Chinese Visa Issues with Flight out
Replies: 16 - Last Post: Feb 5, 2013 1:13 AM Last Post By: SteHawk85
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Chinese Visa Issues with Flight out
Hello AllI have been agonising about getting a Chinese Visa for myself (UK Citizen) and my girlfriend (Estonian Citizen) for a few weeks now have been doing a lot of research and the TT forum has been great help.
we have now sorted our itinerary of hotels and attractions for the month we are spending in China. it was quite straight forward as we are treating China as a sight seeing tour and since there is so much to see and so little time I had already sorted our itinerary without knowing we had to do this.
the problem I have is the flights out of china issue. we are continuing our travels through SE Asia and plan on leaving overland to Laos via train. however we can't pre-book these tickets and the cheapest flights out of china I can find are £99 each. however, when travelling on a very tight budget this is a lot for us.
I gave the Chinese Embassy a call today and explained our situation to them, they said as long as we have proof of another flight at any time either home or somewhere else this should be enough. I then explained that we have a flight from Singapore to Darwin 4 months after we arrive in china where we require a 30 day visa. the lady said this should be fine for our visa application as long as we explain in our itinerary that we plan to leave via train to Laos to continue overland on our route to Singapore.
I’m a little worried that everything else I have read suggests this isn’t enough and we will be rejected and we will have to pay for our failed visa and be stuck with flights from KTM to Beijing that we cannot use.
Are people aware if this is enough for our visa or are we likely to apply and get refused as I feel we may? I know their Visa policy changes a lot and I see no reason why the embassy with give us duff information.
thanks
Ste
3
thanks very much for your replies.i feel better now applying for my Visa. thanks for the information about trains i will adjust this in our description to say thailand as opppose to Laos.
thanks again
Ste
4
No train or adjacent border between China and Thailand. If you want to go by train, state that you are going to Vietnam.You are one of the first people who have been able to get though to the Chinese Embassy with a visa enquiry and get a reply. Note that the person who handled your phone call will probably not handle your application - it is all done though the China Visa Application Centre: http://www.visaforchina.org/
If you are providing a flight into China, and then a detailed itinerary with hotel bookings, then you should be ok.
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Hi Drum BrakeI asked them if I need to go through VisaforChina and the lady said no I can turn up to the embassy and put my application in there. as long as I have a filled out form, my itinerary and flight details i.e. KTM to Beijing and Singapore to Darwin. I hope all will be ok as I really want to go to China and feel parts will be the highlight of our trip. if I cant get the Visa I will have to change my flights and spend an extra month in SE Asia which will be a shame.
Can I just tell them I plan leave via bus and this will save worrying about trains as I seem to continue to get this wrong :s
Fingers crossed and I will let you know how I get on. Think they should make people a bit more aware of the fact that if you are travelling a later flight somewhere else outside of China would suffice as I have spent quite a bit of time worrying about this and very nearly changed my flights to Hong Kong so I could get a Chinese visa there as it seems very straight forward.
Thanks again I really appreciate it.
Ste
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they may not accept bus transit, and there are no trains south of kunming.not to laos, not to thailand, not to myanmar.
.
you can say you are taking a train from nanning (guangxi province) to
hanoi, and you will be able to provide train numbers and times, and
you can list hotels in nanning and hanoi to make it all sound plausible.
.
http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm#Nanning-Hanoi%20by%20train
8
No we are applying in UK, I have spoken to them about her visa and they said she needs to fill out an extra form.Thanks I will look into Hanoi. I can book a few hotels there and then cancel them after we have the visa as well as a one in nanning. We plan to write out a detailed plan for them with train times and hotels as well as attractions and how long we intend to stay in each place.
Thanks for ur ideas I will be back with he outcome when we apply
11
Just so you know, since your transport logistics are off-You need a Visa to Vietnam.
You need a Visa to visit Burma. Foreigners are very limited in what borders they can cross, and its not recommended to go to Burma via land borders, but to fly, from either Kunming, or Bangkok. You may be able to cross a border for the day, but from China you need a permit and an escort not cheap and a pain too, all arranged in Kunming, then to Ruli, then to Lashio with the escort. Its 4-5 hours to Mandalay from there in a taxi share. Most people go to Hispaw a few days and hike and relax, then into Mandalay.
If you cross into Thailand via land border, you only get 15 days, via flight 30 days, but you can get a Thai Visa for 60 days at a Consulate/Embassy in most Asian capitals.
Most people go from China to Vietnam, you can go via train to Lao Cai, then up to Sapa or into Hanoi. Or bus from Nanning to Hanoi. From there, you go south to Saigon, then up Mekong thru Cambodia and Laos, then into Northern Thailand, then south to BKK and Islands.
Dont forget, if you do go from Mainland China to Hong Kong, and want to go back to China, you need a Multi Entry/Exit Chinese Visa, not difficult to get, just plan ahead.
12
Just an update for people who may have been or are in the same situation. We received our Chinese visa yesterday and didn't need a flight out of China. we just highlighted our later flight from Singapore to Darwin and said we are leaving overland to Vietnam via train. In turn giving details of the train times, as well as this we provided them with our booking confirmation for our hotel in Vietnam. This proved to be enough and we are now owners of a single entry 30 day visa in ChinaThanks for all your help
Ste
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Hiya GuysLot of helpful tips in here thanks.
Me and my girlfriend are traveling to Thailand and will be visiting Laos Cambodia and Vietnam before moving into China. Our problem is we will be arriving in Thailand from the UK on April 6th and will be leaving China for the UK August 24th. A chinese Visa by most accounts is 30 days meaning we will be able to enter from the end of July, I have also read that you can only apply for a visa a maximum three months before you travel. We will be in Thailand 3 months before we travel, Can we apply from Thailand?
Also we were planning on a train from Hanoi into Southern China before moving east to Singapore and then North to Xian and Beijing, we are planning on using trains - but again you can't book this far in advance - and because of the time frame won't have booked hostels/hotels this far in advance, we were planning on being a bit more spontaneous about it all!!
From what I have read, we will need to provide details of our train from Hanoi into China, will we then have to provide hotel details of everywhere else we are visiting including dates?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated
