How to Apply for a Tourist Visa to China

Having included China in the second half of my six-month itinerary, I knew there was one more reason I had to go home for the holidays. I had to take care of my Chinese Visa last week while I was still in the Philippines. It was easier for me this time. I was just basically renewing it. However, it would be for a slightly longer period—30 days.

I wrote a step-by-step process on visa application a few months ago based on my first experience as an applicant. However, visa application rules have changed since then, as I found out on my second application. Thus, let me update that post right here: How to Apply for a Tourist Visa to China.


STEP 1: PREPARE YOUR DOCUMENTS

Valid Passport	Must at least have 6 months validity and blank pages.
Passport Emergency Contact Page	Photocopy of the emergency contact information page (the back page of the passport), completely filled out.
Photo (passport-size or 2x2)	Colored, white background, well-kept hair, collared shirt, full-face front view, no eyewear and definitely no headgear. Glue, not staple, the photo to the application form. And they do not accept scanned photos.
Invitation Letter (with a copy of the inviter's valid Chinese residence visa and passport information page or Chinese national identity card)	I know. You are a tourist. No one is really inviting you to go to China. How to get around this? Book your hotel/s and make arrangements with them. Explain the requirement and ask for an invite. In my case, they did send me an invite but they wouldn't send me a copy of their identity card. So, instead, I booked all my hotels in all the cities I will be visiting in China (5, count them, 5!) and presented these. I even presented my entry and exit tickets, even if they do not require these, just to be sure.
Proof of No Derogatory Record	For Filipinos, this will be the NBI Clearance, valid for travel abroad.
Proof of Financial Standing (updated on the month of your visa application)	For most people, a bank certificate or passbook for your bank account will do. Must be updated within the month you are applying. Include the receipt for when you purchased the certificate itself. The money seen here is sort of an assurance that you have the ability to fund your travels, that you are indeed a tourist with money to burn on this trip. If your trip will be sponsored by another person, then it is their bank certificate that's required, along with a sponsorship letter. If a company will sponsor the trip, then you need to present the company's bank certificate and business registration along with your sponsorship letter. If a Chinese citizen will sponsor the trip, you will need his bank certificate, sponsorship and invitation letter, a copy of his valid residence visa and passport information page or Chinese national ID. (See Note 2 below.)

Additional requirements for specific people:

Employed persons (employed in their home country)	Photocopy of Company ID
	Photocopy of Social Security System (SSS) ID (If not available, the pink slip will do.)
	SSS contributions (Print-out from the SSS website will do)
	Photocopy of Tax Identification Numer (TIN) ID
	Photocopy of latest Income Tax Return (ITR) Statement (BIR 2316)
Students (students in their home country)	Photocopy of School ID
Businessmen	Photocopy of business registration
	Photocopy of TIN ID
	Photocopy of latest ITR

Some notes:

1.	Applicants 16-21 years old, personal appearance is required.
2.	It is not specifically stated in the requirements list of the Chinese Embassy that an applicant's sponsor could be a person without Chinese citizenship, a Filipino citizen, for example. However, I know of a friend, Filipino, who did not have to submit any other requirements because her father, Filipino, sponsored the whole thing. They were all granted visas and traveled to China without any immigration hitch.
3.	The requirements stated above are for first-time applicants. For those who have been granted Chinese tourist visas before, you do not need to present proof of no derogatory record, proof of financial standing, and any other documents in the table for additional requirements for specific people.
4.	Take note because THIS IS IMPORTANT. Document requirements and visa procedures in general do change. Surprise! So really do not rely solely only on this guide. At the very least, skim through the consular services section of the Chinese Embassy website.

STEP 2: PREPARE YOUR VISA FEE

Below is the schedule of visa fees for holders of Philippine passports who apply directly at the Chinese Embassy. Asking a travel agency to process the visa for you may imply a few additional bucks. The regular processing time is 4 working days. If you need a rush job, then you need to pay up: an additional 1,100 PHP for three-day processing and 1,700 PHP for next-day processing.

Number of Entries	Fee (in PHP)
Single Entry	1,400
Double Entry	2,100
Multiple Entry valid for six months	2,800
Multiple Entry valid for twelve months	4,200

STEP 3: FILL OUT THE APPLICATION FORM

I made the mistake of filling out an old application form. Good thing the immigration officer just gave me a copy of the updated application form and asked me to fill it out right there. They ask a whole lot more information this time. You can download a copy of the new form at the Chinese Embassy website.

Some notes:

1.

People say that Chinese visa officers do not take too well with journalists/writers. One travel agency I went to reported that they once processed the visa application of a journalist/writer but at the end of it, the visa was denied by the embassy. I'm sure that this does not apply to all cases. If you are doing some type of news coverage in China or will be working as a resident correspondent there, then you have your specific visa application guidelines for journalists. If you are a journalist or a writer and are going to China not for business but for vacation, the best you can do really is submit all required documents and hope against hope that you be granted a visa. Their country, their rules.

2.

You can use the blank space for any other declarations. I used it to explain that in lieu of an invitation letter, I have confirmed hotel bookings and confirmed entry and exit tickets to China.

STEP 4: SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

For this step, you have two options: (1) course your application through a travel agency (who will charge a processing fee, of course); or, (2) go to the Chinese embassy yourself to submit your application.

Option 01: Travel Agency

I approached a travel agency close to where I live in Manila and they said that they cannot get me a 30-day single entry visa. Common practice in the travel agency trade is to request for 14-day visas, because normally, they only organize holidays lasting a few days to a week. So this may be a good option for those traveling through China on a two-week duration. You go to an agency, hand them your documents, pay up and they take care of the rest.

However, I am an independent traveler and I intend to stay longer than 14 days, almost a month, in fact. The agency adviced that I get, instead, a double-entry visa. That's fine and all but China is a huge country. Visa runs to the nearest border may take more than a day of my time. A round-trip flight to a neighboring country is out of the question because that will be very expensive. Thus, I had to resort to Option 2.

Option 02: Directly at the Embassy

1.	Having completed all the required documents, you need to go to the Chinese Embassy at World Center Building, 330 Buendia Avenue (Gil Puyat), Makati City before 8 a.m. There's already a line for applicants outside the building even before working hours.
2.	Once the office is open, you (still on queue) enter the doors and right at the door, you will be given a number for the independent visa applicants queue.
3.	Once your number has been flashed, go to the window assigned to you to submit all your documents. If everything's fine, the officer will give you a slip of paper indicating the date on when you should claim your visa. You go home after that.

STEP 5: PAY THE FEE AND CLAIM YOUR PASSPORT

This part is the easiest. If you applied through a travel agency, you only need to wait for their notification that your passport, now with a Chinese visa, is ready for claiming. If you opted to apply directly at the Chinese embassy, then you need to show up to claim your passport, also now with a Chinese visa, on the date written on the slip of paper the visa officer gave you when you submitted your application.

When you get there, you get a number for the cashier queue, and once it is flashed, you pay at the cashier. They give you a receipt, which you present at the claiming window to get your passport. Easy. You are practically on your way to China, my friend.


Was this update any helpful? Did I miss anything? Anything incorrect? Do you have any questions you think I could address? Have you applied for a Chinese visa before? How was your experience?

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