• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Andrea Vehige
Andrea Vehige

Andrea Vehige

Lifestyle | Etsy | Travel

How We Got Our Visas for China

August 16, 2019 by andreav Leave a Comment

how we got our visas to china

About a year ago, I sent my friend a low-key crazy text. She knows me well, so she wasn’t shocked at all. See, I found a Groupon tour to China for a really low price. I figured we would never know if they were legit or not if we didn’t try. I read some reviews and texted Angela. Within an hour, she texted me back and said she was in. Just like that, we had a trip to China booked.

The first thing (and only thing, honestly) we knew we needed to do was get our travel visas. The process was a little overwhelming because neither of us had ever needed real deal visas before. After finishing it and getting our passports back, we were so relieved and excited for our trip!

Today, I wanted to share the step by step of how we got our visas. I would imagine the visa process varies based on what state you live in, when you get it, and what you need it for, so this won’t apply to everyone, but I hope it is helpful if you are considering traveling to China.

Which Visa we Chose

We had the opportunity to add the visa to our Groupon when we purchased them. If I’m being honest, we opted not to go through them because we thought it would be cheaper if we did it on our own. It was not cheaper and it was much more difficult to get it on our own, but looking back I wouldn’t change our decision.

From my understanding, the visa the tour company offered was a group visa, which means it was only valid for our trip dates. Our visas were tourist visas, which last up to 10 years. Having a visa that allows me to travel to China for the next 10 years was worth the extra hassle.

How long your visa lasts and how long you can stay in China each trip is determined by the Chinese consulate. It is the same price to apply for a 10 year visa as it is to apply for a single entry visa. Our logic was to aim for 10 and hope we got it! (we of course did!)

forbidden city Beijing china

How We Got Our Visas

Not only was the whole process overwhelming to us, we also live 5 hours from the closest Chinese consulate. Angela knew of a woman in Chicago who has a business helping travelers and families looking to adopt get their Chinese visas. Instead of making the 10 hour round trip, we paid her $50 to bring our paperwork and pick it up from the consulate.

She is only able to serve travelers from the states of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. If you are from one of these states and don’t want to make the trip to Chicago, I recommend sending her an email. You can find her information at this website.

If you are not from one of these states, I recommend finding a similar service for the consulate that serves your region.

So we had her to deliver and pick up our applications, but we still had to fill out a lot of paperwork!

Alllll the forms

This is why the visa process was so annoying: so.many.forms.

The first thing you need is a cashiers check or money order made out to the consulate (ex: Chinese Consulate in Chicago). Note: personal checks will not be accepted.

Next you will need your flight information and hotel reservations OR an invitation letter from a Chinese citizen. If you are traveling with a tour company, send them an email and they can send you an invitation with all the necessary information. Print it off and send it with your other forms.

You will need to mail in your signed passport. Yes, your actual passport. You need to have a least a full year left on it and 2 blank pages. (The visa is a sticker that takes up a whole page.)

Next you will need to fill out and send in the visa application form. This is a long one. Thankfully, the woman who ran our passports has a whole page on her site telling you exactly how to fill it out. She explains it wayy better than I ever could, so instead of trying I’ll just drop the link to her page. It can be accessed here. Note: make sure this form is printed on regular white copy paper and filled out in black pen.

You will need a passport picture taken for your visa form. It needs to be in color and can not be trimmed. I got mine taken at Walgreens.

The guidelines for this photo are pretty specific. It must be taken against a white background. You must be fully looking forward with both of your ears showing and not smiling. You can’t be wearing any jewelry, hair accessories, or glasses. More information can be found here.

The last thing you need is a copy of your passport (information page) printed on regular white copy paper.

The Visa Checklist

After all your goods are gathered, this is what you should have:

  • Cashiers check or money order made out to the consulate nearest you
  • An invitation letter OR your flight/hotel information
  • Your passport
  • Visa Application Form with a new photo
  • A copy of your passport info page

Staple the forms together in this order: your application, copy of your passport, flight info, then hotel reservation (or the invitation letter). Mail it or drop it off at the consulate with your passport and the check.

