Asia visas
 

OK, I understand that I don't need a visa for Japan, or for Hong Kong, or for Thailand.
But I will need one for China (dual entry since I'm leaving to Japan for a few days) and one for Viet Nam. I'll need one for Cambodia, but only planning to fly to Siem Reap from Bangkok for a few days so I'm assuming it makes no sense to get one in advance, just get it there right? So does it make any difference whether I send my passport to the China or the Viet Nam Visa office first? And how long are these taking these days, by the way?

Get the Cambodian one at the airport. Its a painless experience and if you are organised you should have it before your luggage arrives.

i usually find that it takes about 2 weeks round trip....from boston we send many of them to nyc, but each country is different and from fla you may need to send it some place else....usually the embassey in DC.... china may require that you use an agency... others will comment...

be aware that your thailand visa is for 30 days only, so you have to leave the country to get it renewed for stays more than 30 days..

Unless things have changed, you cannot get a Chinese visa by mail directly to a consulate. You must either appear in person, or you must use a visa service that appears in your stead. I've used mychinavisa.com several times, and their service is excellent. You can get expedited service (for extra $$) if you need it, but otherwise plan on about 5-8 business days for the process.

Oh, there's something I never thought of. I'll arrive in Bangkok on August 30 and depart on October 7. I'll be venturing to VietNam on a 19 day tour within that period then coming back and also going to Siem Reap for a few days. I was following that I didn't need a Visa at all for Thailand, but hadn't thought about arrival and departure being more than 30 days apart. Does that affect anything?

Following directions online I need to send my passport to Houston for the China visa. It seemed pretty clear on the website how to do it by mail. No?

By the way, statements like this confuse me:
"Please note that all Thailand tourist visas are valid for 90 days from the date the visa is issued; however, the duration of stay in Thailand is limited to 60 days."

Does this mean that you must LEAVE before 90 days from the date of issuance? Since I will be arriving in Thailand for over a month after more than a month traveling in other parts of Asia, this gets a little difficult.

From the gov't web site, it looks like you cannot get a chinese visa by mail:

<i>
Revised as of June 30,2008

1. Mailed Applications

The Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General only accept mail applications for document authentication.
Mail visa application is not acceptable. For visa applications,applicants are required to come to the visa office, entrust a relative, friend, or travel/visa agent (no power of attorney is required) to come to the visa office for the application process.
</i>

Yes, you must leave before 90 days from the date of issuance.

To put it another way: you don't want to be in the country or leaving the country on a date that is later than the last valid date of the visa.

But I don't think you need the 90-day visa. See this info:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1040.html

If you enter by air then you can stay for 30 days without a visa and:

The duration of stay in Thailand for persons who enter Thailand without a visa cannot exceed 90 days during any six-month period, counting from the date of first entry.

Your period of Thailand travel spans 39 days total. You say the VN trip is 19 days, but I will assume only 17 days are outside of Thailand (the other two days being the Thailand departure and return days).

That leaves a maximum of 22 days in Thailand. Less than that if you stay more than one night in Cambodia.

You will have 3 entries with no stays longer than 30 days so you can't exceed the limit of 90-days in 6 months.

I sent my passport to the Vietnam consulate in D.C. and got it back with visa in 7 days.

I have used travisa.com in the past (for Russia) and recommend them.

Regarding the China visa and Houston: yes, you send your passport to them by U.S. mail )or FedEx/UPS if you prefer). When they receive the passport, they'll haul it over to the Chinese consulate the following day. One or two days after that, the Chinese consulate gives it back to them with the visa stamp. Day after that, they'll FedEx it (2-day delivery) to you. You will need to sign for it when FedEx delivers. If you're not home, you'd need to go to the FedEx office.

Icuy, I found that exact same quote you cited, but immediately below it was the address of where to send a passport and the directions for getting the visa by mail. Is there any reason I was confused?

When you google there are also a number of passport agencies that will handle getting the visa for you by mail -- complete with forms and directions -- all for an extra fee of course.

And mrwunerful, thanks for the clarification of the Thai thing. That's how I was reading it, but just wanted to make sure.

OAT will handle getting my VietNam visa, but with my departure from home nearly a month and a half before I go to VietNam, I feel safer doing that on my own before hand.

Since I'll be in China first, looks like it makes sense to get that Visa first, then send it off for the VietNam one.

This is the information I was referring to -- can anyone figure out why I would be confused as to mail or no mail application?



"The Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General only accept mail applications for document authentication.

Mail visa application is not acceptable. For visa applications,applicants are required to come to the visa office, entrust a relative, friend, or travel/visa agent (no power of attorney is required) to come to the visa office for the application process.

Mail application should be sent to the Visa Office of the Embassy or Consulate -General whose consular jurisdiction covers your State, where the applicants live. You may check the Consular districts of the Embassy or Consulate-General to locate the the right Visa Office, otherwise, the documents shall be returned without processing."

Ambiguity plays an essential role in many east Asian cultures. Maybe that's why this seems confusing, or maybe the author is not a native Anglophone, or maybe it's the universal tradition of government-issued documents being problematic.

No matter which it may be, the "Mail application" in the last paragraph appears to be referencing the "mail applications for document authentication" in the 1st para. If you'd like an explanation of what "document authentication" means, I'm sure that you could contact the Chinese embassy for clarification. (As long as you don't contact them by mail.)

Here's the easy to follow document authentication procedure:
http://www.chinaconsulatechicago.org...gz/t175266.htm

"Documents issued in the United States to be used in China should be authenticated by the Chinese Embassy or a Chinese Consulate in the United States before they are sent to China. Our Consulate only accepts those authenticated documents with the Seals & Signatures of the Secretaries of the following 9 States: Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado."


Yep. That's clear as mud. But since I'm not in any of those 9 states -- I guess it doesn't even apply to me? And with the listing of the types of documents it mentions, I suspect that whole thing has nothing to do with Passports or Visas to China?

Just an FYI for the insanity of "document authentication", nothing to do with visas or passports.

For Thailand you will not need a tourist visa. When entering the country on August 30 you will get a 30 day allowance. Since you are going on a 19 day tour to Vietnam you will be leaving before the 30 days are up. When you return you will get another 30 days and on return from Cambodia another 30 days (15 if coming back by land).

You will probably have to show the airline proof that you are leaving Thailand within a 30 day period but your tour documents to Vietnam such surfice.

The 90 days within a 6 month period no longer seems to exist. Went out when they brought in the new 30 day exemption by air and 15 by land

I used CIBT and got Delta miles for doing so. Very quick turnaround and I bet they could get all of them for you.

I have also used mychinavisa.com before with good results and quick service even here in Hawaii. Good luck!

Aloha!