Thorn Tree travel forum

1

The agency in Ktm will arrange the group visa and yes, any visa you´ll arrange in advance to China will be scrapped when you pass the Friendship Bridge.

high road to ..

2

From what people have been reporting on these boards it seems that people entering Tibet from Kathmandu are unable to continue on into China.

WeiLong in Tibet

http://thewanderingant.com/travels/betel-nut.html

3

You can continue for as long as your visa says but seeing as you're already a "group", you wont have to change to individual visas. There may be a problem, though, extending the group visa.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

4

your tibet visa is valid for the rest of china. when you book your tour in kathmandu tell them that you are travelling on to china and you should get thirty days. the group visa doesnt include everyone on the tour, specify it just for you and your friends. you will however have to leave china at the same time as your friends. you wont be able to extend the group visa though. would recommend a trip to mongolia if you need a new chinese visa. (just because it was a cool place). have just done the same trip with no problems.

5

When entering from Nepal into Tibet/China you have to enter on a group Chinese visa. This visa is a piece of paper rather than a visa that is placed in your passport. It will have the names of each person in your group. This visa is usually only valid for 21 days though some people manage to get 28 days. This visa allows you to travel anywhere in China. You must enter and exit with all the same people that are listed on your group visa. Group visas are usually very difficult to extend so people try and "split" the visa meaning that they go to a PSB office (usually in Golmud or Xining) and apply for individual Chinese tourist visas.

If you arrive in Nepal with a Chinese visa already in your passport, it will be cancelled and you will not be allowed to use it. You must enter on a group visa when entering from Nepal into Tibet. If you fly from Kathmandu to a city outside of the Tibet Autonomous Region (ex. Chengdu or Beijing), then you can use a standard Chinese tourist visa. It is only when you go from Nepal into the TAR that you are required to have a group Chinese visa. As #4 has said, try to get a group visa with just you and the people you are traveling with.

Need more travel information for Tibet? Check these out…

The Land of Snows

Life on the Tibetan Plateau

6

Det er fuldstændig rigtigt hvad der bliver sagt. lad være med at få et kinesisk visum hjemmefra. Det bliver annuleret og pengener er tabt. Som sagt kan i få et 21 dages gruppevisum. det er vigtigt, at det kun er jeres navne der står på visummet da reglerne er, at man ankommer og forlader Tibet sammen. at dele gruppevisummet kan undertiden lade sig gøre men er ikke nemt. Xining og Golmud er de bedste steder at få gruppevisaet ændret til et almindeligt turistvisum, hvis i skal være i Kina i længere tid. men der er ingen garanti for at det kan lade sig gøre. tidligere kunne det også lade sig gøre i Chengdu, men det er nu ikke længere et godt sted. Yunnan har altid været helt håbløs hvad angår konvertering af gruppevisum.

7

Hi,
Does anybody know if it's possible to change the travel permit to a Chinese visum in Xian, Beijing, Shanghai, HongKong or Macau (as those are the cities where I'm planning to stay for some days)?

Many thanks!