Chinese Visa in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia)

[olmo]

Why exactly Turkish? I will apply in one week... Do you have idea, what about iranian one?

* Turkey supports Uygur separatists (according to China).
* People travel to Syria and join ISIS while officially in Turkey.
* Chinese rules, no need to make sense of them.
Any further suggestions?

And remember some EU countries can use their national ID to travel to Turkey and thus avoid any Turkish passport stamps

[aroundasia]

Update for late August 2017:

We (two Austrians traveling with two little kids) got our double entry visa in Ulaanbaatar without any major problems. The following is a personal account and can possibly not be generalized:

The embassy is open for applications only three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 9:30am to 12am). We heard of long queues, so we got there early (at 6:15 in the morning). When we arrived we we're shocked to see an endlessly long queue already, but it turned out that there were in fact two different queues for Mongolians and for foreigners: Mongolians queued to the right of the entrance door, foreigners to the left.

We were relieved to see that we were only second in the foreigner queue, so we held our hopes high to be able to actually get into the embassy grounds to file our application. It turned out that the first guy in our line was a Mongolian who was raised in Germany, so he provided us with all the details: Every day 60 Mongolians and 10 foreigners (some claimed 15 afterwards) are allowed inside the embassy. The Mongolians were mostly students applying for a student visa, and although their line seemed a bit chaotic in the beginning, they were actually pretty well organized. Someone was writing down names of newcomers and there was a big uproar if somebody tried to jump the line. We heard that they had started camping in front of the gates at around midnight to secure a visa.

Things were much more relaxed in the foreigner's queue. There's actually quite some space on the grassy sidewalk and our kids got down on a blanket and started to play while we were waiting. Within minutes everybody was friends with each other, and the queue actually didn't really start to grow until 7:30am. I guess those arriving later than 8am this morning didn't make it into the embassy this day, though, so try to be there early.

Things really got going at 9:30am, when two guards unlocked the door and handed out numbered entry tickets. People were let in by the tens, and since we were second in line, we could go in straight away. Once inside, it didn't matter anymore if you came from the Mongolian or the foreigner queue. Everybody was treated the same and I'm pretty sure that everybody who got an entrance ticket actually could file his or her application this morning.

Things inside can get a bit crowded, but it is perfectly fine to fill out your application only once your inside. (We had to do this, because we were stupid enough to prefill an outdated version of the application form). Just be sure that you are able to answer all the questions on the form on the spot, for instance your employer's address and telephone number. And yes (because we heard rumors): glue is provided so that you can stick on your photo.

Be sure you can produce printed out entry and exit travel confirmation for all of your intended stays plus hotel booking confirmations for your entire route. We booked a flight on Expedia.com - the US branch, not the German one, because apparently all flights booked online in the US can be canceled free of charge within 24 hours (there seems to be a US law to enforce this) - from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing and back out again. For hotel bookings we used bookings on Booking.com, which could be canceled afterwards.

Apart from the booking confirmations we needed a copy of our main passport page and of our Mongolian visa (including the Mongolian entry stamp). On a side note, they didn't want to see any bank statement nor any travel insurance documents.

When we filed our application, the lady told us that our passports were too new, because they were issued within the last year. A simple on the spot handwritten statement that our old passports had expired and been destroyed by the Austrian authorities was good enough, though. We were also asked to list any country we had visited in the last twelve months, and again, a bullet list of some Schengen countries was enough to keep her happy.

One last obstacle: we wanted a double entry visa, but were stupid enough not to book a flight to and from Hongkong, so the Lady initially refused our application. We stormed out of the embassy and ran into the Internet cafe across the road to book a second (cancellable) return flight from Shenzhen to Hongkong. Back at the embassy you can jump the queue outside with your entrance ticket (so be sure to hold on to it!). Second time everything was in order and we could hand over our papers.

Once your application is filed successfully, you get a payment slip, which you can pay at the Golomt bank across the road. Either US dollars or Tugrik are fine - I don't know about Euros, because we paid in local currency. You cannot pay with your credit card (or so we have been told), but there are ATMs in the cinema complex around the corner. Then it's just wait and see.

We filed our applications on a Wednesday and could pick up our visas the following Monday afternoon, which left us ample time to explore UB and neighboring Terelj NP.

Everybody actually got their visa on this particular Monday, apart from one English guy, but we assume that he mentioned North Korea too often on his proposed itinerary, so don't put anything stupid on your form.

Good luck and happy traveling!

