Lhasa to Nepal, March/April 2011

davyd - reports vary considerably. I am pretty sure that there are one or two which say that the visa was 30 days but most are 21-28 days. Either way the time is limited.

Ruth

I was also wondering why it is 28 days long. Perhaps they count by weeks. I think those who reported 30 days probably thought visa length was just around one month without checking exact dates (in my case from November 30th to December 27th).

Two agencies in Kathmandu have replied to me saying that the Chinese visa will be be valid for a maximum of 20 days (one agency) or 28 days (second agency). One agency mentioned that "we will see what happens when they open Tibet in April".

Ruth, why do you think the visa cannot be extended? I am planning to spend around 10 days in Tibet and then at least 20 in China. I have read about lots of people extending their visas in China (it seems to be more complicated in some places than in others, but very possible). Is it because it is some kind of "group" visa, which is not stamped in my passport? That would be quite tricky. They say if I get my Chinese visa in advance, it will be cancelled when I apply for the Tiber permit in Nepal. Maybe I will have to make a visa run to Hong Kong or Vietnam...

this Chinese group visa is absolutely impossible to extend, one man from my group (German) even went to PSB office in Beijing and asked specifically is it possible to extend it. Reply he got was negative. So if 18 days (including 2 days of train journey out of Lhasa) is not enough then you'll have to make visa run.

Also indeed some travellers have their valid Chinese visas cancelled when they applied in Kathmandu.

Ruth, why do you think the visa cannot be extended? I am planning to spend around 10 days in Tibet and then at least 20 in China.

This is NOT a normal Chinese tourist visa. it is a special group permit visa, even if you are a group of one.

They say if I get my Chinese visa in advance, it will be cancelled when I apply for the Tiber permit in Nepal.

This is true because you can only have one valid visa on your passport at a time.

Maybe I will have to make a visa run to Hong Kong or Vietnam

This is what people do but not Vietnam. Reports of getting a Chinese tourist visa in Vietnam are very iffy, more generally impossible in Hanoi and difficult to impossible in HCMC. For certainty, HK is your best bet.

Ruth