China Travel Advice

Q: I hold Indonesian pasport. I have a double entry China visa. Because I have never been to China before and I'm Indonesian so I can only get double entry visa. I'm joining a tour in HK to visit Beijing and Shanghai - 4 days in Beijing, back to HK, then flying to Shanghai from HK, so I will use one visa entry to Beijing and the second to Shanghai. I intend to visit Shenzhen as well from HK. Can i apply landing visa on the spot? Or can i apply single entry visa to Shenzhen from HK? Thanks.

If you return to Hong Kong after visiting Beijing and then go to Shanghai from Hong Kong, you'll use up your double entry visa. For your trip to Shenzhen, you can either apply for a visa in Hong Kong or apply for a visa at the border entry point (for example, at the Lo Wu border cross). It takes 1 to 4 days for you to get your visa in Hong Kong, depending whether you rush it or not. For the border visa, you get it on the spot of course. There is a difference between the visa secured in Hong Kong and the visa received at the Shenzhen border. The former is a full visa; with it you can travel to Shenzhen and other parts of China. The latter is a visa for Shenzhen visit only. With this visa, if you travel beyond Shenzhen to other parts of China and get caught, you'll be fined. Compared to the visa one gets in Hong Kong, the landing visa at the border should be cheaper in terms of the fee (HK$150 or so). There is a similar visa for Zhuhai, which, like Shenzhen, is another Special Economic Zone of China.

The Shenzhen landing visa is not available to U.S. citizens. The granting of this visa was put on hold last year when the Beijing Olympic was under way but people have been able to get the Shenzhen border visa since then.

If you apply for a visa in Hong Kong, you can either go to China's Foreign Ministry Office in Hong Kong or to one of the branch offices of China Travel Service, a travel agency that can apply for the visa on your behalf. Since you're traveling with a tour group, the tour organizer should be able to handle this for you.