I know Tauck doesn’t do any China tours these days, but I’m going to Xi’An with another company to see the terracotta warriors. Because of that, I need to get a China visa.
I researched the requirements for a China visa – it’s fairly involved – and decided to use a visa company, Visa Central. Incidentally, Visa Central also does business under the name CIBT.
Applying for the China visa is involved. There’s a form on the China website that you have to fill out, then print. The printed copy is sent with your application. There’s a tricky thing in that form – it has to be filled out in CAPITAL LETTERS. If you use any lower case letters, they reject your application.
They want a list of any other names you used, names of your father and mother, their birth dates, nationalities, and where born. Employment for the last five years, your detailed itinerary in China, with dates, names of hotels and addresses for each date.
Then there are the supporting documents. You need to list all the countries you visited in the past 12 months with the entry and exit dates. You have to send them a scan of the front and back of your driver’s license. If you visited Turkey, you need to full out a separate form and send a scan of your entry and exit stamps for Turkey. Military service? You need to include a copy of your DD-214.
Visited China before? They want a copy of your previous visa and you need to send in your expired passport with that visa, along with your current passport. And these are just the things I remember.
You can see why you might need a visa company to help you. My complaint about Visa Central is that they “nickel and dime” you. They push their “premium service” hard but it’s $300 extra per person. That’s in addition to their regular charges, which are about $200 (that includes China’s visa processing fee). Want them to review your application and supporting documents before you mail the physical papers to them? That’s an additional $75 per person (if you don’t take the premium service).
I got an email from them asking me to upload my passport photos. But when I went to do that, I found a charge of $35 per person. I’ll just send them the pictures when I send in my documents.
If you use the FedEX label they include with their kit to send your documents to them, that’s $59. They charge you $55 to ship your passport back to you.
It appears that if you do get a visa, it’s good for 10 years, multiple entry.
I can see why Tauck doesn’t do tours to China. Getting visas for everyone would be a nightmare.
I haven't gotten my visa yet and expect some back and forth before I do. Wish me luck!
