Hi everyone,

I’m just wondering if I could get some relief on my paranoia.
I plan on taking advantage of the transit visa on my trip next month. I am getting to many conflicting answers from the Chinese immigration website, forums, and admittedly AI.

Here is my trip:

West Kowloon -> Zhangjiagie (via to direct bullet train) -> Furong town -> three natural bridges -> chongqing -> then depart home from chengdu directly to lax (via tapei)

I understand west Kowloon has now been added as an entry point for the transit visa.

I understand cross providence travel is allowed

I understand I need a third country and Taiwan counts

My confusion is the numerous official Chinese visa sites all show this chart (listed below) which directly contradicts the cross providence allowance. It strictly says that I would be limited to the listed areas.

I also don’t even see Kowloon on their website. Does anyone have some insight?

I have done TWOV twice with no problem and stayed in same city each time (Shanghai; Beijing) with direct flights out of China to 3rd country. This trip I will fly to Shanghai for a few days then train to Xian. My departure flight is Xian to Phnom Penh with a connection through Beijing. Will this domestic connection cause any problems?

I fully understand all of the rules with the layovers and connections with other countries and the pitfalls others can get into but now I am having day those day before fears as I get all of my documents together and packed up if I have missed something crucial with internal/ domestic connections.

Us Citizen; Arrival from Seoul

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping someone who recently applied for a China L (tourist) visa through the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC can share their experience, especially Indian passport holders who are U.S. permanent residents/Green Card holders.

Here's my situation:

Indian passport holder

U.S. Permanent Resident / Green Card holder

Applying for an L tourist visa

Applied through the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC

Submitted my application on October 12

The next day it was sent back to modify and add details of the countries I've visited

After resubmitting, I was asked for more details about my trip to Turkey

I submitted a PDF with my itinerary, flights, Airbnb booking, passport stamps, etc.

No update since then

My planned departure to China is December 13

I know December 13 is still some time away, but after reading other posts here I'm getting nervous. I'm considering canceling my China flight (it's refundable) and going to another country instead, but ticket prices elsewhere keep going up, so I need to decide soon.

For anyone who has gone through this recently:

1. How long did it take after submitting additional documents before you got an update or your status changed?
2. If you're an Indian passport holder with a U.S. Green Card, how long did the entire process take from start to finish?
3. Were you also asked for extra documents like travel history?
4. Would you wait it out, or switch plans given my timeline?

Any advice or recent timelines would be really appreciated. Thank you!

​

Hey guys, I'm an Indian passport holder flying Budapest --> China --> Jakarta on a single Air China ticket (layover 4 hours )

I'll have my Indonesian e-VoA and confirmed return ticket back to Europe.

Just wanted to double-check:

Since the layover is under 24 hours and I'm staying inside the airport , I don't need a Chinese transit visa, right? Any check-in issues at BUD? Any problem in transit in china?

Has anyone done this transit on an Indian passport recently?

Thanks : )

Hello I am currently staying in China holding Indian passport with chinese residence permit. My husband wants to apply for S2 visa from Mumbai, India. Is attested photocopy of Marriage certificate from chinese embassy an absolute requirement or notarized photocopy from local lawyer will work?

I visited VFS website for Mumbai region, there they have mentioned that it is not an absolute necessity and consular officer “may” ask for attested photocopy by chinese embassy.

Has anyone recently gone through process regarding S2 visa? Your help is appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out with a humble request. I’m searching for applicants who hold a C category Foreigner’s Work Permit Notification for China and successfully got their Z visa approved from either the Chinese Embassy Islamabad OR Chinese Consulate Lahore, Pakistan.

If you are one of them, please share your experience:

• Which city’s work permit notification did you have?

• Did you apply through Islamabad embassy or Lahore consulate?

• Any documents or requirements that were critical for approval?

• Any challenges you faced during the Z visa interview / submission? Or any suggestions?

My Z visa application was rejected at Lahore consulate with a C category work permit, so I’m trying to connect with people who had successful approvals under the same C category from Pakistan.