[Remicarr]

Breaking news !!! Since this morning, and for a non-specific time, it's impossible to apply for chinese visa in UB, according to a new law. I waited since 6am this morning for nothing, so don't waste your time !

[Funkychani]

Hello everybody,
I just managed to have my chinese visa from the chinese embaasy in UB yesterday.
To have it you need:
- application form completed (4 pages)
- your flight booking to Beijing and your return(just ask to an Air Market in UB, they do it for free)
- all your hostel bookings for the period of your stay in China (done on Booking.com and cancelled since I have my visa)
- your passport an d a photocopy of it
- a photocopy of your mongolian visa
- one ID photography
- your insurance certificate

With all those papers, normally you will be accepted to have an interview with a chinese guy (30min). After that you'll have to pay to the bank in front of the ambassy. Keep the ticket with cause you'll need it to pick up your passport 4 days after at the embassy.
Hope it will help you!

[worldtraveler123]

I also received a visa on February 7th after applying on February 2nd. I'm a citizen of the USA and received a 10 year visa. Was worried after reading some horror stories on here and other places about the difficulty of getting the visa, but it was smooth enough and the people were relatively friendly. Don't know if it just reopened, but quite a coincidence I guess that there was no post on here since September and I got my visa on the same day as the previous poster. The interview was more like 10 minutes for me.

[Asieparterre]

I received my Chinese visa today.
It took 4 calendar days and cost 30$ (I'm French). It was my second attempt. I went for the first time at the end of June and it was insane, we arrived at 6:15 a.m. and there were already 60 Mongolians waiting, due to a festival to which they needed to go. We didn't get into the embassy.
My second and good attempt was the 13th of July. We arrived at 6:30 and we were first in line. At the opening, we were 10 people. So it was really easy.
The documents they kept for our application were :
Passport
Hotel's bookings for the whole period you ask to stay
Plane tickets (as written above, you can ask to an airmarket)
Photocopy of passport
Photocopy of Mongolian visa
ID photo
Application form completed (they did a new one, it's identical than the 2013 version, but it's printed on A3 paper... You can complete it there or go ask for one during opening hours)

They didn't take :
Bank papers proving that we have enough money
Insurance certificate ( ! )

But I advise you to bring all the documents you can have, it can change every day !

If your passport is not your first one, they will ask you to write a short letter (exemple is displayed). You will need the number of your former passport.

And we didn't get an interview, just dropped the documents.

When you arrive at the embassy, the line is supposed to be along the wall on the right when you look at the door. If there are too much pepole, they will distribute tickets. If you get one, you will be able to enter in the embassy. If not, you can always try to stay until the closing time but you're chances are really really low...

Your experience can be very different depending on the day you choose to go.

To be noted : a girl's visa application was denied without any explanations and she was supposed to take her plane two hours later for China... So don't buy your tickets before getting the visa.

[niels_scherling]

We had huge trouble at this embassy, so take care with having this as only option left before entering China. We ended up booking flights back home to the Netherlands.

As every year, in August Mongolian students apply for their visa’s. To avoid queues of hundreds, the students made a waiting list system. It can take up to 5 days to get a spot. Students sleep the night before in front of the embassy and also foreigners are encouraged to do so to secure the spot. If you decide not to, the system might change overnight and you are not there to secure your spot again. Police enforces this students list, hands out numbers, but when we were there the embassy decided a new number system and we managed to get a new one. No number = no application.

Since a few months there is a new consul, who obeys orders from China closely and banned out bribes or other forms of informal influence. The new manager of the consulary workers enforces this fiercly.

We applied for a 50-day single entry visa with ‘rush’ (same day) service. A letter of our Chinese travel agency was included, stating the importance of our application and that we had booked and paid everything (we drive with our own car through China). The manager took in our application, but where all other applicants got a paper to do the payment, she told us to come back later that day.

We finally heard the consul decided to ask China for approval ‘as per policy’. This takes at least 30 days. We could not do an interview. As our tour started 3 weeks later, we pulled back our application. Our Chinese agency called then, we tried informal routes, nothing worked. They did not want to tell what the reason was, but we are 99% sure it was our Turkey stamp.

Sending back our passports home and applying with the help of an agency gave us the same risk of rejection or the invitation to an interview. Because of time constraints, we were forced to fly home ourselves to make sure we can apply successfully.

Other tourists were in the same process, and most (not all!) did get their visa. I guess the best chances are if you make sure your application is complete (also written statement on your previous passport and visited countries since January 1st 2015 as mentioned in the previous post, copy of Monglian visa, etc) and totally standard (no more then 30 days, no Turkey stamps).

