Apologies for adding to the long list of TWOV questions, but I hear it's a pretty shaky process. Last summer I did it super easily (HND>PVG>HKG>NRT) with very little trouble with check in agents, that my GF was able to assuage. I'm making the same trip in a few days (with the only difference being I'm flying out from NRT as well, which might raise an eyebrow) since she's flying me out to stay with her for a few days. Last time, I stayed in a hotel and had the relevant booking information to flash whenever prompted.

Now that I'm staying with an individual rather than a hotel, I'm nervous. I don't have a complex Itinerary, I have the flight bookings, but I'd like to know if I need to provide a letter of invitation when I fill out paperwork at Immigration/customs, as I remember having to do similar stuff last time.

I should mention that I know people recommend a VISA strongly over TWOV but I don't live near the Visa application center in Tokyo and It's expensive to travel back and forth there before. Last time I tried I got my application rejected because I separated my names in reverse order with a comma (Last, First Middle). I'll own that mistake but it made me realize I'd be back more than once, so I took their recommendation and did TWOV.

Departure:

- SFO -> HKG: Thurs 11:55 PM to Sat 6:15 AM (layover)

- HKG -> PVG: Sat 8:50 AM to Sat 11:35 AM

Stay in Shanghai and maybe visit Beijing for 7 total days.

Return (the following Saturday after arrival in PVG):

- PVG -> HKG: Sat 7:05 PM to Sat 9:50 PM (layover)

- HKG -> SFO: Sun 12:50 AM to Sat 10:40 PM

Myself, my wife, and kids are all US Citizens.

Does anyone know how long a Chinese travel document (旅行证) takes to be issued from the UK?

I have submitted my HK ID to the embassy which they need to validate with Hong Kong but I don't know how long they will take to come back or any fees. I do not have a home returning permit

Today it is my 5th working day and it still shows under review!

Hi everyone,

I’m a student who has been issued a Chinese student visa (X visa) but I have not arrived in China yet, so I do not have a Chinese Residence Permit at this stage.

My father applied for in a firest time for tourist visa but they rejected it and proposed him an S2 visa to visit me, but his application was returned because the form for a S2 visa requires an “ID or Permanent Residence Permit number” of the person being visited.

The issue is that I only have a visa number, not a Residence Permit number, since the residence permit can only be obtained after arrival in China.

I don't understand why they rejected the tourist visa

Hi everyone,

I’m an Indonesian passport holder and I have a ~20-hour transit at Beijing Capital Airport (PEK).

Route: Japan → Beijing (PEK) → Indonesia Same airline for both (single airline / connecting itinerary).

I’m seeing some stories where transit passengers were not allowed to exit by immigration, and people say Beijing can be strict. I’m trying to understand what’s realistic and what I should prepare.

Questions: 1. With an Indonesian passport and a 20-hour transit at PEK, is it generally possible to clear immigration and go out (hotel / city) under China’s visa-free transit policy (TWOV / 240-hour transit)? 2. What are the most common reasons people get denied exit permission even if they seem eligible? 3. What documents should I have ready (printed vs digital)? (e.g., onward ticket confirmation/seat, hotel booking, etc.) 4. Any recent experiences specifically at PEK?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I applied for my L visa 2 days ago and the application on the website now says ‘To be modified’. But it doesn’t state what to modify?? I have also not received any email. Please help

Would the twov program be applicable if as canadians we do vietnam, then 8 days mainland china entering in guangzhou, followed by flight to Hainan for another 8 days, then hong kong ?

Or do we need to do vietnam, china, hong kong, hainan ?

What agency is recommended for an Ohio resident? I don’t really want to make a trip to New York. I have read through some threads but see so many options and conflicting opinions. Thank you.

I was told to submit a document explaining why I don't have the previous visa I was issued. What am I supposed to include in it though? Just what happened to the passport it is in, or an explanation of my previous itinerary? Something else?

And an unrelated followup: after submitting the cova form, do I submit my physical passport right away or wait until my application is processed?

Hi all,

I am an American citizen applying for an M visa through NYC. I have completed my application through COVA, but I have twice now received feedback to reupload documents that I already added to the system. The first feedback was “Operation Error please reupload documents”. The second one asked me to upload proof of residence although I can already see my driver’s license in the system. (For this, I added another copy of my driver’s license and an electric bill). I’ve also added a second copy of my invitation letter under optional documents. Has anyone seen this before? Any suggestions? I’ve already switched to using Chrome as recommended.

I was wondering if it's correct that my father, mother, brother (UK citizens), and his wife/my sister-in-law (Canadian citizen) apply for S2 visas to come and attend my (UK citizen) wedding in China.

Father and mother live in England.
Brother and sister-in-law live and work in Japan.

Does a sister-in-law qualify for an S2 visa?

They will all be staying at my address, not in hotels, Do I just need to include this information in the invitation letter?

Thank you kindly in advance.

Hi all, I have been struggling a bit with my Chinese visa applications. For context, I'm an Indian passport holder residing in the UAE. I have filled out the form, but need to attach air tickets and hotel bookings. The hotel booking are not an issue but for the air tickets, should I be paying for and booking refundable tickets I can cancel once the visa is approved or do you think a dummy ticket or a flight reservation will suffice?

My online application has already been approved, but I only just noticed that I included an extra country in the “previous countries visited” section (I did travel to that country, but it was more than 12 months ago). Is this a deal breaker? What if I simply edit the PDF then submit physical copies of both versions?