If you are comfortable, feel free to comment below or send me a private message. Your advice will be really helpful for me.

Thanks a lot

hi there, has anybody traveled from Boston to China under the visa-free 240 hr program (as a US passport holder)? I am wondering if the gate agents at Logan (Cathay Pacific) are well versed in this visa-free travel. Ive only seem one comment referencing Logan and it was about a year ago. thank you!

I have a Palestinian refugee syrian travel document. I was wondering is it possible to apply to a Chinese student visa with this document?

Does everyone get a single-entry X2 visa, or can the university request one additional entry? Has anyone received a second entry through their university before?

Hi Everyone,

I need to submit the documents at the VFS Center in Delhi, just want to know if there is any other documents that i need to submit apart from the below docs.

1. Printed Visa Application Certificate / acknowledgment slip with barcode
2. Original passport
3. Passport photocopy
4. Recent passport-size photograph meeting Chinese visa specifications,
5. Flight itinerary (Delhi → Hong Kong → China → Delhi) will be going to china from HK
6. HongKong PAR
7. Hotel reservations
8. China travel itinerary
9. Train details
10. Employment NOC / leave approval
11. Recent personal bank statements
12. cover letter

Hello po! I would like to ask for advice. If I’m currently employed but my employment contract will end before my flight, require pa rin po ba akong mag-submit ng COE for my Chinese tourist visa application? If yes po, and I submit my COE while I’m still employed, will this affect my visa application or cause any problems with Philippine immigration? Thank you po!

Hi everyone,

Looking for recent experiences with the China Z Visa application via Gerry’s Islamabad centre (COVA online pre-review stage).

My application timeline:

First online submission: status unapproved, no reason provided at all.

Second submission: they asked me to modify travel/arrival-departure dates (section 6.1) according to my Work Permit Notice (WPN). I corrected all itinerary fields fully as instructed.

After updating and resubmitting the second revised application, it got rejected again, without giving any explicit rejection reason.

My WPN has a QR code for instant verification. My Chinese employer HR confirmed they never received any verification call or message from the embassy.

I have a few questions for those who faced similar cases recently:

Has anyone here had this same sequence: first silent unapproval → then asked to fix travel dates → after fixing dates, rejected again with no reason? What was your actual issue, and what fix worked?

Are these online COVA pre-screen rejections saved in embassy records even though I have not submitted my passport physically?

I plan to request a stamped invitation letter from my employer and add the official company HR email to my next application form. Has this helped anyone in this situation?

I will visit Gerry Islamabad office with printed rejection records to submit an escalation request. Can Gerry staff share common rejection patterns they are seeing for recent Z visa applicants?

Any real recent experience or advice will be much appreciated.

I’ve been trying to get a Q2 visa for past 8 years since becoming a U.S. citizen, it’s been unsuccessful every time. I was a Chinese citizen before that. The most recent one was in beginning of September, I called twice, they told me it’s processing and cannot give me a timeline. The last time when I applied was in 2024, it took them six months to tell me that I can’t get one. I have provided invitations from my parents, siblings and even cousins. Does anyone know any travel agency who can help in this case? Or is there any legal action that I can take to obtain a visa? I feel very desperate and depressed because I haven’t seen my whole family for a very long time.

Hello all, this to inform all that I along with my daughter ( whom I am sponsoring) applied for China L visa on 6th October 26 and today we got the online approval..we will now be preparing our documents for submission.
Till now everything was super smooth and we got our approvals in the first go itself.
So let’s not make noise about this unnecessarily. If your documents are correct then there is nothing to worry about
This is my personal experience from Delhi centre.
If anyone needs any assistance I will be happy to help
Regards

Going home for new years, I'll be applying for the family visa, but not sure which visa he should apply for?

American passport, I filled out the application myself online, COVA completed September 17 and approved to submit passport. I used a carrier (Oasis Visa Services) just to submit passport and the embassy confirmed online it was received on Sept 22.

