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Mainland Visa from Hong Kong
01-31-2013, 09:11 PM
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?
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Mainland Visa from Hong Kong
01-31-2013, 09:36 PM
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
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Mainland Visa from Hong Kong
01-31-2013, 10:07 PM
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.
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Mainland Visa from Hong Kong
02-01-2013, 07:53 AM
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.