5 Tips for Tackling China Visas

It's Chinese New Year, which means it’s a great excuse for us to share some tips on their complex visa application process. China’s entertainment industry is growing year upon year (there are some interesting facts and statistics about their music industry here) , and at Viva La Visa, we’ve definitely seen an increase in the number of artists and crew we assist with acquiring their visas to work, perform or tour in the country.

Based upon our experience, here are some tips if you’re thinking about doing some work in China…

Plan ahead

It’s something we always say, but leaving enough time is SO important. It can take about a month for your invitation letter to come through, and an additional 2 weeks to process the visa. We recommend starting the whole process 6 weeks in advance minimum.

Check Your Passport

Being granted a Chinese work visa requires you to have a minimum of 6 month validity left on your passport, and blank pages on which to issue the visa. If you intend to stay for longer than a year, you need to have 18 months validity. We recently wrote a blog about some common sense spot-checks to carry out on your passport which aren’t just useful for China, but for literally anywhere.

Prepare For Biometrics!

As of last year, China has introduced biometrics to all of their visa categories. That means that all applicants will be required to visit the embassy in person for photographs and fingerprints to be taken.

Get Your Photographs Right

The Chinese are very stringent on photographs. Their requirements include no jewellery, and ears and eyebrows must be visible in the photograph.

Passport Details Must Match Your Invitation

The information you supply needs to be consistent across your whole application. This means that details on your passport and work invitation must match, or your visa will not be granted.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to get in touch! We also host monthly Q&A sessions on our Facebook page, where we give advice for FREE on anything you like. Check out our blog for the next Q&A session.