I encourage others that did get their visa to share their experiences and tips.

[archii]

We received our Chinese visa yesterday (we are Swiss).

The biggest challenge was to be early enough to get into the embassy. It seems to be the same every year: there are hunderts of Mongolian students applying for Chinese visa during August. One of them told me, since last year they can't extend their visa in China anymore, so all of them have to go back to Mongolia and apply for a new visa...
We heard that the embassy give tickets, 80 for Mongolian, 10 for foreigners.
The first time we went there at 4am, only to find out, that there were already 15 Foreigners waiting in front if the embassy. Most of them arrived already in the evening and stayed overnight. They made a list, according to the arrival time of everyone. (Not an official one. The foreigners just organized themselves, try to keep it fair) As they give only 10 tickets to foreigners, there was no use for us to stay there.
Two days later we went again, at 6pm. There were alredy 5 names on the list, so we got number 6 and 7. At 8pm there were already 10 names on the list.
We camped there, amongst hundreds of Mongolian students. I guess usually it should be fine, just to arrive there at early morning, but as most Tourists have been there already 2 or 3 times, only to find out that there are alredy 10 Tourists waiting, every time people went there earlier. With us there were four people, who went there already at 9am the day before the embassy opens!!
So finally we got out tickets and could enter the embassy.

Documents required was same as 'Asieparterre' wrote below.
As we applied for 60 days, we had also a detailed travel itinerary on a separate sheet, because we read somewhere on the internet, it is required when applying for 60 days, but I'm not sure if it was. You have to write down all your destinations on the application form anyway.

There was no interview, we just dropped documents.

My partner didn't have his old passport. He just wrote down the "statement", there is an example at the embassy, you can just copy from it. He didn't need the number of his old passport.

Just make sure you got a PRINTED version of all your hotel and flight reservation (on priceline.com it's possible to book flights and cancel them within 24 hours).

At Golomt bank it was possible to pay by creditcard, but the name of cardholder has to be printed on the card.

We applied for rush visa (as all the other Foreigners did that day). So we came back at 4pm, but none of the rush visa was ready by that time, we all waited till 6.30pm to get our passports back.

All the Foreigners who applied that day (and had their documents ready) got their visa. There were people from Germany, Poland, Netherlands and Slovakia.

We applied for 60 days, single entry, even though we weren't sure if it's possible for Swiss to get a 60 day visa in UB. We just tried... It worked out and we paid the same amount as for 30days single entry (30US$ + 30$ for rush - picking up the same day).

Turkish stamps seem to be a problem, but not in every case a reason to refuse. A Swiss guy who applied at the same day, had a Turkish stamp in his passport. He has been there only a few days for transit on a long flight. So he wrote a statement, explaining this circumstances.
They took his documents, but instead of getting a payment slip, they told him to come back at 4pm, as they have to check his documents extra. He was really upset, but in the end he went back there at 4pm, got his payment slip, rushed over to Golomt bank and got his visa at 6.30, like all the other Foreigners.

[Granite2018]

Successfully applied for a Tourist (L) visa here a few days ago. Cost me 67 USD, same day processing with an EU passport.

Arrived at 08:45 and there were about seven people already in the queue, mix of Mongolians and westeners. Take a number from the machine after security and head to the counter when it is called up. I'd downloaded an application form online and completed it before I arrived, so the whole thing took about twenty minutes. No interview/questions asked, just handed my documents over and that was it.

Documents required:
Passport
Copy of passport photo page
Copy of Mongolia visa and entry stamp
Air/train ticket into China
Air/train ticket out of China
Hostel bookings for entire duration of stay
One passport picture (I got away with using a Russian spec. one, which has slightly different dimensions)

Black and white copies are fine.

Paid at Golomt Bank just around the corner. My Mastercard was rejected twice, so ended up paying cash.

Collected visa at 16:00 the same day.

Operating hours are still:

Monday 09:30-12:30 (application) and 16:00-17:00 (collection)
Wednesday 09:30-12:30 (application) and 16:00-17:00 (collection)
Friday 09:30-12:30 (application) and 16:00-17:00 (collection)

When I went to collect my visa I met a guy with an EU passport whose application was rejected. He told me that when he answered the question regarding countries and territories visited in the last 12 months, he put Hong Kong down. When he submitted his application, the embassy worker asked him if Hong Kong was a country or not several times. He's certain that was the reason for the rejection (no Turkey stamps).

Don't know how to handle that one...maybe put "Hong Kong (China) down"?

[julistan]

Great news. Thanks for the update Granite.