A True Adventure

China Visa in Hong Kong

On Tuesday we picked up our China Visa in Hong Kong. As a UK citizen I am allowed to be in Hong Kong for 180 days, Paul as an Irish Citizen is able to stay for 90 days, but in order to go to the rest of China we had to obtain a China Visa. This can be done within Hong Kong, if you are heading there first. If you want to go to another part of China first, then you will have to obtain your China Visa in your home country or in other nearby countries whilst you are travelling, ie in Bangkok.

Chinese Embassy

Address:

Ministry of Foreign affairs

7/F Lower Block

China Resources Building

26 Harbour Road

Wan Chai

Hong Kong
View Larger Map

Opening times:

9am-12 2pm-5pm

Monday-Friday

What to take with you

• 1 passport sized photo
• Passport (must be valid for 6 months more)
• Flight confirmation for your exit out of China (we were not asked for this however)

You have to fill out a visa form when you get to the embassy, or you can download it online and fill it in before, to save time.

When you get to the embassy, there will be two queues outside, one for people applying for a visa and the other for people who are coming to collect their visas.  The line can get quite long, so I suggest you arrive early and remember they close from 12-2pm for lunch.

When you get inside you will find a form that has to be filled in, there are desks for you to do this on, and computers that take you through all the questions, to help you with your answers. Then you will be given a number, which you have to wait to be called, before you take your form and passport up to the desk. It took us about 40 minutes to get our number called.

Once our number was called we went over to the desk and it was very straight forward from then on. We just handed over the forms and our passports and we were asked did we want the express service or normal service. The normal service is the cheapest and takes 4 days to process. This is what we went for, but if you are in a rush to get your visa you can pay for next day service.

The fee for a UK citizen is 450 HKD (£40) and for Irish Citizens it is just the standard fee of 150 HKD (£13). So thank goodness Paul is Irish, as it made it a lot cheaper for us!  To see all the prices for different countries, see the link below.

http://www.fmcoprc.gov.hk/eng/zgqz/blsjfy/

You are given a receipt and told that you can pay when you pick it up, 4 days later. Your passports are left in the office, as they put your visa on a whole page inside.

The process for getting a China visa in Hong Kong is very straight forward, but remember if you are not planning on heading to Hong Kong first, then you must obtain your visa before coming to China.

We are heading to Beijing today (10/06/10). We are getting the 3.15 pm Train from Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong to Beijing. The train journey will take 24 hours. We purchased our tickets 3 days before from the Hung Hom station. There were not many seats left, so I guess it is always best to book your ticket at least a week in advance.

We have to get going now, so we will update you all when we arrive in Beijing,

Ruth and Paul