[FretDancer]

Hello gentlemen.

I am currently planning my trip to China. For budget reasons I decided to fly to Hong Kong first, and then request a Visa to enter the Mainland from there. I hear this is a very common process for travelers who go to Hong Kong.

I am currently researching and reading about this as I write this, but I would like to hear input from fellow traveling members that have already done this.

What is the process like? How long did it take for you? Any tips that might come in handy?

[clever alias]

i never did it but i have a friend who got an "express tourist visa" to go to the mainland from hk. it took him a day to get.
are you sure its cheaper? i heard the hk airport is extremely expensive

edit: other details to keep in mind: he was on a student visa that gave him ome entrance and he already used it. his tourist visa went until the end of his semester

[FretDancer]

(01-31-2013 09:36 PM)clever alias Wrote:  

i never did it but i have a friend who got an "express tourist visa" to go to the mainland from hk. it took him a day to get.
are you sure its cheaper? i heard the hk airport is extremely expensive

edit: other details to keep in mind: he was on a student visa that gave him ome entrance and he already used it. his tourist visa went until the end of his semester

The flights from the US to Hong Kong are much cheaper. But this route has many complications because of my Visa problem.

I'm finding very cheap flights to Beijing right now, I dont know for how long they'll stay that way, hopefully long enough. I could fly directly to Beijing and request for visa in Costa Rica from a travel agency located here.

Still, the Hong Kong route is someone I should consider if anything happens. What nationality does your friend have? What does the "express" mean in this tourist visa he obtained?

[clever alias]

the express just refers to the visa application taking a day instead of a week. He's Swedish
He came on a student visa that he received in his home country. it gave him one entry, he used the entry to come to China in August for school. He went to HK in october under the impression that it would not be a problem because HK is technically part of PRC. That's not how things worked out and he had to apply for a tourist visa to get back ASAP. Because he was a student already settled there, he had all the necessary things required for a quick tourist visa: established residency and a return flight home already booked. I dont know if you can apply for a tourist visa without an address and a return date, you'll have to check that.

[Al Czervik]

Maybe a dumb question, but why don't you just get your visa now and fly into HK anyway? Then just go over to the mainland whenever you want. All of my Visas have had a fairly open entry window, so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't think getting a visa in HK is any cheaper so not sure what the advantage would be with screwing around with it in HK, although depending on your current location maybe getting to a Chinese Embassy/consulate is a pain in the ass.

[jferris]

(01-31-2013 09:11 PM)FretDancer Wrote:  

Hello gentlemen.

I am currently planning my trip to China. For budget reasons I decided to fly to Hong Kong first, and then request a Visa to enter the Mainland from there. I hear this is a very common process for travelers who go to Hong Kong.

I am currently researching and reading about this as I write this, but I would like to hear input from fellow traveling members that have already done this.

What is the process like? How long did it take for you? Any tips that might come in handy?

I normally get my China visa in Hong Kong. Forever Bright Trading Limited has a dodgy looking website but I always use them, drop off your passport in the morning and pick it up the next morning. They have pretty good customer service and they have always promptly responded to my emails.

http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/

They are located in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

[FretDancer]

(02-01-2013 07:53 AM)Al Czervik Wrote:  

Maybe a dumb question, but why don't you just get your visa now and fly into HK anyway? Then just go over to the mainland whenever you want. All of my Visas have had a fairly open entry window, so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't think getting a visa in HK is any cheaper so not sure what the advantage would be with screwing around with it in HK, although depending on your current location maybe getting to a Chinese Embassy/consulate is a pain in the ass.

Thats because we don't have a Mainland China consulate/embassy over here. All Mainland Visa requests need to be sent to the Embassy at Costa Rica.

However I think I will end up requesting it and sending my passport to Costa Rica with a travel agency.

(02-02-2013 04:03 PM)jferris Wrote:  

(01-31-2013 09:11 PM)FretDancer Wrote:  

Hello gentlemen.

I am currently planning my trip to China. For budget reasons I decided to fly to Hong Kong first, and then request a Visa to enter the Mainland from there. I hear this is a very common process for travelers who go to Hong Kong.

I am currently researching and reading about this as I write this, but I would like to hear input from fellow traveling members that have already done this.

What is the process like? How long did it take for you? Any tips that might come in handy?

I normally get my China visa in Hong Kong. Forever Bright Trading Limited has a dodgy looking website but I always use them, drop off your passport in the morning and pick it up the next morning. They have pretty good customer service and they have always promptly responded to my emails.

http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/

They are located in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Dodgy looking indeed... Still, thanks for sharing jferris, will keep it in mind. I also hope someone finds it useful if they need to request Visa at HK too.