People from most countries will be required to obtain a visa to enter the People's Republic of China. Please check with the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General or Chinese Visa Application Service Center (CVASC-https://www.visaforchina.org/) which serves your residence area for your visa application details at your earliest convenience.
Notice on Visa Exemption Policy
- From December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, China has decided to implement a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. Persons holding ordinary valid passports from the above countries who come to China for business, tourism, family visit and transit purposes for no more than 15 days can enter China without a visa. People from the above-mentioned countries who do not meet the conditions for visa exemption still need to apply for a visa before entering China.
- To further facilitate cross-border travel, China has decided to apply a visa-free policy to six more countries on a trial basis, which involves travelers holding ordinary passports from Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. From Mar 14, 2024 until Nov 30, 2024, citizens from the above-mentioned countries holding ordinary passports can be exempted from visa to enter China and stay for no more than 15 days for business, tourism, family visit and transit purposes. For those travelers, who do not meet the criteria for visa free policy still need to apply for visa in advance before entering China. (updated on March 7)
New updates on May 7, 2024: China has decided to extend the visa-free policy for citizens of above 12 countries until December 31, 2025.
- List of Agreements on Mutual Visa Exemption Between China and Foreign Countries：http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/wgrlh/lhqz/lhqzjjs/202312/t20231208_11197270.shtml
Here are the instructions to get a valid visa for your reference.
1. Know which category of Chinese Visa you need.
In general, a Tourist Visa (L Visa) will suffice for you to attend the conference. You do not need to show the letter of invitation from the Conference Organizer provided you apply for Tourist Visa. However, if it is required that a Business Visa (F Visa) is a must, you probably need an Invitation Letter.
To get the latter one, please fill in your personal information form as below and send it to xuhj@ihep.ac.cn (Hongjuan Xu). We will contact our Foreign Affairs Office to apply for a visa application letter for you.
Personal information form should include:
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Full name as it appears in your passport: Gender: Nationality: Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY): Passport Number: Passport Validity (DD/MM/YYYY): Institution: Position/ title: Arrival Date (DD/MM/YYYY): Departure Date (DD/MM/YYYY): City Name (The city should be in the country where you are currently staying, and there is a Chinese embassy or consulate in this city): Embassy address (the embassy where you submit your application): Research Field: Accommodation booked: Number of Entries: Single/multiple (please let us know if you have multiple trips invited by IHEP and tell us the detailed schedule in China） |
2. Submitting visa application materials at your local Chinese consulate or embassy
Please note that different countries or cities may require different visa application materials. Please visit the website of the local Chinese consulate or embassy to check exactly which materials are necessary before making your application.
We recommend that you allow adequate time (at least 1.5 months) for the whole visa application process.
Tips: Local organizers could NOT provide conference invitation letters to accompanying persons according to related regulations. We suggest that the accompanying persons apply for the tourism-type visa (when it is available), which will be much easier and require less paperwork.
3. Invitation letter for institute purpose
If you do not need the Visa invitation letter but a normal invitation letter for institute purpose, please send your information as below to xuhj@ihep.ac.cn (Hongjuan Xu).
Your name:
Position/ title
Institution:
Note: Please kindly be noted that the invitation letter issued and stamped by the Foreign Affairs Office of IHEP requires about 5 working days to process.
