Thinking about visiting wife's family in China in September

[yemmie]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are thinking about going back to China to visit her family in September. I have not been there since 2007. I remember in 2008, during the Olympic Games, they tightened up a bit on visa issuance, requiring Hotel reservations. Have they relaxed things again? If not, if anyone has been there lately, can you tell me what I will need to do? Also, we need to add my last name to my wife's Chinese passport. Do you know if we can do it the same day at the same Embassy location in Washington, DC?

 

Thanks as always,

 

Yemmie

[dnoblett]

Yes, they have relaxed this requirement, also since you have in-laws over there this is not an issue.

 

You can apply for and use passport services in DC only if you live within the district covered by the Embassy.

 

http://www.chinaconsulatesf.org/eng/qianzhen/W020031026589650314898.gif

 

http://www.chinaconsulatesf.org/eng/qianzhen/t42287.htm

 

We never bothered adding an AKA married name to my wife's passport, and simply book international airline tickets in maiden name, my wife renewed her passport on recent trip to China and then had the AKA added to the new passport.

 

You can use a visa service like: https://www.oasischinavisa.com/tourist_visa.html ( I have and the normal turn around is less that a week. No need to make a special visit to the consulate covering where you live. )

Edited July 13, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[DongDong]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are thinking about going back to China to visit her family in September. I have not been there since 2007. I remember in 2008, during the Olympic Games, they tightened up a bit on visa issuance, requiring Hotel reservations. Have they relaxed things again? If not, if anyone has been there lately, can you tell me what I will need to do? Also, we need to add my last name to my wife's Chinese passport. Do you know if we can do it the same day at the same Embassy location in Washington, DC?

 

Thanks as always,

 

Yemmie

 

Yemmie,

I just got back a few weeks ago after spending basically the month of June there.

 

I think you will find it is a pretty straight forward process just like it was in 2007. On the visa application, I only listed the cities I would visit and her parents address/phone number.

 

Yes, you can get her passport changed and have your named added in DC¡­ we worked with one of the visa services recommended to my wife on her website.

At any rate, the visa service will tell you what you need to do and we had four passports to add visas to, in addition to, the name change on my wife¡¯s passport. I want to say it took less than three weeks for the whole process.

 

It was also great to get back and see the family again. For us, it had been almost two years. Have fun!

 

David

[Randy W]

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are thinking about going back to China to visit her family in September. I have not been there since 2007. I remember in 2008, during the Olympic Games, they tightened up a bit on visa issuance, requiring Hotel reservations. Have they relaxed things again? If not, if anyone has been there lately, can you tell me what I will need to do? Also, we need to add my last name to my wife's Chinese passport. Do you know if we can do it the same day at the same Embassy location in Washington, DC?

 

Thanks as always,

 

Yemmie

 

 

Same day service would mean you apply for the visa in the morning, and then pick it up that afternoon (costs extra, but pretty reasonable)

 

We have heard of people being turned away by an over-zealous guard who happened to notice they were at the "wrong" consulate/embassy, but this is rare

 

Oh, I get it now! Your wife's passport - they will mail it to you approx 2 to 6 weeks later (I forget which). Be sure to bring a stamped, self-addressed mailer envelope.

[yemmie]

Just writing back to thank you all for your replies. As always, they were very helpful.I should have written before now, but I have been very busy lately.