china and india visas - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

mercoop80 · 11-06-2005, 11:42 PM

OK, I just printed out the visa applications for China and India and plan to go to the Chinese embassy this week.

How serious are they about needing the names, address and phone number of an inviting organization or person in China? I got nothin' ... (I'm going on my own, with no tour group or anything.)

They ask a similar question on the India visa application -- for references, including a person in India. I can probably find someone for this one -- a friend of a friend or something.

Just wondering if I'll be wasting my time by going to the Chinese embassy without an "inviting" org. or person. Any help would be awesome!!

Thanks!

Meredith

**beergal** · 11-07-2005, 02:47 AM

meridith have you checked with a hostel for china as they may be able to provide you as a contact person i know that a lot of hostels do this for Russia....just browse through the travelpunk hostel page (sorry have used fast reply and cant provide the link duh!) and have a look if any of the hostels provide this service...i do know that from what my tutor has told us about our trip to Beijing they wont even let you into china without a visa as in you cant buy it at the door! If not im sure Timmyjames is in china right now teaching (forgive me if im wrong timmy) so he may be able to help you out with some more info

**LiveFreeorDie** · 11-07-2005, 09:13 PM

My initial thought on this is that you only need an invite letter for a China business visa (I do not know about India). I think that for a tourist visa an invite letter is not necessary as most tourist visitors do not know anyone in China to invite them. I travel a lot to China for work, and for me to get my visa, we need to submit a letter from my Company's office in China that 'invites' me to come to China for a business visit, but it does not make sense for a tourist to have to do this. I did a quick search on the web and came up with this thread on the China Pulse message board that supports my contention:

China Visa Requirements

Good luck!

**expatben** · 11-08-2005, 04:19 PM

I applied for a Chinese L (tourist) visa. The thing is, most the visa sheets are the same and you tick the relevent box and fill in the relevent info. I did not put in anything for my Chinese adress and I got my visa no problem. As long as its tourist you should be OK.
As for Indian...sorry haven't a clue.

mercoop80 · 11-13-2005, 12:48 PM

Thanks guys! For my Chinese visa, I just left the invitation part blank and got my visa with no problems

mercoop80 · 11-13-2005, 01:02 PM

and it looks like for a tourist visa, references aren't needed for the india application either. fyi

foofiter · 11-14-2005, 12:08 AM

TimmyJames is in Taiwan btw. Not China.

Foo

**TimmyJames1976** · 11-14-2005, 05:30 AM

thats rocks mercoop.....i wanna hit the mainland if i get time...and yeah foo has it right, taiwan for me.....but my boss just got back from china and said it was great....if you r htting the big cities be ready for polutionmania....he said the air is rough there....but seriously have a blast and take lots of pics

clinttauruscanada · 11-25-2005, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TimmyJames1976@Nov 14 2005, 07:30 AM
thats rocks mercoop.....i wanna hit the mainland if i get time...and yeah foo has it right, taiwan for me.....but my boss just got back from china and said it was great....if you r htting the big cities be ready for polutionmania....he said the air is rough there....but seriously* have a blast and take lots of pics

[snapback]86963[/snapback]

I spent a month in mainland China, and the pollution was ridiculous. Also, some of the things you will see will probably blow your mind, it's another world.

**expatben** · 11-29-2005, 04:20 PM

I spent a month in NE China and I definatly agree it is so much a different world even things that look the same are different.