Chinese visa and transit visa for Uzbekistan

[tifftoph]

Hi there,

Planning a trip to central asia is hard work. I'm from Singapore and my boyfriend is from Switzerland. We wanted to fly to China first before flying to Bishkek, but because he won't be back in Switzerland the next few months, he's unable to get a chinese visa from home. We will most likely be coming from Singapore and the last I read was that he's unable to get a visa there unless he's been legally living in Singapore. Any ideas on how else we can get him a chinese visa? I doubt visa on arrival is possible..

So I tried checking other alternatives to Bishkek and found flights that transits in Tashkent. However, there we both need a transit visa! Our transit is only for 3.5 hours. My question is are we able to get a visa on arrival if we prepare the documents? Also could someone direct me to a latest list of documents to prepare..

Thanks in advance for anyone's help!

[bwv812]

It's very easy for anyone to get a Chinese visa in Hong Kong, if a little inconvenient (I had to get my visa there since I was in a similar situation to your boyfriend, and unable to get one in my country of residence). I've had good experiences with Forever Bright Trading.
http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk/index.html

I believe you do not need a visa so long as you stay in the transit lounge in Tashkent. If you do get a visa, you can check out the visa pages here for more info.

[tifftoph]

Thanks for your reply.. Still need to confirm about the transit visa in Tashkent. Don't want to be unprepared, flights are really expensive.

[bwv812]

The airlines follow the IATA rules, and Emirates has an IATA visa requirements lookup.

http://www.emirates.com/uk/english/plan ... 8098357d14

The key info is as follows:
"Transit - Turkmenistan (TM)

Visa
Visa required.
TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Holders of confirmed onward tickets for a max. transit time of 24 hours."

[tifftoph]

Oh wow! This makes me so much more assured Thank you. This might be a silly question but does the IATA rules apply to all airlines? We would probably fly with Uzbekistan airways.

[arthurschmidt2000]

A transit without visa means that you can spend up to 24 hrs in the transit area of the airport.

[laurent_rio]

hi tifftoph,

I took Uzbekistan Airways before from Bishkek to Kuala Lumpur via Tashkent, transit 3 hours. When plane land there will be usher in the arrival gate that direct you if you want to transit (go right after the gate for transit, go straight for not transit), from there your ticket and hand carry luggage will be examined and then you wait inside for your plane. No need transit visa at all

[steven]

Getting a Chinese visa in Bishkek may currently be very difficult again, I am investigating the situation. It should be resolved soon, they said, but 2 weeks ago it was still impossible.

[laurent_rio]

Hi Steven,

if coming from West, where is other place besides Teheran that possible for foreigner applying China visa ? Uzbekistan or Tajikistan possible ?

[steven]

Hi Laurent,

I re-read the embassy reports on the China visa page and I concluded Tashkent, Ankara, Istanbul are possible besides Bishkek and Almaty. For full details see http://caravanistan.com/visa/china/

Good to see you back here!