Visa to China, travel requirements

>>1252368

Also, do I need injections for rabies or similiar things (I'll be only staying in bigger cities like Shanghai)? I should probably get it regardless, but Germany is too much of a safe country (despite pol telling you otherwise, but I am not even living in a big city) to really need it.

wtf man, just write what the form says.

Your post is a cluterfuck of interwoven questions about the visa application, what you should and should not do in China, and what to tell to teh authorities there. Just get your shit together and fill the fucking form with what is asked for, not with what is not asked for.

>>1252393
I am asking those questions based on what I read before. Even if unnecessary, I still want answers to these questions. Out of curiosity and to understand how that all works.

>>1252393
agree with this anon, it's hard to guess what you're asking but i'll try to answer.

If you are staying with someone then you need the letter of invitation, list the dates you are staying with them and list your flight in and out.

If you are staying in a hotel, book it, list it on the visa form and provide a printed copy of the booking with your visa.

If you want to take the easy route, book a hotel will free cancellation for the entire duration and then cancel it before you leave but after you have your visa.

Hotels won't send copies of your documents to the police unless you do something illegal, police won't ask to see your documents after immigration unless you do something illegal or suspicious.

>>1252368
I wish I could help you. I am doing mine right now, but I am adding only basic informations because the rest will be filled by my travel agency.

>>1252368
Just list that initial address as the place you are staying at the whole time and move around the country from there they won't track you internally.

>>1252369
>Also, do I need injections for rabies or similiar things
You don't need rabies unless you're a Real Traveler backpacking through rural Yunan and getting chased by dogs or something.

For urban travel in China, you only need Hep A&B though those are important, both are common everywhere in China and spread by communal dishes and unclean food so get those shots (honestly you should have them in the west anyway).

>>1252447
>Hotels won't send copies of your documents to the police unless you do something illegal, police won't ask to see your documents after immigration unless you do something illegal or suspicious.
That's not true, most hotels are required to scan your passport which sends it to immigration police instantly. The police generally know almost everywhere you've been, hotels and trains etc, without actually having any reason to care.

>>1252641
>Just list that initial address as the place you are staying at the whole time and move around the country from there they won't track you internally.
They do track you, they just don't care.

China has lots of tourists, they don't really care if you're traveling around or not, the restricted areas that they give a shit are places in the middle of nowhere that you'd never get near anyway.

Visas aren't closely linked to the forms and documents that you used to get it, those are just boxes to tick to get it in the first place. A visa just has the class and stay and entries, nothing else matters.

You can use an L visa to travel or stay in one place for 30/60/90 days, doesn't matter. If you stay somewhere urban then you should register with the police, there's a form that you collect from one place and hand in to the local station, they probably already know you're living there so make it official to avoid trouble. It will only take a few hours, bring your friend because you'll need to write your name and shit in Chinese.

>>1252447
>book a hotel and then cancel it
ctrip.com

>>1252368
>I was wondering if I need to inform them in the formular if I go to any other city that I haven't listed.
>Some people say they wrote "visiting tourist sites" in order to not get into much trouble when they go to other cities, but I doubt that is necessary?

It's pretty much assumed you're going to visit multiple cities as a tourist.

> I do know you "should" go to the police to inform them that you stay now somewhere else or so. Is that necessary?

If you're staying a hotel, they inform them. Your hosts will be aware of the need to go the local public security station and plan accordingly.

Don't overthink anything, just be your normal austistic German self and fill out the shit you're required. Chinese just want your money and will handle the bureaucratic redtape to get it.

>>1252741
>Your hosts will be aware of the need to go the local public security station and plan accordingly
Not unless they've had foreigners before. Most Chinese are aware that police are involved somehow but they have no real clue what you actually do.

The answer varies by province too but basically you go to the immigration bureau with your documents and you get given a form and then you take the form to the local police station.

You should photocopy the form so that you don't need to go back to the bureau every time.

Hotels have a different process but it amounts to the same thing, you end up in the immigration database with all (some/most) of your stays recorded.

When you leave the country, that database gets checked, if there are small gaps, they just shrug their shoulders because people fuck up. If there are big gaps, they might take you aside for questioning.

If there's nothing, expect to get asked questions and possibly pay fines. I've heard of someone who forgot to lodge the form after coming back from a visa run. When they tried to go on the next run three months later, they had to pay a big fine and their visa was canceled.

>>1252782
>Hotels have a different process but it amounts to the same thing, you end up in the immigration database with all (some/most) of your stays recorded.
I've talked to hostel staff about this, basically it varies by province like everything else in China but it usually goes like this:

The hotel/hostel has to pay a fee (not huge but not too small either, most places wouldn't bother unless foreigners were possible), buy a special passport scanner and somebody has to attend a 'training course' or some bullshit. They then get a permit to host foreigners (most hotels without that permit won't take you, some exceptions if you're far from police)

The passport scanner gets plugged into a computer or maybe directly into the net.

When a foreigner turns up, they scan the passport and maybe fuck around with software on their pc and the passport gets sent to the police.