Once we had our passports back in our hands with the visa, we were nothing but stoked for our trip! Though it was a pain, it was totally worth it. I can’t wait to go back to China before it expires. Western China, anyone?!

If you have an upcoming trip to China, tell me about it in the comments section! I would love to hear!

Pin it for Later

How to get a Visa to China

Filed Under: Destinations

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my blog!

Hey there! I’m Andrea… a travel obsessed, Cardinals baseball loving, twenty-something from Missouri. Here you’ll find a glimpse into my life: what I’m learning on Etsy, where I’m traveling to, and things I’ve been loving lately. Thanks for visiting my corner of the web. Enjoy.

Looking for something?

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Download my free Etsy shop scorecard!

We call this one “venturing into the snow in our We call this one “venturing into the snow in our grandpa sweaters” ❄️ Pretty thrilled with the fact that the only snow we are seeing these days is in photo form. ✨
Share warm pics! Think warm thoughts! 🌞 Share warm pics! Think warm thoughts! 🌞
cheesin hard core cuz this has been in the works f cheesin hard core cuz this has been in the works for a WHILE 🙃🙌🏻 so stoked to see these designs on sweatshirts on models on the beach. WHEW. 👏🏻 as Jess would say, “love it when a plan comes together” 🎉
Let’s talk packaging... 📦 Over at Saltwater P Let’s talk packaging... 📦 Over at Saltwater Prep, we juuust switched to custom mailers this year (and I am completely obsessed 🤩). But you know what that means!? We shipped orders for over 5 years with “generic” packaging and it totally worked. If you are just starting your Etsy shop and some of the packaging trends you are seeing on tik tok aren’t in the cards, don’t worry! There are tons of options to level up your packaging on a budget.
-
📫 Mailers: mailersusa.com
💌 Thank you cards: Vistaprint. The key is to order premium soft touch post cards. They feel like a million bucks.
🏷 Label Paper: Amazon. Hint: you don’t need a DYMO label printer to easily ship stuff. Just a regular printer and label paper will do the trick.
📦 Boxes: Uline
😍 Inspo: Pinterest. Yep, I’m sending you to Pinterest! There are a thousand and one clever ideas for packaging items on Pinterest, and most of them are budget friendly!
-
Last thing: don’t overthink this! Your packaging/branding can (and should) grow with your business. Just start, even if it’s messy. You can perfect it along the way. 👏🏻
National Spouse Day??? All I’m hearing is anothe National Spouse Day??? All I’m hearing is another excuse to post wedding photos. 💁🏼‍♀️ You know I’m gonna take it! 😉✨
ETSY SEO TIP ⚡️ this is far and away the most ETSY SEO TIP ⚡️ this is far and away the most common mistake I see when people ask me to audit their Etsy shops. Edit that tag line, folks! It only takes 5 seconds. 👏🏻 here’s a list of what it SHOULDN’T be: cute, catchy, or confusing. 🙅🏼‍♀️ So what should it be? Keyword focused. If you had to describe what you sell in 2-4 words, what would you say? Now make that your tag line.
-
SWIPE to see how Google reads that little chunk of text. 🖥
Currently feeling... scattered. 🌀🌪 it’s no Currently feeling... scattered. 🌀🌪 it’s no shock that the last quarter is go time for retailers. Then there’s the aftermath of busy season & people spending their Christmas money, which occupies a good chunk of January. 👩🏼‍💻 I find that my best ideas come to me when I’m working, so by the time mid-Jan rolls around I usually have about 3 months of ideas & half started projects stirring around in my brain. 🤯 <— me, right now. I guess I say all of this as a reminder to folks like me. 🙋🏼‍♀️ If you’re feeling behind on the whole goals and plans for 2021 thing, don’t fret. It’s not too late. In fact, I do this every year. 🙌🏻 I’ll spend this week getting my ideas down on paper and giving them deadlines, not feeling an ounce of guilt for being “late” to the party!
Andrea Vehige

Copyright © 2021 · Splendor Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in