Journey to Nowhere

I think I will just update the latest scene regarding tourists getting a China visa in Hong Kong.

It was said that the regulations over getting a China visa in Hong Kong/Macau would be lax after the Beijing Olympics. The fact is that the strict regulations are still in force and will be in force in the foreseeable future. 

Here’s the latest situation I can brief you all about after making phone enquiry with the China Visa office of the China Travel Service (CTS) in Hong Kong. 

Suppose you are from India and want to travel to China via Hong Kong as a tourist. You must have an old China Visa in your passport before you can apply. What is more, you must show your return flight ticket and proof of your accommodation (such as hotel booking) in China for your application to be processed. “He or she can get only 1-15 day stay,” the CTS staff told me. 

So it is clear that all the restrictions enforced prior to the Olympics are here to stay. 

What is more, if you are not a Hong Kong resident (meaning that you don’t have a Hong Kong Identity Card), there is no way that you can apply for a multi-entry China (business) visa in Hong Kong. You can check out this information at CTS Hong Kong’s website.

For enquiries about China Visa, contact CTS Hong Kong

by telephone: (852) 2315 7188

by email: enquiry@ctshk.com

I think applying for a China Visa in Macau would be the same.

From reading reports, comments and experiences on this blog and others, it is obvious that Hong Kong and Macau are no longer havens to get a China visa – at least not until the Beijing Olympics is finished in October this year.

You must take note that if you are only given a 7-day China visa in Macau, as reported by many, once you are inside China and you want to renew the visa, it is most likely that you will have an extension of 7days only, based on the first issuance, and not more. So be prepared for it and think again when you want to get a China visa in Macau or Hong Kong.

It is ironic that while the Beijing Olympics is intended for an opportunity to welcome the world to China, visa regulations are being tightened up for security reasons and the outside world experiences only the unfriendliness and inconveniences.

Following the tightening up of China visa issues, the organizers of the Beijing Olympics issued a reminder called Legal Guide to foreigners on 2 June, saying that some groups of people are not welcome to China.

The Legal Guide targets at foreigners, but it is posted on the Chinese website of the Olympic organizers only, not on its English website. So how can the foreigners know?  Isn’t it strange??

According to the Legal Guide, entry will be denied to those:

1) having been expelled from China by the Chinese government;
2) regarded as likely to carry out terrorist and violent attacks and engage in subversive activities;
3) regarded as likely to engage in drug trafficking and prostitution;
4) with mental illness and contagious diseases such as sexually transmitted disease, leprosy and tuberculosis;
5)  who cannot afford their expenses during their stay in China;
6) regarded as likely to engage in other activities that threaten the national security and interests of China.

I have one big problem with this notice. How can China be so flagrantly discriminatory against people with mental illness and STD when the country has a large number of people with mental illness and STD, especially AIDS, who desperately need the society not to discriminate against them and need care?

You cannot rid the country of discrimination if the leadership/high ranking officials of the country are using the language of discrimination.

This is a first-hand report from the China Travel Service (CTS) agent in Macau, from a friend of mine. No guess. Real experience.
 
The restrictions imposed on Hong Kong are now applied to Macau as well. Like Hong Kong, 33 countries’ citizens are banned from applying for a China visa in Macau, unless they are working or living in the city: Afghanistan, Tunisia, Algeria, Bangladesh ,Congo, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Iran, lraq,  Mali, Libya, South Africa, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan,  Malaysia, Philippines, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkey, Mauritania, Saudi Arab, Sierra Leone, Syria.

The ban is being vigorously implemented. A Nepalese trying to get a Visa in Macau had been going to the CTS for three days in a row, but each time, he told my friend, his application was turned down. There is no other alternative but he has to go back to his home country to apply for a China visa.

