MATERIALS PUBLISHED IN THE REVIEW “CHINA”

HOW TO REQUIRE VARIOUS KINDS OF VISA FOR CHINA

1. ORGANS OF CHINESE GOVERNMENT IN CHARGE OF THE EMISSION OF VISA

In general a foreigner must possess the visa for entering in China, excepting the citizens of the countries which have signed a convention with Chinese government for the reciprocal exemption of visa. One can require the visa in the residence country to the Chinese Embassy or Chinese Consulate or other Chinese organs delegated by the Foreign Affairs Ministry of China.

Moreover, in case of real urgency the port visa can be required in one of the following 18 points of frontier: Beijing, Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou (Baiyun Airport), Guilin, Haikou, Hangzhou, Kunming, Qingdao, Shanghai, Sanya, Shenzhen (Luohu, Shekou), Tianjin, Weihai, Xiamen, Xi’an, Yantai and Zhuhai.

2. TYPOLOGIES OF THE VISA
There are 8 types of ordinary visa: 

Visa C: for the labors in the sector of international transports and their families. The applicants must present the relative certificates in conformity to the conversion between the provenance country and China.

Visa D: for the persons who require the residence in China. One must first of all withdraw, personally or through friends or relatives, the appropriate form from the Public Security Department of the city desired to live, then makes demand to the Chinese embassy or Chinese Consulate in the provenance country. 

Visa F: for the people who are invited by Chinese society for visit, inspection, teaching, affair, technological and cultural exchanges, specialization course, training etc. with a duration not being superior to 6 months.

Visa G: for the person who must travel through China to go to another country. Are exempted from the transit visa the passengers of the international flights that stop in China not more than 24 hours and don’t go outside the airport. If one desires to go out of the airport, must require the permission from the frontier police.

Visa J: for the journalists. This visa is subdivided into the visa J-1, for resident journalists in China, and  the visa J-2, for the journalists who come temporarily in China for work. For requiring such visa one must possess the approval letter or invitation from the Information Department of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Visa L: for the tourists and the person who desires to meet relatives or to treat personal affairs. 
The tourists must possess the reception certificate of a tourist agency or a hotel in China and eventually provide the ticket of flight or ship or train for departing from China. However, in order to facilitate tourism in China, the Chinese government has disposed:
A. A group of more than 5 persons which intend to make tour in China can require the “Tourist Visa of Group” through a tourist agency.
B. For making tour in the Special Economic Zones of Shenzhen, Zhuhai or Xiamen, one can require to the local office of port visa the “Visa for Tour in Special Economic Zone”. In fact, in such case it is not necessary to fill the form for requiring a visa and to present photo, but it is sufficient to fill the entry card. The maximum duration of stay is 5 days for Shenzhen and Xiamen, 3 days for Zhuhai.  A foreigner who possesses the “Visa for Tour in Special Economic Zone” can visit only such zones; if he/she desires to visit also other zones of China, must make demand to the local Department of Public Security. 
C. The foreign citizens at Hongkong who desire to make group tours for a duration not being superior to 72 hours in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone are exempted from visa. The tourist agencies which are delegated to organize such tour are: Hongkong China Tourist (Group) Co. Ltd., Hongkong Chinese International Tourist Agency Ltd., Guangdong (Hongkong) Tourist Co. Ltd. etc. 

For meeting relatives or treating personal affairs one must provide an invitation from the relatives/friends in China or a certificate related to the motive.

Visa X: for the persons who come in China for study, specialization courses or training with a duration not inferior to 6 months. The applicants must present an appropriate document issued from an university or a college authorized to receive foreign students, unitedly to the form of request for “Study Visa in China”, that is the form JW201 for the foreign students included in a government program or the form JW202 for the foreign students excluded in a program of the government.

Visa Z: for the persons who come to China for work. One must first require the certificate of the stay for occupation and then present it to the organ of the Chinese government assigned to emit the visa in the provenance country. After entry to China, one must require first the occupation card to the Labor Department and then the stay permit to the local Department of Public Security.

One can require the visa at the frontier (port visa) in one of the following cases: 
(1) for those who participate in a fair in China but have obtained an invitation from Chinese part in the last moment.
(2) for those who have been invited to China for participating in a public bidding or signing formally a commercial contract.
(3) for those who, following an agreement, come to China to control the delivery of goods exported or imported, or for attending to the control of conformity that is expected by the contract.
(4) for those who have been invited in China to install equipment or resolving an urgent technical-engineering problem.
(5) for those who have been invited to China to resolve a problem regarding a request of compensation.
(6) for those who have been invited to China to offer scientific and technological consultation.
(7) for those who are a supplementary or substitutive member of a group invited to China who have already obtained a visa, having the consent of the Chinese side.
(8) for those who must visit a patient in a critical  situation or attend a funeral.
(9) when, for cause of irresistible factor, a passenger in transit can not depart with the flight programmed within 24 hours or must take other means of transport for going out China.
(10) for those who have been invited (for example professors for scientific and cultural congress) but have not really had the time for requiring a visa to the organ of the Chinese government residing in the provenance country, and possess the document emitted from the Chinese Embassy or Chinese Consulate which consents to require the port visa. 

3. PROCEDURE FOR THE REQUEST OF ORDINARY VISA
A. To present a valid passport or a substitutive document for international travels.
B. To fill the form for requiring the visa, enclosed 2 recent head-photo. 
C. To present the necessary material for obtaining the visa required.
D. To pay the appropriate fee.

4. NOTE
The information here provided is based on the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the entries to the frontier and on the exits from the frontier for foreigners”, promulgated in 1985 by the National Congress of People, and on the “Norms of the People’s Republic of China on the entries to the frontier and on the exits from the frontier for foreigners”, approved in 1986 and modified in 1994 by the State Council.