Q: My friend is a Russian holding a Russian passport is going to Shenzhen, China in November 2010 for a few days for leisure trip. May I know how does a Russian obtain a tourist/visitor visa in Hong Kong? Where should she apply the visa in Hong Kong?

You friend can probably go to Shenzhen-Hong Kong border and get a Shenzhen landing visa. That visa is good for five days and the traveler should stay in Shenzhen on this visa. In this case you just go to the border, get a visa on the spot and then go through the border and customs to be on the Shenzhen side.

If she's going travel with a tourist group organized by a travel agency in Hong Kong, she does not have to get visa herself to visit Shenzhen. But it has to be a tour led the agency.

Alternatively, she can get herself a standard China visa, with which she can stay in China for up to 30 days and visit other parts of China besides Shenzhen. That way she knows that she has a visa as she travels to the border. There are single-entry visa and multiple entry visas. With a single entry visa, if she hops to Hong Kong from Shenzhen and wants to return to Shenzhen, that visa is no longer valid and needs to get another one.

To apply for a standard China visa, your friend can work through the branch of offices of China Travel Service, a travel agency that works with Chinese authorities to issue visas. You can find their service here:

http://www.ctshk.com/english/useful/chinesevisa.htm

If she has time, she can of course apply for her China visa in her home country or at a Chinese consulate close to her.

Some further related information are on the following pages:

http://www.chinatraveladvice.com/questions-answers/535-shenzhen-landing-...

http://www.chinatraveladvice.com/questions-answers/664-landing-visa-of-s...