The old way, and lots of places still do this, is that they have to fill out a form and put it in a pile to either deliver to or be collected by police later. These forms can get lost of course, by hotels or police or whatever, which is why when I got an immigration officer to show me my record once, it was full of gaps when I knew there were legit hotels the whole time. Immigration are mildly suspicious about those gaps but they know what Chinese are like so they're not likely to blame a tourist for it.

>>1252368
I'm pretty sure I used a tourist visa and just put down the address of the people I was staying with after using a hotel for a couple nights in Beijing. I traveled all over with them to three different provinces in the south, police don't care as long as you are with your hosts. Whether or not you deviate from your travel plans, as others have noted, the hotels send a photocopy of your passport to the police when you check in. I don't know how long you can go without being in a hotel, but I was with my hosts for almost a full month (I was on a 60 day visa) and they never even got a call from the police checking in on me. Because you're white, I don't think they will worry about you too much.

>>1252785
>I was with my hosts for almost a full month (I was on a 60 day visa) and they never even got a call from the police checking in on me. Because you're white, I don't think they will worry about you too much.
It depends on the area, I've had some experiences like that but others have had trouble. And it can be an issue when you're leaving, if there are large gaps.

>>1252817
>Large gaps
Does this apply to me as well when I'm living with another chinese?

I booked my trip to China, got a 10-year tourist visa, then had to cancel everything... but kept the visa. Used it for a completely different trip, different cities, different dates obviously... no problems whatsoever.

What you put down on the form does not matter at all. Just have some sort of reservation for the whole time and cancel it when you get the visa.

>>1252881
>10 year visa

holy shit! how to get? Isn't it only for Muricans or something?

OP here, thanks for the responses.
I got a mail from one of the agencies that are obviously Chinese based on their reading comprehension. It left me confused, so

> you must list both cities, as you land in Peking and fly off Shanghai. Every day must be provable. You also have to send in the flights

Eh, except I don't have to thanks to invitation. I also won't stay in Peking other than using the airport.... I doubt I should fill the 'WHOLE ADDRESS' in with jus peking airport or peking. I will just leave it out. No one is going to notice.

Having said that, the invitation has listed the address I am living in. However, it has no street number which is kinda common in Xinxiang. I... guess that is fine?

>>1252884
>Isn't it only for Muricans or something?
I think it's expanded to one or two other countries but started as usa only

>>1252975
>However, it has no street number which is kinda common in Xinxiang. I... guess that is fine?
Xinxiang is a small city in Henan province, is that the one you meant? If you meant the one with a j then it would change everything. You need permits for there.

The lack of street number is fine, won't matter.

>>1252975
>Eh, except I don't have to thanks to invitation
If you say so.

>>1252838
>Does this apply to me as well when I'm living with another chinese?
What, you think they just vouch for you and it's fine?

Immigration will want to account for your residence during the stay, a few days here and there won't be a big deal because it can be explained as bad record keeping (by someone else) but if there are large gaps then you have a problem. If you stay with someone, you're supposed to submit paperwork to the local police. That is supposed to happen every time you stay somewhere a new time. Foreigners who travel away from their homes have to do this every time they come back, at least until they get temporary resident permits but that's for student/work visas, not tourist visas.

>>1253029
What kind of permits do you mean? Isn't it the same when I stay in Shanghai?

>if you say so
I say that because every website of every agency says that I need to show them the invitation plus ID and nothing else.

>>1253030
I see, thanks a lot. As far as I know, that means just sending them a copy of my ID, right.

>>1253062
*plus their ID
And of course my own stuff

If I list only one city anyways with a host, how would they know if I travel or stay somewhere else?

>>1252368
I want to find this toilet and take a shit in it.

>>1253106
>I want to find this toilet and take a shit in it.
It was probably just a blessing/purification ceremony for when it was first built.

>>1253062
>As far as I know, that means just sending them a copy of my ID, right
We're talking about different things. I'm talking about how you register with the local police station once you arrive (you have 48 hours in urban areas), you're talking about how to get the visa.

I've never gotten or heard of getting an L visa using an invitation, only a Q2 visa which is different. When I had friends/family come here, I just arranged hotel bookings and a daily tourist itinerary for them and gave them the details to put on the form.

>>1253062
>What kind of permits do you mean? Isn't it the same when I stay in Shanghai?
You missed the key part of that sentence, reread it. Not everywhere in China is the same and if you're staying in certain parts, which your place name is very close to, then you need special permits. I can't tell whether you really meant what you typed (which is a tiny city in Henan, next to Zhengzhou) or whether you meant a controversial province in the NE.

>>1253195
theres three ways to get a tourist visa (L)

A) show them flights and hotel bookings
B) let the travel agency do the bookings for you, which you then show them
C) invite by a friend, no flights or hotel bookins are required. If invited by a friend or so, only their ID (or visa, or passport if the person is a foreigner) is required

Q2 is for family and different altogether

>>1252881
Is this the same with Russia? Just I'm putting down only one location and I'd like to travel to other cities, solo.