If you are a US resident, also note that China has multiple consulates, and the consulate that you will use for your visa depends on where you live. See this map for details: http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/t84229.htm Cheers, Andy On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Fred Baker <fred@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I'll echo Ole and Brian. In general, I find the Chinese consulate/embassy > not very demanding. If you have a business reason for a multi-entry visa, > get one, but in general the standard tourist visa is simplest to get and > works fine. > > Not advertising the service, but to give you an idea of what it looks like, > I'll point you at the web site of the company Cisco uses for visas. > http://www.peninsulavisa.com/russia-.htm > To get a visa to China, you need a visa application (download from the web > site) and a color "passport" photo. If you go for a "business" visa, you > need some demonstration of the business. "business" implies you're trying to > sell something or staying there for an extended duration; to attend a > conference such as an IETF meeting one generally gets a tourist visa. Some > countries need letters of invitation; I would expect the host will have a > facility up to get such. > > The visa process at the Chinese Embassy is usually on the order of a week; > safety would suggest two. My multiple entry visa will expire just before the > meeting, so I plan to file for a new visa sometime in October. > > Interesting reading from the Los Angeles PRC Consulate. > overview: > http://losangeles.china-consulate.org/eng/visa/chinavisa/t27606.htm > tourist: > http://losangeles.china-consulate.org/eng/visa/chinavisa/t27605.htm > business: > http://losangeles.china-consulate.org/eng/visa/chinavisa/t27604.htm > > Non-US folks should of course look at the web site of whatever consulate is > relevant to them for specifics of the relations between China and their > country. > > On Jan 12, 2010, at 7:26 AM, Ole Jacobsen wrote: > >> >> Since Andy mentioned visas I would like to give some vague and >> unhelpful advice :-) >> >> It turns out that the DURATION of your visa depends on what country >> you are from, and even what consulate or embassy you apply at. In >> all cases the clock starts running the day the visa is issued. >> >> Real example: As a Norwegian, applying in San Francisco, I was only >> grqnted a single-entry visa valid for 3 months. I applied in March >> 2009 which was a mistake since the trip didn't happen until August, >> so I would have had a visa that expired sometime in June. They all >> say "must not arrive after <date>". I was able execute an "undo" >> on this particular occasion and came back again in July and received >> a visa that covered the period of my visit. >> >> Your mileage may, no, WILL, vary, so check the wiza wizards, >> consulates, embassies etc. Fred Baker regularly gets a one-year >> multi entry visa, but he's American and he uses the visa brokers, >> something I clearly should have done instead of foolishly applying >> too early. >> >> The form has a box which asks when you intend to arrive in China, but >> that information is NOT used to start the clock for the validity of >> the visa itself, in some sense that date isn't used for anything, at >> least as far as I can tell. >> >> How long you can stay in China again depends on what country you are >> from and what kind of visa you have. >> >> Ole >> >> >> Ole J. Jacobsen >> Editor and Publisher, The Internet Protocol Journal >> Cisco Systems >> Tel: +1 408-527-8972 Mobile: +1 415-370-4628 >> E-mail: ole@xxxxxxxxx URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Ietf mailing list >> Ietf@xxxxxxxx >> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf > > http://www.ipinc.net/IPv4.GIF > > _______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf
