This blog is specifically for those of you who are attempting to get a tourist visa to China from South Korea. My friends and I had such a hard time getting the visa, we thought we weren’t going to go anymore. This blog is to make it easier for those of you going in the future, so you don’t go through the same thing as we did.
We know that some cities in China are visa-free, so depending on your nationality, you don’t need a Tourist Visa. If you are like me and my friends, you choose to go to a city where you do need a Tourist Visa, it can be a little difficult to acquire if you’re not living in your own country.
You need to get a Tourist Visa for China if you are flying to China and fly back to the same country. If you are flying to China and onto a third country within a 72-hour window, you will not need a Tourist Visa, but a Transit Visa, and that’s free. You can get that once you are in China. All you need to do is show them your ticket to the third country.
Where We Went
The Chinese Embassy that we went to is the one in Seoul at Seoul Station (Line 1 or 4), exit 8 or 9. Their number is 02-6260-8888. The office is located in the Seoul Square building on the sixth floor.
It takes about four days to process the visa, but because we applied for our visa during a holiday week, it took a week and a day. Someone can turn in the documents on your behalf. All you have to do is make sure all of the documents are ready and the application is filled out. Me and my friend Poppy filled out the application, gathered all of the documents together, gave our friend Danielle the money, and she dropped off the paperwork for us. I’m an American, so it cost me ₩190,000 and Poppy is from England, so her visa cost her ₩55,000. Such a big difference if you are an American. You don’t pay until you go back and pick up the visa–not exactly sure how it works if you get it sent to you.
What you need:
-ARC Card
-Passport
-1 Copy of ARC card and passport
-1 Passport photo
-Filled out application form http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/visas/fd/W020130830801798289342.pdf
-A letter of employment from your employer (재직증명서)
-Printed round trip ticket
-Printed hotel information (make sure everyone’s name is on the hotel booking, because they will check this)
-Travel itinerary (simple, just type or write where you’re going and dates)
A Little Problem
If you have been in Korea for more than a year and have renewed your ARC card, you will need to get two certificates from your town office, 읍사무소, or if you are in a city, the office is called 동사무소. I got this information from calling immigration at 1345–there is an English button, so you don’t need a Korean for this. These are the two documents you need to get from the office:
-Certificate of Entry and Exit form (출입국에 관한 사실증명)
-Certificate of Alien Registration (외국인 등록 사실증명)
Both of these forms will cost you a total of ₩3000. When I talked to immigration, I was told that it would take about three hours to get these papers. I went in about 20 minutes before closing and they told me it would be ready the next day, but I begged them to get it to me ASAP. Danielle had to run back to Seoul the following morning to turn in the papers. In the end, it only took about 15 minutes to get the papers.
If We Only Knew
We had the hardest time with these two documents. I called the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to confirm that the required documents matched the website, and the lady I spoke to didn’t mention that we needed the certificates if we renewed our ARC cards. If you’ve renewed your ARC card, you know that instead of issuing a new one, immigration just writes the new expiration date on the back of the card. According to the lady, this is a common mistake with foreigners because they aren’t aware that they need the certificates and it’s not listed on their website. China believes that anyone can do the renewal because it’s written in, so they want the certificates confirming that the renewal was, in fact, real. Very fair, but if we knew this in advance, Danielle wouldn’t have had to travel the 3.5 hours to Seoul two days in a row–this doesn’t even count the Friday before she attempted to go, but they were closed. When she got back to our town, we were running around like crazy trying to get those two pieces of paper. It was crucial that Danielle went back to the Chinese Embassy the next day because it was the last day we could apply for it to get it in time for our trip. Can you imagine how stressed out we were? In the end, it all worked out.
If you are getting your visa, here a few tips so you don’t run into the same issues as we did:
-If there are any holidays near the time that you are applying for your visa, make sure you call to get their hours and what days they are open that week. There was a holiday on the Friday the week we applied, but the office was only open on Monday and Tuesday. We thought we had until at least Thursday.
-Call the office to check their hours. We thought we had until at least 4 pm, but they were only open until 2:30. They also stop taking people before that time, so make sure you’re there early.
-Apply for the visa early in case you run into any speed bumps. We applied for the visa 2.5 weeks before we went thinking we had time, but it turned into 2 days because of the holidays.
Good luck, and hope this helps someone out there.
Happy traveling!
fayes86 
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