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China Forum: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??

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Pozzi
Australia
15 forum posts
“ Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ?? ”
Jul 27, 2008, 6:26 AM

Hi,

I am booking my air tickets from Australia for a 1 month trip to China in November/December and my travel agent says I need to have all my accomadation booked to be able to get a visa.

While I have some itiniery ideas I was hoping to be a bit more flexible when I get there but how can I be flexible if I have to have everything booked.

Has anybody had any experience in this ? If I just book the first few days will this be acceptable ?

I will also be flying in and out of HK and entering China by train, will my air tickets to HK be good enough to get a visa ?

Thought maybe somebody else had already done something similar recently and can stop me worrying.

Thanks

Paul

celticwarrior...
cardiff
230 forum posts
1. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Jul 27, 2008, 6:36 AM

I recently got my visa. I fly in & out of HK also.

Whilst I have my hotel booked in Beijing , I didn't have the hotel in xian booked( and still do not).My friend is a travel agent, and he got me a sample flight Itinerary from HK to Xian to Beijing to HK, and the Chinese authrities seemed happy with this.

zhuhai2007
Zhuhai, China
3,603 forum posts
2. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Jul 27, 2008, 6:56 AM
Destination Expert   What's this?
for Zhuhai, Macau

Recently Australian friends had huge difficulty getting a visa without booking INTO and OUT of China (using ferry into Zhuhai). The situation is meant to improve after the Olympics.

drumbrake
hong kong
5,962 forum posts
3. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Jul 27, 2008, 7:32 AM

If you want to main flexibility, consider getting your visa in Hong Kong through an agent. The agent in HK will 'arrange' your accommodation and flights in order to fulfil the visa requirements.

celticwarrior...
cardiff
230 forum posts
4. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Jul 27, 2008, 8:12 AM

I thought the rules about getting a visa in HK for china had changed?

drumbrake
hong kong
5,962 forum posts
5. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Jul 27, 2008, 8:17 AM

They have changed to the extent that if you are not a HKID card holder you must get your visa through an agent (not through the visa office in Wanchai), and there are some nationalities (such as South Africans) who need to apply in their home country. Other changes (length, number of entries) mainly affect business visas.

6. Re: Visa Requirements - Must Have All Hotels Booked ??
Oct 06, 2009, 9:19 PM

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