Visas

There are essentially two ways to get Visas into China. The first way is to get your Visa while you are still in your own country, before you have left on your adventure here. This is the best way if you are planning on flying into any other city other than Hong Kong, or if you are only coming for a short trip, say two weeks or less. The specifics of this will depend on your country's requirements and its relationship with China. See a Chinese Visa site or your local government site for more information.

If you are planning on being here for a while, or you are planning on flying into HK directly, the best option is to get your Visa in Hong Kong. This is a relatively painless process, and there are really two ways of going about doing this. The first is not recommended by us, although it is admittedly cheaper. That way is to go to the Immigration Department directly. This method is not recommended because you will physically have to find the building, which is no small endeavor on its own, and then you will have to wait 2 -- 3 business days to get your visa. The immigration department is near Causeway Bay in HK. You can contact:

Immigration Department, Immigration Tower, 7 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) 2824 6111, Fax: (852) 2877 7711

We are unsure if this is the building address, so it is best to call ahead of time if you plan on using this method.

The better way is to use some kind of courier service in HK. These services are available at many hotels, hostels and travel agencies. If you bring your passport to them in the morning (it appears the earlier the better) you can typically receive your passport back the same evening, or the following morning. Don't be mad if you can't get it the same day, and some friends do ... just be prepaired to spend one evening in HK. Here is the experience of one of our staff here:

"Alright here is the low down on visas. I have now been in China for 13 months and I highly recommend arriving in Hong Kong if at all possible, because getting a visa here is just so so simple. You can get from 1 month to 1 year visas within a day, it is that easy here. If you must get a visa on the mainland I would first throw away your Lonely Planet because it doesn't work the way they say. Normally you will be given a 30 day visa. This visa can be extended twice giving you a total of three months in China. At the end of the three months you must leave the country or as I did get another type of visa. I went from a tourist visa to a 6 month student visa. I enrolled in a school and studied chinese and the school got the visa for me. In the bigger cities the schools and businesses can get you a working visa. Unfortunately here in Yangshuo none of the schools you would be working for can get you this visa. However it is easy to get to Hong Kong from here to get a new visa."