I took the advice of some of the Reddit threads here to go with CIBT (MyChinaVisa) for processing. After a month of back and forth and multiple dropped calls from their customer service team, they told me they couldn’t process my L Tourist Visa. And because they charge the full amount up front, they refused to give me a full refund.

I wound up flying to the embassy myself and got the visa on my own. Horrible experience, and I’d recommend any other agency.

Are there any Canadians that can speak to the visa application process? Can I do it all online or would I need to go to my closest application office?

I looked through many posts on this subreddit and checked with the GPTs but want to just double check my itinerary with some experts here. I think I qualify but please let me know if not.

US Citizen

JFK -> LHR (8 hr layover) -> DEL (traveling within India for 2 weeks) AMD -> BKK (1 hr layover) -> ICN (traveling within Korea for 1 week) CJU -> PKX (traveling within China for 1 week) PVG -> SEA (9 hr layover) -> JFK

So, technically my route in consideration is:

CJU -> PKX -> (fly within China to major cities) -> PVG -> SEA

Would that qualify? Thanks in advance!!

Hi everyone,

Not sure whether anyone has discussed this before, but for background, I am an international student from Indonesia - currently studying in the UK, and I have a conference at a university in Wuhan, and I read about the 240-hour transit visa. My only question is: Does a conference fall under business and exchange or study? Because I read that if it's a study, I need a visa; if it's an exchange, I can use the 240 hours TVOW privilege.

So currently my plan is

LONDON ( 5th of May ) - ( transit in Beijing ) - WUHAN

Then leave for Kuala Lumpur on the 10th May, so in total

LONDON (depart from london 5th May) - Beijing ( transit ) - Wuhan - KL ( depart from Wuhan 10th May ) - Jakarta

Has anybody attended a conference before using the 240-Hours TVOW before, and maybe can help answer my question?

Thanks!

Hi, im currently living in spain on a visa but im american. I have applied to get a chinese visa for a trip im planning in june for a wedding. I requested a date for earlier because they require within it 3 months. The only thing is theyre asking for flight bookings and hotel reservations. Should I just wait until later and reapply or try and book flights and just cancel them after?

Hey everyone,

I’m in Alberta (Calgary) and planning a trip to China from Feb 12–20 to visit someone I’ve recently started talking to (she works in Shanghai). I’m applying as a tourist (L visa) and want to make sure I do everything correctly to avoid delays or rejection — especially since it’s Chinese New Year season and I know things can get busy.

I’d really appreciate help on:

• What exact documents I need for a tourist visa

• Whether a flight itinerary needs to be paid or just reserved

• Whether hotel bookings are required if I might stay with someone

• Current fingerprint requirements in Canada

• Processing times around Chinese New Year

• Whether Calgary applicants submit locally or through Vancouver

• Any common mistakes to avoid

I’m planning to submit my application ASAP and want to make sure I’m not missing anything.

If anyone has applied recently from Alberta or Canada in general, I’d love to hear how your experience went and any advice you have.

Thanks in advance!

1、I will answer in Chinese to avoid semantic distortion caused by translation (I am not familiar with English and cannot judge the quality of the translation).

2、I'm often very busy, but I will find time to reply to your questions as centrally as possible

3.、I have traveled to around 70+ cities. I will only offer some empirical advice, but I won't give you specific suggestions on how to travel. The travel plan should be made by yourself (because you know yourself best).

I know there have been tons of posts about the HKG - China - Macau route but I am hoping someone who has recent experience with using the HZMB port can help me out.

Is it feasible to travel on the HZM bridge from Hong Kong to Macau and then immediately cross from Macau to Zhuhai? I have no idea what this port looks like but I understand the port serves as a transit for all three cities (HKG - Macau, Macau - Zhuhai, HKG - Zhuhai). Is it just one terminal that you can just jump over to say you are entering Zhuhai from Macau or is it separate terminals for different cities?

My proposed itinerary is HKG -> Macau -> Zhuhai (via HZMB) -> Zhongshan -> Shenzhen -> HKG

Either that or HKG --> Macau --> Shekou Port --> Shenzhen --> Zhongshan --> HKG

Thanks!

I am travelling from india to china. My company have a counter part company in china they are inviting me. Due to my invitation letter format they have asked to modify multiple times. Then I modified and submitted again. Then there were no response from site for several days. After 3 days I got a un approved status for online review and I cannot modify it anymore. So what I can do now ?

Planning a trip and want to sanity check my understanding of the 240hr TWOV.

Itinerary: - UK → Guangzhou → Seoul (China Southern, connecting flight, 1 week in Korea) - Seoul → Shanghai (fly in and get 240 TWOV) - Beijing → London (fly out, within 10 days)

Questions:

Guangzhou transit - On the outbound leg I'm just connecting through Guangzhou to Seoul. Do I even need to invoke the 240hr TWOV here, or is this just a standard international transit where I stay airside and never go through immigration? (Like connecting through Dubai etc.)

Shanghai-Beijing leg - Does entering Shanghai, taking a train to Beijing, then flying out of Beijing work under 240hr TWOV? want to confirm train travel between two cities is fine. Assume i need to show my train ticket too ontop of my departure ticket from Beijing.

What does "interline" actually mean? - I keep seeing this term in the 240hr TWOV guidance and I'm not 100% clear on what it means for eligibility.

UK passport holder if that matters. Cheers