Anyone entering China for longer than 48 hours requires a visa.
The Chinese visa authorities may issue a Diplomatic, Courtesy, Service or Ordinary Visa to a foreigner according to his/her identity, purpose of visit to China and passport type. The Ordinary Visa consists of eight sub-categories, which are respectively marked with Chinese phonetic letters L, F, X, Z, G, C, J, and D.
L Visa(as of 04/18/2002): Issued to an applicant who comes to China for tourist purposes, family visiting or other personal affairs. Visa L is characterized by a short duration of stay, usually 30 days, no more than 90 days, and could not be extended upon expiration. For a tourist applicant, in principle he shall evidence his financial capability of covering the travelling expenses in China, and when necessary, provide the air, train or ship tickets to the destination country/region after leaving China. For the applicants who come to China to visit relatives, some applicants are required to provide invitation letters from their relatives in China.
Visas for groups are not issued on the passports, but on a separate paper, which requires the group members to enter and exit the Chinese border together.
From Nov. 15th 2000, aliens traveling to Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions(SAR), in tour groups organized by travel agencies registered in the above-mentioned SARs, are exempted from visa requirements for a period of not exceeding 6 days, when entering into the following Chinese mainland cities: Guangzhong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jinangmen, Zhaoqing, Huizhou, etc. The premise is that the traveler shall have the citizenship of a country that has diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, and the traveler is carrying an ordinary passport.
F Visa: Issued to an applicant who is invited to China for conference, research, lecture, business, scientific-technological and cultural exchanges or short-term studies or intern practice for a period of no more than six months.
X Visa: Issued to an applicant who comes to China for the purpose of studying or intern practice for more than six months.
Z Visa: Issued to an applicant who is to take up a post or employment in China, and his/her accompanying family members, and who is to conduct commercial performance in China.
G Visa: Issued to those who transit through China.
C Visa: Issued to crewmembers on international aviation, navigation and land transportation missions and family members accompanying them.
J Visa: Issued to foreign journalists. J Visa is subdivided into J-1 Visa and J-2 Visa. J-1 Visa is issued to a foreign resident correspondent in China. J-2 Visa is issued to a foreign correspondent on temporary short term news report mission in China.
D Visa: Issued to applicant who is to reside permanently in China.
Find more information directly at:
China Embassy
Source & Copyright: The source of the above visa and immigration information and copyright owner/s is the:
Country : China
– Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People’s Republic of China – URL: www.fmprc.gov.cn
– Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in the United Kingdom – URL: www.chinese-embassy.org.uk
– Embassy of People’s Republic of China in the United States of America – URL: www.china-embassy.org
