Applying for visa for China - best way and need for supporting documentation?

thriftykatie

We are hoping to go to China in a couple of weeks and cannot apply for visas yet as waiting on receipt of my daughter's passport. This will make it very tight to apply for a visa and so am intending to use the express service which takes 3 working days.

Other than use 'agencies' which charge a fortune to queue for you, there seem to be two ways of doing this - going to the embassy and queuing (but no indication how long except advice to arrive early) or going to the application centre which involves booking an appointment time but then apparently still involves queuing (and I assume a premium on price although not clear on their websites) Anyone any experience of either of these methods?

It is also unclear whether need to submit confirmation of flights (think this was introduced during the Olympics and some sources now say not necessary). We will be travelling airline staff standby so can print an eticket but it will say standby. Does this matter?

Have spent hours researching this without complete success so hoping you moneysavingexperts can help out ....

Albannach1876

Hi Thriftykatie, can't offer all the help you need, but I went to China as part of a journey on the Trans-Mongolian Railway in October last year (so after all the olympic and paralympic events had finished), and had to provide both proof of inward and outward journeys to / from China AND proof of accommodation for all nights there.
There are a couple of websites which might help you, although you probably wouldn't have thought of checking them out. Firstly Realrussia, who actually organised all our train tickets and visas for Belarus, Russia, Mongolia and China. Even if you don't use them to book, there is some info on their website (I can't provide a link but it's dot co dot uk!). Needing four separate visas meant it was easier to get them to go and do all the queuing for us!Also the train website Seat61 has a section on travel to China and visas.
Hope you get things sorted and have a great time!

nigelgg

I went to China twice last year, to work during the Olympics, and to watch the Paralympics. I used Travel-Direct and their service was great, particularly since I had to apply for my second visa after I got back from my first trip, and I only had 2 weeks to get it!

You do need to supply confirmation of return air tickets and hotel reservations for your entire stay in China. I thought the price was very reasonable, considering that they took all the stress out of the application process.