Commentary – Getting a China Visa

You have to get a Visa to go to China? We did not realize this initially. A US Passport was enough for entry to every other country we have visited. During the research phase of this trip, we learned we needed Visas.

Getting a China Visa is an interesting process. You really have to trust that people will do the right thing.

There are only three or four locations in the United States where you can get a China Visa. None of the locations was near Florida.

So, we found a service that will take your Visa to the China Visa office and get one for you. We chose a service in Houston, Texas. The process works like this. You send your PASSPORTS to the service company in Texas. The service company takes the passports to the China Visa office. You wait 4 days. The service company picks up your passports. Inside the passport, an entire page is consumed by the China Visa that consists of a fancy sticker placed on the page. The service then sends the passports back to you.

In the current age of identity theft, I was not at all comfortable sending our passports to anyone. I was especially uncomfortable sending our passports to the least expensive company. (This is the way the government decides who wins.)

Everything did work out and we did get our Chinese Visas. Once again, it is amazing how much of this trip was done using the Internet.