China visa?

My friend is holding a Canadian passport that we plan to travel overland from Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia to China. Is there anyone could suggest the best spot to get the China visa without too much time waiting?
What is the document required for?
Thanks!

For your friend - Canada

For you - your own country

Tashkent, Uzbekistan is generally the easiest place to get a Chinese visa. It takes a few days and no additional documents are required. Avoid the embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Hi,

When an embassy issues a Chinese visa, they usually give you a maximum of 3 months from the date the issue it to actually enter China (sometimes they give you even less time - when I got my Chinese visa, I had to enter China within one month). So where you apply for a Chinese visa will depend on how quickly you want to travel through the various countries on the way to China.

Getting visas in Central Asia can be a pain in the ass - if it's possible (ie. timewise) I would encourage you to look at getting your Chinese visa before you get to Central Asia (ie. in Moscow, Warsaw, etc). I personally know nothing about what you need to get Chinese visas in these places, but I can't imagine it's any more difficult than in Central Asia.

If you do decide to get the visa in Central Asia, Bishkek and possibly Almaty are reasonable bets. I'm going to have to disagree with fluffy_bunny - I found the Chinese embassy in Bishkek much more straight-forward to deal with than the embassy in Tashkent (I visited both embassies in Spring 2009, and got my Chinese visa in Bishkek). Either way however, the visa is likely to be expensive and take a fair amount of time and hassle to get.

One last point - in the last year, when troubles flared up in Xinjiang, the embassies in Central Asia completely stopped giving out visas to travelers wanting to enter China overland. I know of people who waited a month or more to get their Chinese visas because of this. If more problems flare up in Xinjiang, this could well happen again. I would advise you to have an idea of an alternative plan in case this happens, or to get your visa before you get to Central Asia.

As for documents, in Central Asia at least, all you need is the Canadian passport. Officially, the Chinese embassies here ask for a whole host of documents for your visa application (when I visited, the Tashkent embassy required flight and hotel bookings while the Bishkek embassy required an original LOI from a tourist agency in Urumqi). The reality, however, is that you pay a travel agency a fee and they "sort" all this nonsense out for you.

Good luck,
Giora

I heard that http://StanTours.com may arrange assistance with getting a Chinese visa in Tashkent. Somebody (a tourist) told me that he gave his papers, paid the fee and the company's commission and got the visa in 5 days after a trip outside of Tashkent.

After almost a year of living in Central Asia and over a year in the Caucasus and meeting numerous CouchSurfers, travellers and the like, every one of them said that the embassy in tashkent was infinately better than the one in Bishkek. And every thread on this forum will tend to agree with tashkent being the easiest. During the olympics and the flare up with the minority groups along the border, Tashkent was indeed issuing visas, and was the only embassy in all of Central Asia to do so. Furthermore, the ones in Bishkek and Almaty frequently (although not always) ask for pre-bookings with a Chinese tour company whereas the one in Tashkent doesn't.

However, all of these stories were hear-say as i have no personal experience with any of these embassies.

hi wondering if any one can help? i'm going to tibet, but will be staying in chengdu for 1 night first before flying out to lhasa.

application for a chinese visa will require a hotel address and booking. however, i'm worried that my visa will not be granted as i can only provide a hotel booking for the 1st day and my tibetian agency (SnowLion Tours) has advised not to include in my application that i'm visiting Tibet or there might be delays or non approvals.

can anyone advise on how to go about this?