Visa for China
 

We are going to Shanghai and Beijing in October. What is the most efficient way to obtain a visa? We will be sightseeing. We live in New Jersey.

go to the UN legation in NYC and get a visa there...

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/ywzn/lsyw/vpna/

If you're not going until October, then you have time to send in your passport with a courier. Send it to the appropriate office.

http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/zmzlglj/t84229.htm

<<<2. If you cannot come in person, you may entrust someone else or a travel/visa agent to drop off your application at the visa office of the Embassy or Consulate-General which holds consular jurisdiction over the state where you reside.>>> They then say that MAILED applications will not be accepted, but don't say if FedEx, UPS, DHS or similar courier is acceptable.

Hope this helps!

It's either in person or via an agent. Definitely won't work if you FedEx it in.

rkkwan, thanks for the clarification. :) I know a lot of places consider FedEx type delivery services to be a courier for their purposes. Dang it, that would have been so much easier for my trip too!

I'm cheap and don't want to pay for a courier but live 4 hours from Chicago.

Three years ago I used a website called mychinavisa.com. My experience with the service was very positive - efficient and speedy.

Just pay for the Visa service. It's quick and easy. The pain of payment will be over quickly. This may be true even if you live in NJ. You're time has some value. Going into NYC and waiting to get your Visa can be avoided with a little cash. I think we paid $140 per visa.

Our visa applications are currently in the hands of MyChinaVisa.com. So far, they have been quick to communicate and seem very reliable. They e-mailed promptly to any questions I had and they sent us an e-mail saying they received our applications and another one today telling us that things were processing well and should be done soon.
They were the cheapest of the 3 services I researched:

Passportsandvisas.com
Fee $59
Return Shpg $30
Total: $89

OasisChinaVisa.com
Fee $35
Return Shpg $20
Total: $55

MyChinaVisa.com
Fee $43
Return Shpg $19
Total: $52

These prices are for services and return shipping only PER application.
The charge for each visa is $140. And you will have to pay to send it TO them. We used FedEx and their cheapest rate (I think it was 3 day shipping, was about $12 from New Hampshire to Chicago).
Also, they accept credit cards but charge an extra 3%.

Good luck!
It's exciting once it gets to be time to send it in...means your trip is getting close!!
We leave in 7 weeks!!
Happy, safe travels :


www.luv2globetrot.com

There's something wrong with your numbers, or something wrong with your math. 43+19 = 62, not 52.

travisa is another company worth considering - I got very good service from them for my Indian visa.

OOPS!! My bad! I copied this over from a document I had and never did notice that error.
SO SORRY! I am sufficiently embarrassed!

I still recommend mychinavisa, though....at least so far.
I'll re-confirm once I get the visas in the mail (and our passports back). They also got many good reviews from tripadvisor.

Thursdays, I was also going to recommend looking at travisa - I was very impressed with their service for our India visas!

I also recommend Travisa - am about to use them for 4th time. Also going to Shanghai in Oct.

if i was near to ny i would take it personally and save the money and buy myself something nice in china

Many thanks for all of the quick and helpful responses to my visa question. Happy traveling to all!

Well I'm glad to hear about the good experiences with Travisa, since they have a monopoly on the India market!

I got my China Visa this week in New York. There were virtually no lines. I went in last Friday to drop off the application and waited on line for no more than 15 minutes. I went back Wednesday to pick up the visas and there was no line at all. They gave me a little bit of a hard time with the application - insisting I fill in the address of our hotel in Beijing and my daughter's school name, address and phone number, but each time the visit was less than 20 minutes. However, I drove in and paid for parking because I expected to have to wait on line so as it turns out, I probably could have used a service for virtually the same money.

The China Consulate is on 11th and 42nd. It takes about 20 minutes to drop off and 10 to pick it up approximately 2-3 days later. You need pictures and also where the address where you are staying the first night in China. If you live in NJ take the bus to the Port Authority or go to NY Waterway in Weehawken. The office is directly across from the Intrepid.

Can you just get a visa for China when you get to Hong Kong?

You don't need a visa to enter Hong Kong, so you could go to Hong Kong and apply for your China visa there. But the cost will be the same, and you'll be spending some of your vacation time getting the visa. How much time do you have in Hong Kong and how much of that time are you willing to waste getting your visa?

DEFINITELY go to mychinavisa.com. The experience was a 10+.

Used them about 8 weeks ago. Sent them our passports and application on a Monday. The following Tuesday or Wednesday they were back in Boulder,CO.

Customer service is OUTSTANDING!