Embassy reports: China visa from Tbilisi

[Bento]

I am having the same problem about having to apply for the China visa in home country (UK) but only having three months to get there (travelling overland by bike).

Have you got anywhere with a solution snazzyjaxxy?

Get a second passport.

[steven]

From https://caravanistan.com/visa/china/

Tbilisi is back on since April 2018
In May 2017, Tehran embassy started handing out visas again (still going strong in March 2018).
Ulan Bator resumed in January 2018.

Ulan Bator at least is very close to China.

[BabyloneGarden]

Hi everybody!
Just to say we don't know why Caravanistan updated that we can get the Visa for China in Tbilissi, but maybe they meant only if you have a resident permit. It is not possible without. At least not with the person working on wednesday. The guard and the lady at the desk where nice but she clearly told us that if we are just "tourist" you can NOT get the visa here. We will try maybe an other day in the week, but for now we think.

[steven]

Hi everybody!
Just to say we don't know why Caravanistan updated that we can get the Visa for China in Tbilissi, but maybe they meant only if you have a resident permit.

One month ago it was possible, as detailed 4 posts before yours: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1661&start=30#p15688

I will update once again that you failed. As it says early on in the China visa article: things change all the time.

[New Day Adventures]

Successful visa application last week. UK passport holder. Residence permit needed. Use this guide for the permit, it is a process I really wish I had some help with: https://newdayadventures.net/2018/06/12 ... n-georgia/

Back to the visa - Arrive at the consulate at 8am, not 9.30 when they open. You will be there a very long time otherwise.

Be assertive with your position, Georgians have not yet discovered queueing.

Once inside, the consulate will probably ask you questions like 'how long have you been in Georgia', and what is your job here', so be prepared.

60GEL (20EUR) for single entry, 90GEL for double. Open Monday, Wednesday and Friday. two working day turnaround.

Hope this helps!

[Mobydick]

Good news!
We are two brothers traveling oveland from Barcelona, therefore we have a Spanish passport and we got our Chinese Visa in Tbilisi and we are not residents in Geòrgia!
After reading all the foros and all the post of how difficult is to get a Chinese visa out of our resident country we went there prepared for the worst.
We did our first contact with the embassy one Wednesday afternoon, normally the embassy is close for aplaying visas, but we got quite friendly with the guard and let us in to ask some questions to young girl with perfect English.
First thing she atack us with, was the deadly question of: - Are you tourist in Georgia? You have to dodge that one! Ones we manage to say that as European we didn’t need a visa or a resident permit to stay in Georgia, and that we were not really tourist in here, we pass to the next stage.
We needed our visa for September, so the only option was to get a double entry visa with a 6 months timeframe to get in the country. It cost 90GEL, instead of the single entry one, that give you 3 months timeframe and cost 60GEL.
We had to return Friday morning with flight reservation, hotel reservation, an very specified itinerary, the visa application form that you can download at the website and you can fill by hand, one pictures, and photocopy of the passports.
We prepared all the paper work the best we could during the day we had, we were still not that sure, so we really did our best. Itinerary, with hotels reservations where we had to go, we made out a complete story, with flight and route that we are not pretending to do. Anything that would help us to go through. (Remember you don’t really need a proper flight ticket just a reservation so no need to buy any).
We arrived on Friday morning 8:35, nearly one hour before the opening, and there was already queue. We wated an hour and finally we went in, inside we found the same little young girl and the Chinese “console”, we got ask few questions, about itinerary and the flights. We got ask as well why we had the Taiwan estamp on our passport. After feeling few gaps on our form here and there, we handle all the papers and we got a receipt, of 90GEL each. They say we would be examined and if everything was fine we could go back in Wednesdays.
So we did, we got there quite early, it apparently there is no specific time to go and pick up the visas, is just a matter of waiting. So after 1 hour of wating they let us in, we need it to pay on a machine that charge and extra GEL, and doesn’t give change, so bring the exact amount!

So all in all, 90GEL each+ 1GEL, one photo, passports (they keep it during the process, maybe you can ask if you need it for you) and passports photocopy, hotel booking and flight reservation, detailed itinerary and no need for a resident permit.
20 min. Prosses with few questions.
3 working days to prosses.
Embassy address, 52 Vasil Barnov St, Tbilisi, Geòrgia. Opening ours. Mon/wed/fri. From 9-12 aplaying. Go early there is quite a lot of people!
Good luck

For further information, we update our full report on our web site; http://mobydickaroundtheworld.com/chinese-visa/

[nomad37]

Good News!

I was able to get a ten year tourist visa for 60 day entries (for USA citizens) and encountered no problems. They do ask if you are a tourist in Georgia... be sure to say no to this question. They will deny you if you say you are just visiting Georgia. I explained that I planned on living in Georgia for several months and that I did not need a residency permit to do so. I submitted my passport and visa application on a Wednesday and was able to pick it up the following monday. The payment machine does not give back change so make sure you have the exact amount.

They told me they could only get me a visa with a maximum length of stay of 30 days but when I picked up the visa it said 60 days.

[Acmo]

Hi,
I get a 30 days visa 3 months validity 1 entry. French citizenship.
I gave them a random address in tbilisi and said that I was staying here for few months.

I got an Iranian visa unused, 2 turkey stamps (3 and 1 week) a taiwan stamp and I have been kicked out from the hk/Shenzhen border in January (old passport rule...). No questions about that.
They ask me for an employer certificate, flight ticket, detailed itinerary, hotel booking, picture and the form you find on their website.

I applied on a Monday and pick it up on Friday. 61 gel.
->I'm happy.

[lazy-pedals]

Ho, got Chinese visa in Tbilisi, two guys, Spain and France, got 50+50 days visa, 6 months validity 3 weeks ago, just some bookings with the route, also we told them we are cycling and just got the visa after 5 working days!

[ArbitraryAmbitions]

I got to Tbilisi together with three other cyclists (2 Germans + 2 British) in early August to apply for the Chinese visa. We decided to go with a common itinerary. We wanted double entry (because of the longer validity period) and 90 days. We put together an itinerary for 85 days with 10 cities, hotel bookings for the first 5 and fake plane tickets in and out. We also put a note on there “if we have time, we'd like to see Hong Kong in the middle” to justify the second entry.

We applied on Monday. There are two women working, young western, little bit older Chinese. The younger woman took the application, asked a few questions and told us what duration she would put us in for.
We had reasonable cover stories prepared why we're currently residing in Georgia, but she didn't press us on details and this didn't seem to be a concern.
The bigger issue was employment. It seems you must have an employment confirmation from a company including “will be happy to have him back after he returns from China”, including stamps etc. Otherwise they won't let you apply. The other three of us had one, I didn't and had to return on Wednesday with the document.
The express (2 days till approval) option for 40 GEL extra is not possible. Pickup is always Friday when applying on Monday (respectively We->Mo, Fr->We).

The other three applying on Monday were offered double entry 60 day visas. When I returned on Wednesday with the same itinerary, I was first offered 2x50, I tried to negotiate a bit, saying that it's not enough for the plans. The younger woman talked to her colleague and she came back with single entry 90 days, which I'm quite happy with. She told me explicitly, 2x90 is not possible for a tourist visa.
Pickup was easy and without further questions.

During my three visits there I met 11 cyclists. At least 9 of us got the visa, the others probably did as well. One told me, he had told them he was cycling and he got the visa, too.

In general, in spite of the rather offical manner, I got the feeling that they are very much willing to give you a visa but have to observe certain requirements. If you can satisfy these and don't do anything stupid they can't overlook, you shouldn't be too panicky.