I understand that there were a series of holidays between Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.... but today is October 16 and I still have not received any update.... should I be concerned... Has anyone experienced this long of a wait?

I've already rebooked from my initial flight this week...and rebooked for Oct 26

Hey everyone,

I'm Tunisian, studying in Germany. Going Tunisia → South Korea → Hong Kong (Oct 27 – Nov 2). I really want to visit Shenzhen while I'm in Hong Kong — train in, stay one night, train back the next morning.

I don't have a Chinese visa. I know about the visa center in Hong Kong but don't want to waste days waiting.

What I've heard:
• Transit visa-free doesn't work for me (Hong Kong → Shenzhen → Hong Kong is a round trip, not transit).
• There's a Shenzhen Special Economic Zone visa on arrival at Luohu Port, ~¥130, 5 days, Shenzhen only.
• But some say tourism isn't accepted and Tunisian passports get more scrutiny.
My questions:
1. Anyone with a similar passport gotten the Luohu visa on arrival recently? How did it go?
2. I'm willing to stay 2 days and book a hotel if that helps my chances — does it?
I just want to see Shenzhen, not overstay. Any real experience would help.

Thanks!

Question, apologies if the wrong place. Can I bring in my prescription Adderall?

I'm going to HK for exchange next year and was looking to visit China while I'm at it. I have a Canadian passport, hukou, and Chinese identity card, but I don't know if I'm able to enter China from HK using any of them. I'm looking into applying for the Q2 visa right now with my grandparent's invitation letter and it asked me to enter my Chinese identity number, will they reject my application or ask me to revoke my identity card there first?

hello. This is semi-urgent.

I was supposed to visit China for 15-day trip next week, but visa application suck in limbo not progressing.

Have decided to amend trip to 9 days to fit within TWOV window, need to confirm my travel itinerary works:

Original: LAX -> Hong Kong -> Ningbo -> Hong Kong -> LAX (with visa)

Now: LAX -> Hong Kong -> Ningbo -> [somewhere else] -> LAX

Planning to rebook flight out of Ningbo to any other country that can take me back to LAX.

I have read that my plan would violate TWOV if its all on the same itinerary, meaning if my final destination was LAX and LAX.

I need to rebook flight from Ningbo to [third country] as my final destination, then book a NEW flight from [third country] to LAX, correct?

please advise, need to do within 24 hours

Hi! Sorry to add to the heap of these, and thanks in advance. I think this should all work out, but posting here as a sanity check before booking! My itinerary as a USA passport holder would be as follows:

USA > Taipei (layover) > Guangzhou (1 day) > Lijiang (4 days) > Guangzhou (4 days) > HK (layover) > USA

Basically just making sure there are no issues with me going back and forth between Guangzhou. Thanks so much!!

Could my entry get denied if my hair doesn't match my visa application photo?

I currently have long hair and am trying to get all my documents together ASAP for my trip. I want to cut my hair before I go to China, but can't get a haircut before I send in my visa application. I might also dye my hair blue before going too so I'd like to know if that could cause problems.

Please let me know, thanks!

I’ve dropped off my passport and the person at the consulate said pick up on Friday(today).

But on the COVA site it’s still saying “Your passport has been received by the Embassy/Consulate. Please follow closely the status changes of your application.”

So do I go by what she said or what’s on the site?

Hi everyone. My L visa was rejected because I couldn’t submit proof of my parents’ green cards at the time of my birth so I have to rely on the 240-hr TWOV. My trip is 19-20 days split into 2 legs.

The second leg of the trip requires me to fly to Hong Kong and reenter China to trigger a second TWOV. I was looking at high speed trains from HK to Zhangjiajie area (specifically Fenghuang ancient city) to get through immigration but know the visa policy update is relatively new so there may be a chance I can’t get back into China.

The alternative is to fly from HK to ZJJ then take a train to fenghuang but it’s $442 and a 7 hour flight with a layover.

Can anyone advise if it’s more sensible to fly vs train to ensure I can get through immigration?