgot to add, if you don’t have a sponsor or an invitation letter than I think you just need to have proof of confirmed flights and hotel bookings. I’ve seen TripAdvisor posts advising to book cancellable hotels for the visa.
The Chinese authorities are very strict once there, everywhere we went our passport and visa were checked and scanned,
every tourist attraction entrance, railways, hotels etc I did see a TA post when someone had only a transit visa and went over the limit and their hotel called the police who came to interview them - it was all sorted but not a fun experience.

Thanks! We’re based in Edinburgh luckily! We’re just finalising plans and will book cancellable hotels. Flights will be trickier. He’s going on to S Korea afterwards for a few nights then flying back to the UK from there.

Ah, that’s handy! We had a 2 day trip and an overnight hotel bill to get our Visa.

I've done it a couple of times by post and once in person in a London visa centre - hotel reservation details and flight confirmations required. Not for a few years though.

It was actually pretty straightforward.

I did ours ourselves with no problem.

My experience is similar to @Oopsadaisyetc except we had a day trip to the Manchester office and got everything sorted in a morning.

Travelling in China is significantly easier if you can download WeChat and get yourself an account and sign up for WeChat Pay too - it makes it much easier to use public transport and Didi's (Ubers). Depsite what they'd have you believe on Race Across the World there aren't many ticket offices in Chinese train stations anymore, particularly not those that will accept cash!

So convenient for the consulate! Super easy for you to sort it out in that case.

No, BUT I'd made a mistake on my application and I had to redo it there. So they printed me another one.

I didn't live nearby so couldn't really go repeatedly, although I DID go twice.

I did mine in person at the London visa service centre. Very straightforward but it helped that I worked nearby.

Yes, it’s easy enough. Though if you have an Irish passport you don’t need a visa for china as long as you stay under 30 days

I did mine last year - went to the embassy and queued up. You submit it online first but don't get much of a notification (beyond the validity of the photo). And yes it is a distinct possibility that they will send you away if you get something wrong. Is your son travelling around?

I didn't have enough copies of some of the supporting documents and had to run to Ryman's nearby to take copies. They didn't make me queue up again thankfully.

Yes you need the print outs from the hotel bookings and trains etc. But you can cancel them afterwards and no one checks where you're going.

Hi, if you go onto the visa genie website it will show you exactly what he will need to put together in order to apply for a visa. They do offer a service were it is preapproved and then you just turn up with your passport to be sent away. Usually back in 7 working days. You don’t have to use them as they charge a fee but will get a good idea of what is needed for the application.