I drove to Washington DC to hand in my visa application (along with my passport, a photo, and copies of my international airline tickets and hotel reservations).

The drive took only an hour, as I waited until after rush-hour. I drove to 2201 Connecticut Avenue NW and quickly found a parking place – no meters around even though I had a handful of quarters ready to use. I walked to what I thought was the Chinese embassy, but didn’t see a sign. I turned the other way and saw the embassy with its red Chinese flag blowing in the wind.

Well, I was at the wrong location! I had 2201 Connecticut instead of 2201 Wisconsin Avenue! I have no idea how that happened since I had looked on the official web site to get all the details.

Back in my car, I got to the right location with plenty of time to wait for my number to be called before they closed for lunch. Lucky for me I have a GPS system in my car since crossing over from Conn to Wisc is not a direct shot.

One employee behind the glass window would prompt for the next number in line and if no one walked up to her window in 5-7 seconds, she would hit the button again! I moved to the front to get ready for her fast button move.

While waiting, I watched the opening Olympic ceremonies that were showing on the large flat-screen tv. I noticed one sign on the wall: Pick up schedule for the visas..and the dates. This is my number two error. I thought I only had to deliver the documents and they would mail them back to me. Wrong! I would have to come back in 3 days to pick up my documents. Fortunately for me, it’s my Friday day off from work.

Once I was called, the employee reviewed my documents and she asked the details of my job, to which she wrote down in red ink. Oh no, I thought. Red pen. Bad sign. Nope, everything was fine. I walked away saying “xie xie” to which I received a smile.

So, lessons learned, double check the details. Also, I recommend not driving to your local embassy office (unless you live realllly close to them) and just save on the gas and time and mail your documents to an official agency that handles visas, which probably comes out to the same cost and less stress. Even my friend Beth told me to mail the documents in.

So, blame it on not paying attention to all the details and/or all the planning I’ve done for this trip!

Four weeks to go!!

Monica

Hi Monica,
I paid $80 to an agent who took care of $50 fee for the visa (cheaper for us Canadians!!) & $30 for the agent's service. Well worth my short drive to his local office so he can make the 2 hour trip to Ottawa for processing.

one good thing about going in person is you know you have it in your hand and are one step closer to getting there...

Hi Monica

I plan to go to the Embassy since it is not that far for me. I will be sure to be on Wisconsin and not Conn Ave!

You said you had the hotel reservations. So you DO need to show all the hotels you will be staying in? How about domestic flights in China?

Just got off the phone with our Canadian friends who are making the trip with us and they did not think they would need all the hotels.

Any comments welcome. Thanks!

I just got my visa this week in NYC. You do not need domestic flight tickets, just international flights and all hotels. The agent looked at each one making sure all dates match and are continuous. She kept all paperwork. Plus, since we were in China before, I had to make a copy of previous visa from our old passports which luckily I had with me. I felt like I was in China already. I had to wait 2 hrs. for my turn with 150 people(mostly chinese) ahead of me in a crowded room with people sitting on stairs and this was 9 AM. Plus this was a 2 hr. drive to NYC from upstate NY. All for $130 plus $30 per person for same day pick-up. Had to return in PM to pick it up in 90 degree heat. Definitely not a fun day.

We applied in Canada for our visas and they wanted hotel reservations. But as I posted elsewhere, we changed the hotel reservations once we were in China with no problems.

"So you DO need to show all the hotels you will be staying in?"

YES, although if you change them later on they won't know.

"How about domestic flights in China?"

NO, just your flight from home to China and back home again.


I agree that I was more comfortable hand delivering my passport and documents than mailing them. I'll pick them up on Friday.

Monica

Barb65,

Just 1/2 block north of the building is a public parking lot. I paid $4, although I think I should have paid $2. Tony will go with me on Friday and I'll park the car in the Safeway parking lot (located 1/2 block below the building (2201 Wisconsin Ave NW).

There is street/meter parking but every spot was taken.

Monica

Barb:
I sent mine by registered mail to mychinavisa.com in Houston,TX. It cost $5.+ as opposed to overnight for about $15. They have been very good, and they e-mailed me when they got my paperwork. I had not really gotten my itinerary down, but I did cheat a little bit: I booked large chain hotels since they don't charge you if you cancel within 24 hours (check the booking code first). So, this gave me more time to do my itinerary, and when I am sure, I will cancel the chain hotels. I just didn't want to wait until last minute to get my Visa.

Went to get my visa this morning in NYC. Arrived around 9.15 am and was out of there by 9.35. Didn't even have time to read all the free magazines and newspapers.

I gave them 4 hotels, there are lots of undocumented nights, since I don't have all my hotels yet, and it did not appear to cause any problems.

I did have copies of exsisting reservations and flights going in and out of China.

Thanks Monica for the parking tips! You must have paid the lowest parking fee in DC!!

And that is a good suggestion Lolly of making reservations that can be changed.

As of now I probably won't get the Visa until Oct and may actually have more info to give them by then. Sounds like most things that it depends who you get, etc.

Barb,

I picked up my visa today. I walked into the building and right up to the cash register window, paid with my M/C card, walked over to the next window and got my passport back. Out the door in 3 minutes.

I found a parking spot on the street, up about 2 blocks. 25 cents per 1/2 hour.

Monica