We got our Chinese visa!
My wife and I will be travelling to Beijing, China at the end of this month for our early year-end vacation. My eldest sister who works there invited us and will be touring us. All of my family have been there except for me and my brother so I think it’s about time that I should visit the place.
We thought it would be easy to get a Chinese tourist visa because my sisters didn’t have any problems. They just showed a letter of invitation along with their visa application and passport and that’s it.
Sometime in September 2009, they made the requirements stricter. Here’s what we were required to bring to get a Chinese visa:
- Application form with applicant’s passport-sized or 2×2 photo with white background
- Passport (valid for at least 6 months)
- Photocopy of Roundtrip ticket
- Invitation letter or hotel voucher
- Certificate of Employment
- Photocopy of Company ID, SSS ID and contributions
- Photocopy of TIN card ID and ITR
- NBI Clearance valid for travel abroad (original copy)
- Bank certificate (not photocopied) with a minimum of 50,000 in the account
- Php1,400 application fee
If unemployed, a photocopy of sponsor’s bank certificate is required instead of CoE, Company ID and SSS ID and contributions.
The Chinese Embassy in the Philippine is located at the 2nd floor of The World Center along Gil Puyat Ave in front of Mapua School of IT. Applying for Chinese visa is done in the morning and cut-off time is around 11PM when they will stop handing out numbers.
You are required to visit the embassy twice, once to submit your application and after 4-5 days, to pay and claim.
On our first visit, we arrived at around 10AM and were done by 12 noon. Making sure that our requirements are complete and correct, there were no questions asked at the embassy.
On the second visit, you have to get a number to pay for your visa and you will be given another number to claim it. It’s much faster this time around and we were done in less than an hour with our Chinese visa!
So there you go. It’s not really that hard to apply for a visa. It’s the requirement gathering that is a pain to complete. I would like to thank my lovely wife for taking care of our application. I’m just here to document the experience. Hehe.
China here we come! It’s going to be a cold but exciting trip.
You might also be interested in:
- Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Chinese New Year
- Renewing my Philippine passport has never been this easy
- Touring Beijing in Winter Part 1: The Plan
Filed under: Travel
Question – If the First Date Entry on China would be on April 12, Can I still have a flight on Apr 11 at 23:00 ? THis is on CebuPac.
I suppose so since you’ll arrive in China on the 12th anyway. Better ask CebuPac or the Chinese Embassy to be sure I guess.
hi calvin
I just have a few questions
*How did you get a copy of your TIN CARD ? for your visa
*How did you get a copy of your SSS contributions?
i hope you can answer my questions, thanks
uhh our office supplied us with our SSS contribution and TIN card.
if you’re going to get yours by yourself, TIN card will depend on the RDO where you are paying your taxes. For your SSS contribution, you should be able to get it online or your employer.
I’m planning to go to China this May, specifically in Beijing and China
Maybe stay there for a total 5 to 6 days.
Another question i have in mind , considering my length of stay…how much MINIMUM pocket money should i bring? by the way im just a budget traveller so im only planning on buying real cheap souvenirs for myself and friends.
What would you also suggest is a great souvenir to buy in Beijing and China CAlvin?
by the way thnx a lot for your response in my 1st question calvin, i really appreciate it
I would suggest you write down your itinerary and check out online how much each of the tourist places costs. For cheap accomodation, check out hostels.com That is if you don’t mind bunking in a dorm room.
For cheap souvenirs, go to hongqiao or silk street or panjiayuan. Make sure you’re good at haggling and don’t be intimidated with their high asking price.
Hi Eric,
Honestly, it’s hard to give a rough estimate on your minimum pocket money. i forgot how much we spent already and we stayed at my sister’s house. If you want, you can read about our trip here and just compute how much we spent on each place that you’re going to visit.
cheap souvenirs will be those china shirts, trinkets, uhh… chop sticks…or magnets with the chinese characters. or maybe some chairman mao stuff.
thnx again for all your feedback it was really very helpful info
Hi! Would you know the requirements if I’m just a housewife? Thank you..
hi jc, if your husband has work, pwede rin yun. sabay mo na lang sa application nya. or much better if you have an invitation from somebody in China. Kung wala pareho, better ask travel agencies kung paano. Baka sa kanila mo na ipa-course through.
Thank you ha? kasi balak ko ako lang mag-isa punta ko Canton fair. May invitation letter nako from Canton fair. Pero I think ang kelangan is visa notice form from Chinese gov’t. Eh currently residing kami sa Singapore. Holding dependent pass ako. Eh nde nagbibigay daw ng tourist visa dito sa mga pinoy. So la ko choice but to go home.
ahhh. hassle naman yun. anyway to be sure complete as much requirement as you can. good luck sa pagkuha ng visa. it shouldn’t be hard if your requirements are in order.
JC.. talaga? check mo baka kailangan lang na nakatira ka diyan for at least a year before you can apply. Pinoys can apply in HKG why not in SG?
Thanks Calvin, talagang goodluck sa akin!!!
Claudine, yup recently lang nila dinedecline yung mga applications ng mga pinoy..mga october ata nag start. May nangyari ata between pinoys and the embassy itself siguro. Ayaw nila i-disclosed yung reasons. Basta sabi umuwe daw ng Pinas to apply. Medyo hassle talaga…kasi halos lahat ng requirements ko husband ko mag proprovide. Eh medyo busy din siya sa work so minsan away kami dahil lang visa hahahaha!
Hi ! thanks so much for the information you provided.. i would like to ask if good for what amount of time ang travel.. like if you have to travel asap once you get it , or if it expires.. thank you !
hi hero, ours was for three months.
hi. just like to ask whether sss id is really required. or pde na ung contributions lang. also, ung bank certificate. is it really important?
sss contributions pwede na siguro in case wala kang ID but the bank cert is really helpful.
I didn’t know that they want so many documents.
Hi calvin,
ask ko lang, un bang bank certificate, kelangan per head? so dapat kayong magasawa tig 50k talaga?
hi c.a. looks like it. 50k each.
hi Calvin,
if i have the tin card?is the itr necessary?and sa sss contributions pwede napo ba ung latest?about sa certificate of employment…is it necessary that they will state to it that you are still connected to that certain company/kasi tourist visa ang kukunin ko.