What Documents Are Required for a Tourist Visa? Is It Possible to Apply for a Port Visa?

1. Basic Documents

(1) Passport

Original passport with at least six months of remaining validity and blank visa pages, and a photocopy of the passport's data page and the photo page if it is separate.

(2) Visa Application Form and Photo

One completed Visa Application Form with a recently-taken color passport photo (bare-head, full face) against a light background attached

(3) Proof of legal stay or residence status (applicable to those not applying for the visa in their country of citizenship)

If you are not applying for the visa in the country of your citizenship, you must provide the original and photocopy of your valid certificates or visa of stay, residence, employment or student status, or other valid certificates of legal staying provided by the relevant authorities of the country where you are currently staying.

(4) Photocopy of previous Chinese passports or previous Chinese visas (applicable to foreign citizensthose who were Chinese citizens and have obtained foreign citizenship)

If you are applying for a Chinese visa for the first time, you should provide your previous Chinese passport held and a photocopy of its data page.

If you have obtained Chinese visas before and want to apply for a Chinese visa with a renewed foreign passport that does not contain any Chinese visa, you should present the photocopy of the previous passport's data page and the photo page if it is separate, as well as the previous Chinese visa page. (If your name on the current passport differs from that on the previous one, you must provide an official document of name change.)

2. Supporting Documents

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)

About Chinese port visas

Any foreign ordinary passport holder who has an urgent need to travel to China for business cooperation, visits and exchanges, investment and entrepreneurship, visiting relatives and handling private affairs, etc., or for humanitarian reasons such as attending funerals or visiting critically ill patients, and are unable to obtain a visa from Chinese embassies or consulates abroad in time, can apply for a port visa at a port visa authority in China.

A foreign national who plans to apply for a port visa at a port visa authority is required to submit his/her valid passport or any other international travel document, along with relevant supporting documents that evidence the urgent reason(s) for his/her entry into China. Once the visa is issued, he/she may enter China from the port where the visa application is made. As for the supporting documents, a foreigner entering China for urgent business activities, for example, shall submit the inviting party’s invitation letter explaining the business purposes, details of emergency, and main itinerary arrangements, as well as relevant proof of the emergency. For more information, please contact the port visa authority at the intended port of entry.