Visa Application Process: Visiting China
I recently obtained my Chinese Visa. Thankfully, I now live in a province that has a Chinese consulate. Canada has 4 Chinese consulates which are located in:
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Calgary, Alberta
- Toronto, Ontario
- Montreal, Quebec
China Visa Application Process
To start the application process I simply printed off the visa application form from the Chinese
Embassy website. I filled out all of the sections by hand. I then printed off all of my travel documents including my hotel accommodations and trip itineraries, and attached them to the completed forms.
To apply, I had to drive into downtown Vancouver to the Chinese consulate building. For this type of visa application you must apply in person. You can’t apply by sending your application in via mail courier. If you cannot physically get to a location, a trusted other or a travel agent must go on your behalf in person for an interview.
What You Have To Do Next…
Once at the building, I took the elevator to the second floor and obtained a ticket number from the machine at the entrance. The number tells you when you will be served and at what counter. After about 45 minutes of wait time, they processed my application and gave me a slip to pick it up a week later. If I wasn’t available to pick it up, someone else could do that on my behalf. The visa option that I applied for was a multiple entry and exit over a maximum period of 1 year. I was upgraded by the lady who processed my forms allowing this to be up to 9 years for the same price of $142.
Application Pick-Up
A week later I went back downtown and picked up my passport from the collections desk. The ticketed system on the processing and collections side is very efficient, and it only took 20 minutes. The Chinese Consulate only accepts CASH or DEBIT CARD (so basically digital cash) to pay. Be sure to bring the right form of payment as Credit Cards are not accepted. The Chinese Visa itself takes up a full page of my passport, and will not expire until 2024. My passport expires in 2025, so that works out pretty well.
By now I am currently enjoying my trip in China. Hello, from the other side of the world!! See you all next week for an update on my adventures.
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Carolynne
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November 9, 2015 @ 1:40 am
You are lucky that you “got a slip to pick it up a week later” on your first visit. I heard stories where people made a mistake on the form and they’ve been told to come back again with the new form. It’s difficult if you don’t live near the office. Also the form is getting bigger and longer with so many unnecessary questions.
November 11, 2015 @ 9:06 pm
I agree Tara! Yes, the Vancouver Consulate is very efficient. So much so, that if you didn’t come up with your number in 20-30 seconds, they moved to the next number and you had to take another one.
I have heard that if you don’t live near a Consulate, you have to pay someone (or a service) to look after it for you on your behalf. I can only imagine what a headache that would be.
I thankfully had the person who was going on the trip with me, had a residence in China, listed as a reference on my application. This probably made things easier as well.
Are you going to China?! Details 🙂