Is any Southeast Asian country easier for obtaining a visa for China?

score:5

Accepted answer

On my previous trip I ended up getting my Chinese visa in Vientiane, Laos.

  • The price was much lower than in Australia.
  • I picked it up the day after I applied for it.
  • The consulate never had more than two or three other customers so no queues and waiting and the staff were available for "what do I put on the form here" type questions.

The only hard thing is if you go to the embassy/consulate on your own, because there are two embassy buildings not on a major road but in the same area on different streets! One doesn't do visas and doesn't have English speaking staff to inform you efficiently if you've gone to the wrong one - as I did. A problem given that consular hours are so limited especially if your Laos visa is near expiry.

In this Google Map of Chinese embassies in Vientiane, the building marked "A" on the left, kind of behind the Australian embassy is the wrong one and is actually called "Economic Offic China Embassy" but this is easy to overlook if you don't know the situation or even if the sun is in your eyes when you're reading the sign. You want the other embassy a couple of corners away to the East on Watnak Nyai Road, marked "B" on the map.

If you go with a tuktuk etc the driver won't make this mistake.

Upvote:3

Chinese Embassy in Bangkok seems OK, many foreigners apply there. Not sure if it's any easier than other places (I have not done the CN visa elsewhere), but it seems straightforward and efficient enough.

Upvote:5

As a general rule of thumb I've often found it easiest to apply for visas in countries that border the country in question*. Those consulates/embassies are usually larger and more used to dealing with a variety of different issues. So for example, apply for a Chinese visa in say, Vietnam. I recently did this and the whole experience was very hassle free. The embassy is right in the center of Hanoi, easily accessible, well staffed, and fast at responding to applications.

*The exception to this rule is of course when the neighboring countries are unfriendly towards each other...

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