China Multiple Entry Visas - Banned

[Hairball]

This seems about right as it is written here in many posts that multi entry for non HKID holders MUST be applied for in the home country.

If you have a HKID ( resident or permanent ) then you can get a multi entry ( 6 mth or 1yr and 2 yr - perm HKID only ) through Wanchai.

I must say I was surprised they couldn't get a double entry though.

Does this work for any HKID as long as you have one? Even if I don't really live in Hong Kong permanently. I have the right to land.

[Shaunyr]

Guys.

You'll need to renew in your own country unless you carry a US passport. I checked the other day and no more multi entries for UK passports in HK unless you carry a HK ID card.

So all this bullshit about restrictions being lifted AFTER the Olympics was sheer folly.

Good luck to you all

Shaun.

[PDLM]

You are aware that the US's policy on issuing visas is what China's is now? It is really quite hard (in many cases impossible) to get a US Visa in a country other than one where you are a citizen or resident. And even then the process is far more effort than that involved in getting a China visa.

Why should China make it easier?

[Football16]

Guys.

You'll need to renew in your own country unless you carry a US passport. I checked the other day and no more multi entries for UK passports in HK unless you carry a HK ID card.

So all this bullshit about restrictions being lifted AFTER the Olympics was sheer folly.

Good luck to you all

Shaun.

Shaun ... when you say you checked, did you actually make an application? If not, go to the Foreign Ministry Office and apply. It costs nothing to do that but your time and a photo which I see you can get in the lobby of the waiting room.

[FilipH]

You are aware that the US's policy on issuing visas is what China's is now? It is really quite hard (in many cases impossible) to get a US Visa in a country other than one where you are a citizen or resident. And even then the process is far more effort than that involved in getting a China visa.

Why should China make it easier?

Because China is a country in development that can use the extra tourists and can do well with easy access for businessmen?

It is an export-oriented economy after all.

The current way of obtaining a business visa for a factory visit or China fair has become very time consuming. If a colleague of mine in Belgium wants to visit a fair with these new policies, he/she will lose a lot of time filling in all the paperwork + pre-book the whole trip and -most annoyingly - then has to travel to Brussels to go personally to the China Embassy. If you have to do this every 2-3 months, the waste of time and resources is ridiculous. I have been told that he/she has to go twice for every single application, with no chance (as i have been told) for multiple entries.

That's just silly. Taiwan, Macau and HK fairs and factories are 1000 times more easy to go to.

[LuisHK]

I've missed a few posts on this thread but according to recent experience in bangkok, one still doesn't need to be resident in thailand nor to go to the embassy personnally to get a chinese visa. A single entry at least, I got a 6months multiple but am a resident there, heard of non residents that got single entry but no idea what they applied for

[MovingIn07]

Because China is a country in development that can use the extra tourists and can do well with easy access for businessmen?

It is an export-oriented economy after all.

The current way of obtaining a business visa for a factory visit or China fair has become very time consuming. If a colleague of mine in Belgium wants to visit a fair with these new policies, he/she will lose a lot of time filling in all the paperwork + pre-book the whole trip and -most annoyingly - then has to travel to Brussels to go personally to the China Embassy. If you have to do this every 2-3 months, the waste of time and resources is ridiculous. I have been told that he/she has to go twice for every single application, with no chance (as i have been told) for multiple entries.

That's just silly. Taiwan, Macau and HK fairs and factories are 1000 times more easy to go to.

My understand was that folks overseas could get multiple entry visas outside of HK (ie from their home embassies) even during the Olympic period (albeit with a few more hoops to jump), so it's hard to understand why they cannot get them now. Why should anyone want to get a visa from somewhere they do not live anyway? If I was in Australia right now, I would apply in Aus etc etc. I guess the HK route was just a loophole, which, as PDLM suggests is not common for any country, so all China has done is close that loophole.

[Konijntje]

one still doesn't need to be resident in thailand nor to go to the embassy personnally to get a chinese visa. A single entry at least, I got a 6months multiple but am a resident there, heard of non residents that got single entry but no idea what they applied for

In HK non residents can apply for up to a 2 entry visa to China. A friend of mine flew in from France and applied at Wanchai, picked it up a few days later. Only reason was that it was a bit cheaper to get it done in HK than in Paris.

[hktraveller]

My understand was that folks overseas could get multiple entry visas outside of HK (ie from their home embassies) even during the Olympic period (albeit with a few more hoops to jump), so it's hard to understand why they cannot get them now. Why should anyone want to get a visa from somewhere they do not live anyway? If I was in Australia right now, I would apply in Aus etc etc. I guess the HK route was just a loophole, which, as PDLM suggests is not common for any country, so all China has done is close that loophole.

The logic behind this is surprisingly easy. They don't want people to live and work in China on tourist or business visas rather than Z visas where they have to pay tax. The Olympics were a good excuse to change that policy and I was quite sure that things won't get back to were they were (1 year stays with one entry). As soon as you are a resident of HK or Thailand or wherever, you are most likely to have a job (Other than the country of your citizienship), otherwise it is not so easy to get a residence permit.
That they issued multiples in the US during the Olympics was a bit surprising to me, but it fits to that scheme, because it would be more expensive to fly home frequently than to pay tax in China, at least for the non qualified English teachers, one of the main targets I believe.