People from most countries will be required to obtain a visa to enter the People's Republic of China. Please check with Chinese Embassy in your country or Consulate General or Chinese Visa Application Center (CVASC) (https://www.visaforchina.org/) which serves your residence area for your visa application details at your earliest convenience.
Here are the instructions to get a valid visa for your reference.
I. Know which category of Chinese visa you need.
In general, a Tourist Visa (L Visa) will suffice for you to attend the seminar. You do not need to show the letter of invitation from the seminar 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 when registering (included in the registration form). We will contact our Foreign Affairs Office to apply for a visa application letter for you.
An official visa invitation letter issued and stamped by the Foreign Affairs Office of IHEP requires at least 5 working days to process. Applicants should initiate the process as early in their travel plans as possible.
If you have special needs for the visa invitation letter, please send us your request and the information listed below via guby@ihep.ac.cn.
The information should include:
- 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
- Arrival Date
- Departure Date
- 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)
- Research Field
- Detailed Weekly Schedule in China
II. 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.
You must allow adequate time (at least 1.5 months) for the whole visa application process.
Please note that it is your responsibility to obtain an appropriate visa on time.
Tips: local organizers could NOT provide seminar invitation letter to accompanying person according to related regulations. We suggest that accompanying person apply for tourism type visa (when it is available), which will be much easier and require less paperwork.
Note:
- Please submit your files just one time. Multiple submissions may result in invalidation.
- You should guarantee that all information provided is true and correct.
- Due to the large expected number of inquiries, we can only reply to invitation letter queries AFTER you have paid your seminar registration fee.
- In the letter for visa, we can only guarantee your stay in Beijing during the seminar period.
- General visa information should be obtained from your local Embassy or Consulate of China. In order to facilitate the people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries, new adjustments for Chinese visa as follows, effective from March 14, 2023:
I. You can use a valid visa issued before March 28, 2020, to enter China.
II. You can apply for all categories of Chinese visa including tourist visa (L). For specific visa application and inquiry, please contact the Chinese Visa Application Service Center (https://www.visaforchina.org/) in your area directly. - Starting from August 30, 2023, China-bound travelers are no longer required to undergo COVID-19 PCR test or Antigen Rapid Test (ART) before entering China. It is no longer required to declare the test result in the Health Declaration Form.
In order to avoid any travel delays and disruptions, we recommend that all travelers read and follow the instructions in the guidance issued by the official websites of Chinese embassies in your countries carefully.
