Hello,
I'm currently living and working in UB. I have a multiple enrty working visa for mongolia as well as a residency card. I'm planning on taking a trip down to China for about 12 days in two weeks. Because I am usually busy with work in the mornings I only really have time to go to the chinese embassy once so I want to make sure that I have all my things in order before I go. I plan on taking the train down to beijing and then a stop in hohhot on the way back. I've looked on the internet and there seems to be some conflicting information. Do I need to have a round trip train ticket? I was told by my girlfriend that they don't sell tickets from China to Mongolia at the train station here in UB. If that's the case, what have others done in this situation? Also, do I have to have hotel reservations for the whole time, or would just a couple of days be ok? Can I get hotel bookings without actually staying at that place? Don't really like having things too planned out when I travel. If anyone has had experience going UB-Beijing-UB, any info you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
You should be OK without outbound tickets or reservations. There are ways around the documentation, such as refundable air ticket and dummy hotel bookings, but likely not necessary. If you can't get another recent US citizen applicant in UB to answer on point before you have to apply yourself, I'd suggest going to the Chinese Embassy and if they give you any dramas, take your Mongolia residence paperwork/cards and "negotiate," pointing out that you're a working foreign resident of Mongolia and coming back isn't an issue. These are credentials that most forum posters here wouldn't have had, so difficult for you to draw direct inferences from the experiences of others.
I sure hope you know what you're doing, coming down in in the thick of Chinese New Year travel....
trusted partner
