Obtaining a Chinese Tourist Visa without confirmed travel dates/flight tickets

[httuner 10]

I am a little confuse on this matter and can't seem to find an answer anywhere else, so in hope someone on here has the answer to this question I would like to ask it.

I want to obtain a multiple entry tourist visa to China(at least a year), this way I may enter and leave the country as I please in terms of vacationing. I want to travel to China this December once my fiancee's K1 visa gets approved and issued, so that we may fly back together and then travel back to China for the Chinese new year but because I have no planned flight dates or tickets yet I was wondering if it is possible to acquire a Tourist Visa to China at all?

[garfield529 47]

Just a word of advice, if things do work out with receiving a K1 in December. You will need to be married, apply for AOS and receive AP before heading back to China for the CNY or you will find your new wife stuck in China. Just making sure that you are aware of this. Best of luck.

You can get a visa, you will just need to do the following based on the new rules:

for L Visa

Provide documents showing the itinerary including air ticket booking record (round trip) and proof of a hotel reservation, etc. or an invitation letter issued by a relevant entity or individual in China. The invitation letter should contain:

(1) Information on the applicant (full name, gender, date of birth, etc.)

(2) Information on the planned visit (arrival and departure dates, place(s) to be visited, etc.)

(3) Information on the inviting entity or individual (name, contact telephone number, address, official stamp, signature of the legal representative or the inviting individual)

[shira 4]

Just a word of advice, if things do work out with receiving a K1 in December. You will need to be married, apply for AOS and receive AP before heading back to China for the CNY or you will find your new wife stuck in China. Just making sure that you are aware of this. Best of luck.

You can get a visa, you will just need to do the following based on the new rules:

for L Visa

Provide documents showing (A) the itinerary including air ticket booking record (round trip) and (B) proof of a hotel reservation, etc. or (C ) an invitation letter issued by a relevant entity or individual in China. The invitation letter should contain:

(1) Information on the applicant (full name, gender, date of birth, etc.)

(2) Information on the planned visit (arrival and departure dates, place(s) to be visited, etc.)

(3) Information on the inviting entity or individual (name, contact telephone number, address, official stamp, signature of the legal representative or the inviting individual)

The OP is asking if a flight booking is required to obtain a visa. Your response is ambiguous on that point. So I've added three letters so that you can clarify

Which of the following is the requirement?

(A and B) or C ==> no flight booking required if C is provided with visa application

or

A and (B or C) ==> flight booking is always required

Edited November 17, 2013 by shira

[httuner 10]

Thank you =]

[bigdog 376]

Have a great trip.

[unsmiley 111]

Yes they are very strict with this, at least in NYC. One time I went downtown to the Manhattan office to get a visa for travel and I forgot my hotel reservation printout and they would not accept my application even after I waited on a huge line. One bright spot: they gave me a placeholder so I could come back and jump to the front of the line provided I returned the same day with my documents. Between travel back and forth and waiting on line it took hours.

Another point: YOU may want a multiple entry visa, but THEY are the ones that decide whether to grant that, and it seems arbitrary who gets it. You should check off "multiple entry" on the application as it costs the same as a single entry visa, but my first time they only gave me a single entry despite my protestations. (Since that first one, I have gotten multiple entry visas.) It may be that the first time you go, they will only approve a single entry visa. Good luck.

[RandyW 149]

You should also include your marriage certificate, and a copy of her Chinese ID to get a visa based on your family relations (whether Q or L or any other). If you do this, you MAY not be required to submit an itinerary. If you DO submit an itinerary, the length of stay on the visa may be limited by the duration of your itinerary.

Yes, I know you're not yet married. You'll have the marriage certificate soon.

You can also go to the PSB (Police) Entry/Exit bureau in her home town for an extension

[garfield529 47]

The OP is asking if a flight booking is required to obtain a visa. Your response is ambiguous on that point. So I've added three letters so that you can clarify

Which of the following is the requirement?

(A and B) or C ==> no flight booking required if C is provided with visa application

or

A and (B or C) ==> flight booking is always required

I am not sure how my post is ambiguous? Rather is is specific and exact as the information comes directly from the Chinese consulate. I think the addition of a logic pseudo-notation is what adds a layer of ambiguity. Anyway, I think he has the knowledege to proceed.

[SBB 74]

You should also include your marriage certificate, and a copy of her Chinese ID to get a visa based on your family relations (whether Q or L or any other). If you do this, you MAY not be required to submit an itinerary. If you DO submit an itinerary, the length of stay on the visa may be limited by the duration of your itinerary.

Yes, I know you're not yet married. You'll have the marriage certificate soon.

You can also go to the PSB (Police) Entry/Exit bureau in her home town for an extension

He can't do a Q visa as they aren't married yet and is planning to go to China before the wedding. That having been said, if they want to travel to China to visit the in-laws on a Q visa, he will need the ID of the in-laws as well, as his wife will no longer be living in China. At least for my Q2 application, I had to include the invitation letter from my father-in-law, a copy of his ID, and a copy of my marriage license and my wife's ID (they also asked for a copy of the info page of her passport, but that ended up not being necessary). While a Q2 visa doesn't technically require an itinerary, the invitation letter will need to cover much of the same information.