If your country is not on the list, do not assume that you can still get a 30-day or 60-day tourist visa. You will be given a 7-day visa only! And for this 7-day visa, you have to show the following:

1. financial statement
2. foreigners are required to show the hotel reservation during the period of travelling in China
3. a flight booking of leaving China is also necessary in order to prove their schedule of departure

You will get a small piece of paper with the above instructions (in the exact wording) when entering the Macau CTS office (the one in the city centre, not at the pier) for a China visa. So these requirements are “official”.

For item 1, you can choose to show cash equivalent to US$700, if you do not show your financial statement.

“I saw a European couple put down US$700, flight tickets and hotel coupon on the table, and the staff examined them. It is a serious business,” my friend reported.

For a 7-day visa, you pay 500MOP (Macau Pataca) if you want to get it the following day. Or you pay 210MOP for a normal service that requires 4 working days.

A Lebanese, in chatting with my friend, said he had business in Guangzhou, and could not extend his visa there. So he came to Macau to try his luck. He first went to the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Macau, only to be told that “it is illegal to issue him a visa”. So he came to the CTS office and was given a 7-day visa, a visa that is far shorter than he wanted, but then it is still a visa.

It seems that it may be easier to get a China (tourist) visa through the CTS rather than through the government channel, and Hong Kong and Macau may no longer be the haven for China visas, at least not until the Olympics is over.  

Related:

Get a China visa in Macau

Get a China visa in Macau (part 2)

On the heels of the ban of multiple-entry China visas, China is cutting off short-stay visas previously available at checkpoints. But this measure may not affect too many travelers/business people.

Here’s April 8 report from South China Morning Post:

Foreign passport holders will not be issued short-stop visas at border checkpoints as part of a series of entry restrictions imposed by mainland authorities last week.

The move, in addition to a ban on multiple-entry visas, was revealed by local travel agents as security tightens ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Travellers are now restricted to single- or double-entry visas valid for a month and three months respectively. Multiple-entry visas that have not expired are still valid. Travel agents say they have been told the ban will last until mid-October.

Michael Wu Siu-ieng, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents, said that, since last Tuesday, the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong had been processing all applications for mainland visas.

“In the past, travellers could apply for short-stop visas when they arrived at the border. But we were told the authorities there were no longer handling applications,” he said.

Mr Wu said the new rules applied to travel agencies that applied for or renewed visas on behalf of visitors at checkpoints.

A spokeswoman for the commissioner’s office said the changes were due to “computer system upgrades”. She refused to say when the previous practice would be resumed.

According to the office’s website, updated last Tuesday, visa applicants will have to wait for at least one day for the “rush service” and two days for “express service”. Previously, same-day service was available.

“A longer waiting time is expected as all visa applications are handled by one office,” Mr Wu said.

Carole Howlett, a Hong Kong resident who holds a multiple-entry visa, said the restrictions were an inconvenience for foreigners who might simply want to do some shopping in Shenzhen. “The restriction is disgusting. Many of my friends will have to think again before crossing the border because they will have to apply for visas days before,” she said.

Mr Wu understands the tightening of entry restrictions is related to the Olympics. “Of course we hope they are merely temporary measures,” he said.

To apply for a China visa in Macau, you can also go to the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Macau, besides the China Travel Service (CTS) agent mentioned.

The advantage of applying for a visa here is that the fee is lower. But it also means that speed will be compromised. It normally takes three days to process a visa, regardless of the type of visa applied for. There is express service, but extra fee has to be paid.

Take one-entry China visa. CTS charges 210MOP, but you can have it the following day. If you go to the Office of Commissioner, you pay only 150MOP, but it will take 3 workings days before the visa is ready.

The good news is that the Office of the Commissioner has an English website to explain all the China visa matters.

Web: http://www.fmcoprc.gov.mo/eng/lsyw/default.htm
Add: No. 992, Avenida do Dr. Rodrigo Rodrigues, Macau
Tel: (00853)7915126
Fax: (00853)7915102

Related:

Macau Visa

Multiple-entry China visas stopped