Chinese Tourist visa: Agent pros and cons

[knightofni]

I’m a swiss passport holder and want to apply for a visa in my homecountry for a trip with public transport from Kyrgiztan through China to Pakistan in august. Since that part of China is sensitive my plan is to book a fully refundable 2 week trip (flights+hotels) to Beijing (or any other city) and cancel it after the visa is granted. How high are my chances of this working out? Would it be better to got through a travel agent (swiss or chinese? I talked to some people who insisted it was very difficult without an agent, but it seems they can only help you fill in the forms as you need to turn up at the application centre to get your fingerprints)

Also: Will Pakistani Passport stamps be a problem?

[Pamirski]

I've only experience from before Covid, as we had applied in autumn 2019 for a Chinese Visa in Berne.
I had no problem with our flights booked and some prebooked hotels, to get the visa then. Stay was in december/january.
Only downside was, that the visa were more expensive, as the visa center is dealing with your application and you don't go directly to the embassy (as I still did in 2018).

[RollingTreeHouse]

book a fully refundable 2 week trip (flights+hotels) to Beijing (or any other city) and cancel it after the visa is granted. How high are my chances of this working out?

I did this in 2019 because I entered and left overland without being able to buy tickets in advance.
Bought the cheapest return flight from Hong Kong to one of the coastal cities arriving well before my expected arrival and leaving some time after my expected departure.
In addition I reserved a room at a nice Western chain hotel in the city for the time between "arrival" and departure" and cancelled the reservation as soon as I got the visa.
There were no problems at any land border, neither about the dates nor the locations.

Would it be better to got through a travel agent (swiss or chinese? I talked to some people who insisted it was very difficult without an agent, but it seems they can only help you fill in the forms as you need to turn up at the application centre to get your fingerprints)

I have applied for Chinese visas before directly at the embassy/consulates and never faced any problems, the processes were straightforward and the staff was mostly helpful and polite.
The last time I applied via a third-party agent due to time issues and did not have any problems either.
I wouldn't have been able to go to the embassy/consulate anyway because they made everybody submit their applications through a visa centre at that point.

[knightofni]

Thanks guys that’s really good to hear. I talked to several people who said an a visa agency is absolutely essential (not meaning the visa application centre which they make you go thorough now).

Have you got any advise on booking fake flights? Did you use the 24 hour free cancelation deal a few airlines offer or did you book the free-cancellation option or something completely different?

[RollingTreeHouse]

I booked the cheapest tickets (bare-bones, non-refundable) and wrote them off as part of applying for the visa.
I have also used more expensive, fully refundable tickets and changed/refunded them as needed.

[knightofni]

I booked the cheapest tickets (bare-bones, non-refundable) and wrote them off as part of applying for the visa.
I have also used more expensive, fully refundable tickets and changed/refunded them as needed.

Ok interesting approach! Might I ask the reasoning why? It seems like a pretty expensive option (even if you just get the cheapest tickets)

[wnstnbchr]

I'm also Switzerland based and would like to travel the Silk Road from Uzbekistan to China, and then to HK, all via bus and train.

What did you end up doing?

I think fake flight tickets are the only option for me at the moment. Have you tried that?