How to get China tourist visa, for US citizen working in East Asia?

I'm an American citizen though I haven't been back to the states in a
little while. I just learned an old pal is in southern China and I'd
like to visit, both to meet up and also to do some tourism as I
haven't been to China yet.

Just wondering-- all I need is a 15 to 30-day, basic single-entry
tourist visa to go into mainland China, but since I'm not physically
in USA, how does one obtain it? FWIW, I'll be in Taiwan for several
days, and I've heard of many American or European businesspeople
working in Taiwan, getting 30-day tourist visas to go to China (since
many of their operations are in both Taiwan and China).

Obviously there's no China embassy in Taipei per se, so do US or
European citizens in Taiwan, trying to get a China tourist visa, apply
at any particular office? Or do they just go to see a travel agent?

Thanks in advance.

On Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:34:40 -0700, the renowned
wrote:

I'm an American citizen though I haven't been back to the states in a
little while. I just learned an old pal is in southern China and I'd
like to visit, both to meet up and also to do some tourism as I
haven't been to China yet.

Just wondering-- all I need is a 15 to 30-day, basic single-entry
tourist visa to go into mainland China, but since I'm not physically
in USA, how does one obtain it?

Chinese embasssy or consulate in your country of residence would
probably be the easiest.

FWIW, I'll be in Taiwan for several
days, and I've heard of many American or European businesspeople
working in Taiwan, getting 30-day tourist visas to go to China (since
many of their operations are in both Taiwan and China).

Obviously there's no China embassy in Taipei per se, so do US or
European citizens in Taiwan, trying to get a China tourist visa, apply
at any particular office? Or do they just go to see a travel agent?

Thanks in advance.

If you go through HK (as you almost certainly will anyway if you're
going from Taiwan) you can get the visa quickly there (within a day if
you pay more, although the extras add up if you want it really quickly
on a HK government holiday. Not sure about how you'd do it if you were
physically in Taiwan-- I doubt a "couple of days" will do it, at least
not cheaply. It takes a week here in Toronto if I go to the consulate,
unless I pay extra. It's quite possible people in Taiwan ship their
passports to HK and back but that's just my speculation.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

On Oct 14, 8:50 am, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:


If you go through HK (as you almost certainly will anyway if you're
going from Taiwan) you can get the visa quickly there (within a day if
you pay more, although the extras add up if you want it really quickly
on a HK government holiday. Not sure about how you'd do it if you were
physically in Taiwan-- I doubt a "couple of days" will do it, at least
not cheaply. It takes a week here in Toronto if I go to the consulate,
unless I pay extra. It's quite possible people in Taiwan ship their
passports to HK and back but that's just my speculation.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Thanks so much. I had heard about the quick processing in HK, though
as you say it's the fees I'm trying to minimize. I will be in TW for
a few days (not quite a week) so maybe it's doable. I'll maybe give a
progress report depending on how it goes.

--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers:http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

On Oct 14, 12:34 am, wrote:
I'm an American citizen though I haven't been back to the states in a
little while.

So where do you live now?


I just learned an old pal is in southern China and I'd
like to visit, both to meet up and also to do some tourism as I
haven't been to China yet.

Just wondering-- all I need is a 15 to 30-day, basic single-entry
tourist visa to go into mainland China, but since I'm not physically
in USA, how does one obtain it?


go to your nearest chinese consulate.


FWIW, I'll be in Taiwan for several
days, and I've heard of many American or European businesspeople
working in Taiwan, getting 30-day tourist visas to go to China (since
many of their operations are in both Taiwan and China).



that's not going help you. forget about taiwan.


Obviously there's no China embassy in Taipei per se, so do US or
European citizens in Taiwan, trying to get a China tourist visa, apply
at any particular office? Or do they just go to see a travel agent?

Thanks in advance.

On Oct 15, 12:14 am, PeterL wrote:
On Oct 14, 12:34 am, wrote:

I'm an American citizen though I haven't been back to the states in a
little while.

So where do you live now?

That's exactly the problem, live in TW for the moment for a few months
as a home base, advising on engineering work though it's a jumping-off
point-- next week I'll be elsewhere before coming back to TW.
Obviously no consulate here, so I'll probably have to o/n it in HK.