China Visa, best place to get it done?

[Dominic N]

Thanks for the info.

So you felt the agency fee was worth it, even though you had to do so much yourself?

[shafiq]

Since the agency can get appointments at short notice and had flexibility to change due to work schedule, I went for it . It cost me HKD 600-700 on top of the visa/service charge, so its not that expensive. Also the agent took care of the train ticket and hotel reservation which was required to be submitted together with application.

If you don't mind spending hours queuing up there, then doing it yourself is a lot cheaper. If you are doing it yourself, you can book a train ticket and hotel through Trip.com app/website and cancel it after you got the visa. Its better to book for an appointment at start of the day and you might complete the whole process a lot faster. Later into the day queues get longer and longer even running as far as the lift and staircase due to delays piling up from earlier appointment quota. This was situation a month back, and am not sure what its like now.

Thanks for the info.

So you felt the agency fee was worth it, even though you had to do so much yourself?

[hkaneshiro]

how's the queue situation at the China Visa centre at the moment?

[mistakes_maker]

how's the queue situation at the China Visa centre at the moment?

Extremely long. Expect an hour in line just to get your documents checked and another hour to submit your application. Not to mention after 2 hours of waiting they refuse to accept your application because of missing item that they don't even list on the website.

[Apjace]

how's the queue situation at the China Visa centre at the moment?

Appointments easily available for 2 days after current day.
I went in at 2:45 pm for a 3:00 pm appointment and was out by 5 pm.
They do seem to ask for random unlisted documents, but have a bank of computers and a couple of printers you can use to print stuff out.

[Apjace]

Since the agency can get appointments at short notice and had flexibility to change due to work schedule, I went for it . It cost me HKD 600-700 on top of the visa/service charge, so its not that expensive. Also the agent took care of the train ticket and hotel reservation which was required to be submitted together with application.

If you don't mind spending hours queuing up there, then doing it yourself is a lot cheaper. If you are doing it yourself, you can book a train ticket and hotel through Trip.com app/website and cancel it after you got the visa. Its better to book for an appointment at start of the day and you might complete the whole process a lot faster. Later into the day queues get longer and longer even running as far as the lift and staircase due to delays piling up from earlier appointment quota. This was situation a month back, and am not sure what its like now.

Can you confirm you obtained a multiple entry visa on an Indian passport? They seemed fairly adamant with me that they would not issue anything other than single entry, 30-day visa. Was it through Star Travel?

[shafiq]

Is this your first china visa? If thats case you need to get a single entry 1 or 3 months first before going for a multiple entry!!

Or if this is a new passport with no chinese visa labels, you can submit copy of old passport pages with chinese visa labels.

I have got 3 yr multiple entry visa thrice, with latest one thro star in May 2023.

Can you confirm you obtained a multiple entry visa on an Indian passport? They seemed fairly adamant with me that they would not issue anything other than single entry, 30-day visa. Was it through Star Travel?

[flameproof]

Saw this one hanging in Mirador Mansion

But seriously, what else they have to do for you to get the do-not-come message?

[Apjace]

Is this your first china visa? If thats case you need to get a single entry 1 or 3 months first before going for a multiple entry!!

Or if this is a new passport with no chinese visa labels, you can submit copy of old passport pages with chinese visa labels.

I have got 3 yr multiple entry visa thrice, with latest one thro star in May 2023.

I did have a 6 month, multiple entry business visa on my old passport pre-covid, however, though I submitted all of that with my application, the counter staff were pretty inflexible.
Next renewal will try one of these options.

[shafiq]

For HK PR if you have a short validity visa, its used to be easy to get 3 yr multiple entry. Indeed when submitting the application the agent only gave the 3 month business multiple entry label copy thats on my new passport. It was only during document verification i requested for 3yr, i mentioned i had a 3yr multiple entry label in my old passport and i was asked to submit those copies as well. You can get 1yr first and then go for 3yr, if they wont budge. They are pretty stubborn w.r.t these.

I did have a 6 month, multiple entry business visa on my old passport pre-covid, however, though I submitted all of that with my application, the counter staff were pretty inflexible.
Next renewal will try one of these options.