Chinese Visa Application Procedure

Planning furniture sourcing in China, you will definitely have a lot of questions about Chinese visa. Here is brief information about getting the visa that will help you with the application process.

Do you need a visa for furniture sourcing in China?

There are several countries that have a visa-free entrance for China.

You can stay without visa for 90 days if you are from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and San Marino; for 60 days if you are from Mauritius; for 30 days if you are from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Ecuador, Fiji, Grenada, Qatar, Serbia, Seychelles, Tonga, United Arab Emirates; for 15 days if you are from Brunei, Japan or Singapore.

Other countries need a visa to enter China but the application process is not very hard, so you don’t have to worry about it.

There are two types of visa suitable for coming to China to source furniture - tourist visa and business visa.

• Tourist visa lets you stay in China for 30 days which is enough for the tour. There are two types of tourist visa: one-entry visa and two-enters visa. The second can be perfect if you want to visit Hong Kong or Macao during your trip.
• Business visa can also be a good choice as you can stay in China for 30, 60 or 90 days.

How to apply for a Chinese visa?

We advise you to apply for a visa through a local agency that can help you with the procedure. Usually, they require fewer documents, and, of course, it’s more convenient and has less risk than applying through the embassy.

Usually, they ask for the following list of documents:

1. Valid passport with at least six months of remaining validity

2. An application form

3. A recent photo

4. Your ID

However, depending on the type and duration of visa the documents can be different.

If you are from the USA, Australia, Russia or Europe, you will not have any problems applying for a tourist visa.

If you are from India or some African countries, tourist visa might be provided only for tourist groups, so you can apply for a business visa. The list of documents is almost the same except for an invitation letter. In these countries, you will need a simple invitation from our company with the seal of the company and official signatures. We can provide this letter as soon as you book your tour on our website and pay the deposit.

If you are from migratory-dangerous countries according to the Chinese government, you will need a special invitation letter with a digital bar code on the top right accompanied by 18-digit number. This kind of invitation is hard to make but you can always contact us, and we will check if we can do it for you.

The price of a visa varies from country to country. Despite the fact that the process doesn’t take much time, we advise you to apply for a visa in a month before your flight just to be safe. So you just have to pay the fee and collect your passport on a date written on the pick-up slip.

Can you visit Guangzhou during your transit?

For some countries, it’s possible to stay in Guangzhou during transit for 144 hours. But be sure that you have a ticket to the third country. For example, you can go from Hungary to Guangzhou, stay here for 144 hours to order the goods you need and then leave for Thailand. However, we don’t advise you this option as the time might be too tight.