Indian tourist applying for a Visa to China

treadstone

Hi,

I am planning to visit China and Hong Kong. I know that Indians visiting Hong Kong don't need a visa if their travel period is less than 14 days.

I am trying to find out how and where I can apply for a Tourist visa to China in India - at the Chinese embassy or a Consulate ?

Do I have to be there in person, or can I get it done by an Agent ?

It will be great if anyone can share this information if they have gone through with this process.

Thanks,
YMR

Jeroen

Plenty of agents in Hong Kong can arrange this for you cheaply in 24-48 hours. I got it done in a day by a travel agent on Nathan Road. Many are easily found cia google. Best email ahead to ask for special conditions for Indian citizens.

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sudheer poppa

Makes sense to get it in India and go... Incase you are just planning to visit Shenzhen you can pick it up from HK. But for longer trips, given that you did not have a business visa for HK, the chinese consulate can reject in HK.

Also there is a lot of smuggling activities happening with Indian trying to sneak in chinese goods. So there is some amount of scrutiny for Indian applicants.

Better option is to apply through a well known agent in your city. It would take about a week including courier time. Atleast a month is needed in china to justify the visit. Thomas cook got it for me last twice from Bangalore.

Such a beautiful country........ Now dont make me go nostalgic

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treadstone

Hi Sudheer,

Thanks for the info - I didn't quite understand what you meant by "a month is needed" - do you mean we need to be in China for atleast a month in order to get a visa.

I was only planning to spend about a week, mostly Beijing and Shanghai - and then hop over to Hong Kong - You feel that wouldn't be enough for a visitor visa ?

By the way, you mentioned Thomas Cook did your visa - you mean you arranged for a complete package with Thomas Cook or just used their visa services. So if I have a Thomas Cook in my city, I could ask them to get my visa processed ?

Great stuff by the way, today is my first day on this forum, and glad that I decided to post here - Didn't expect replies this fast -

Thanks folks,
YMR

sudheer poppa

If you just wanna see beijing and SH, you can run around and finish it. But to really enjoy the just beijing and surrondings alone, I think you would need 7-8 days. I am not a big fan of Shanghai so you can do it as you like it. I was more thinking of the other options in China when I refered to one month.

Thomas cook did only the visa for me. No package and stuff. Any agent would do it for that matter, no need to pay the TC premium rates

treadstone

Hi Sudheer,

I am looking for suggestions like the one on Shanghai - I do want to spend sometime in Beijing and the Great wall - would love to visit Xian if possible, and skip Shanghai -
Any suggestions, if you don't mind, could you share your itinerary ?
Lastly, if you don't mind, how much did Thomas Cook charge you for this stuff ?

Regards,
YMR

eater

We visited both Xian and Shanghai - Xian beats Shanghai, 10 to 1 - the people are friendly, so much history...and so to continue in Clinton's words:

"I am delighted to begin my journey in Xian, once the capital of China, still the heartland of the Chinese people.

Over 1,000 years ago, during the Tang Dynasty, .... Xian was perhaps the most open and culturally advanced city in the entire world. From this place, trade routes (the start or end of the SILK ROAD) extended through Asia to Europe and Africa."

We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Old City walls, visited the theatre (Chinese opera, etc).
xie xie....

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Just happy to be here.........

manreet_16

its a tip for u that chinese are so particular about Quality and Politeness.Chinese shops can be located by there year of opening for eg 1998,2004 and not by the names...

sudheer poppa

I dont remember the cost :-/ Just that on an average its more than rest of the agencies...

Dont bother with my itenary as I was there for more than 10 weeks but mostly on work.

And I shall leave the recommendations to the rest of the members here, as I am too much a romantic and with China, I can tend to go a bit too much once I start explaining.

pontesnm

I live in the US and I have met several Chinese exchange students from Xian (they come over for dinner; my wife takes them grocery shopping). I have suggested that they should visit India and they asked me how they would go about getting a tourist visa.

Since you have travelled to China, how is it getting a Chinese visa in India. Do you have to appear in person or can you arrange with agency? (Since arrangements are often reciprocal Indians getting Chinese visas should be similar to Chinese getting Indian visas).

I would like to encourage more Chinese to visit India and perhaps more cross-border trade.