Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
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Before asking a visa question, make sure you have read the relevant visa article about the country. Overview page: http://caravanistan.com/visa/
Before submitting an embassy report or question, have a look first to see if a topic already exists. Relevant topics are linked to from the visa pages on the site.
Thank you!
Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
HI,guys. I'm currently in Bishkek, Kyrgizstan now and looking for information about getting Chinese visa. I heard that there was a few chance to get a visa in Bishkek so I changed my plan. And now I'd like to ask you that is it possible to obtain Chinese visa in Astana, Kazakhstan? I did find only few information about it and those were not latest. Is there anybody could get a visa in there before and can you share me information about it? Thanks in advance.
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Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
No new info on my part, KOH. Few tourists go there. Let us know what you manage to find out if you decide to apply there.
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avelolasticot
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Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
We (2 French cyclists) tried to get the Chinese visa in Astana... and failed.
We went to the embassy last Friday with everything prepared : hotel bookings, flight tickets, detailed itinerary...
The lady at the counter (who speaks English
), told us it was impossible for non-resident to apply for a visa in Astana, and that we had to do it in our country. We insisted, said that we left France a long time ago so we couldn't have done it there... She was nice enough to go to ask to somebody else if they could make an exception. She came back 5 minutes later and said OK ! wow ! So she took a closer look to our papers, and told us to change a few things in the form. We went out of the embassy, the time to print the form again, and got back an hour later.
Bad news. She got a call from her boss in the meantime, it was impossible again due to a "technical problem". We insisted, how ? why ? when ? And got no useful information...
We went back on Monday, to see if the "technical problem" had been solved.. But no luck, she told us our only option is the 72h visa free transit. Sounds hard to cycle through China in 72h
oh and the address written on caravanistan is wrong : the entrance is on Kabanbay batyr prospekt 28/1 (corner with Kunaeva ulitsa). The Chinese embassy is on the right side of the building, at the very end. At the gate there is a little "hut" where you can make id photos and copies, but it was overcrowed every time we went there. There is a bank across the street on Kabanbay batyr, you don't need to pay cash at the embassy, they give you a receipt and you go to pay at the bank - if you manage to apply - .
We went to the embassy last Friday with everything prepared : hotel bookings, flight tickets, detailed itinerary...
The lady at the counter (who speaks English
), told us it was impossible for non-resident to apply for a visa in Astana, and that we had to do it in our country. We insisted, said that we left France a long time ago so we couldn't have done it there... She was nice enough to go to ask to somebody else if they could make an exception. She came back 5 minutes later and said OK ! wow ! So she took a closer look to our papers, and told us to change a few things in the form. We went out of the embassy, the time to print the form again, and got back an hour later. Bad news. She got a call from her boss in the meantime, it was impossible again due to a "technical problem". We insisted, how ? why ? when ? And got no useful information...
We went back on Monday, to see if the "technical problem" had been solved.. But no luck, she told us our only option is the 72h visa free transit. Sounds hard to cycle through China in 72h
oh and the address written on caravanistan is wrong : the entrance is on Kabanbay batyr prospekt 28/1 (corner with Kunaeva ulitsa). The Chinese embassy is on the right side of the building, at the very end. At the gate there is a little "hut" where you can make id photos and copies, but it was overcrowed every time we went there. There is a bank across the street on Kabanbay batyr, you don't need to pay cash at the embassy, they give you a receipt and you go to pay at the bank - if you manage to apply - .
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Two girls cycling from France to ... ? http://avelolasticot.fr/en
Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
A report I got via e-mail today from a French traveller:
I went there with everything prepared: application form from the website, and all teh documents you show in your article.
But it's only when I arrived at the door, that I have been told about these mandatory websites (perhaps they are very recent):
- https://avas.cs.mfa.gov.cn for filling the online application
- https://cova.cs.mfa.gov.cn/ for requesting an appointment
Note that I am not saying it is possible for foreigners to apply for a Chinese Visa, even less as a single traveller (on the Embassy website, it says L is only for group request, min. 5 people), because I had to give up for another destination:
the flight I wanted to cancel afterwards was on Saturday, it was Tuesday already. The appointment website was buggy (same for a local applicant I met in front of the embassy). I did not know if it was possible to get an appointment soon enough, not to mention being successful with the request.
But, the websites don't show it to be impossible for foreign applicants.
If you look at the second website, you can see other cities are possible for an appointment, IF you have filled the form before, and other cities that might come later.
I went there with everything prepared: application form from the website, and all teh documents you show in your article.
But it's only when I arrived at the door, that I have been told about these mandatory websites (perhaps they are very recent):
- https://avas.cs.mfa.gov.cn for filling the online application
- https://cova.cs.mfa.gov.cn/ for requesting an appointment
Note that I am not saying it is possible for foreigners to apply for a Chinese Visa, even less as a single traveller (on the Embassy website, it says L is only for group request, min. 5 people), because I had to give up for another destination:
the flight I wanted to cancel afterwards was on Saturday, it was Tuesday already. The appointment website was buggy (same for a local applicant I met in front of the embassy). I did not know if it was possible to get an appointment soon enough, not to mention being successful with the request.
But, the websites don't show it to be impossible for foreign applicants.
If you look at the second website, you can see other cities are possible for an appointment, IF you have filled the form before, and other cities that might come later.
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Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
It seems that even locals can't apply for Chinese tourist visa individually.
I read all info on Chinese embassy web site. It says Kazakhstan citizens who apply for the visa in Kazakhstan need to be a group of 5 people minimum.
I don't understand what to do if you're travelling alone or 2 people.
How to get Chinese visa even inside your country without a travel agency?
Is it possible at all?
I read all info on Chinese embassy web site. It says Kazakhstan citizens who apply for the visa in Kazakhstan need to be a group of 5 people minimum.
I don't understand what to do if you're travelling alone or 2 people.
How to get Chinese visa even inside your country without a travel agency?
Is it possible at all?
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Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
Good question. It seems, at the moment, China does not want Kazakhs, unless you are personal friends with Dimash. Knowing that some Kyrgyz students also went to the re-education camps in Xinjiang, I would watch out anyway.Julia wrote:How to get Chinese visa even inside your country without a travel agency? Is it possible at all?
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Re: Getting a Chinese visa for tourists in Astana, Kazakhstan
A Chinese visa centre opened Astana last month (April 2023):
https://www.visaforchina.cn/TSE2_EN/gen ... 3461.shtml
The phone number (+77172799901) doesn't work currently. I called in, in person, today. The location is "Moskva Business Centre" at Dostyq 18, on the 3rd floor:
https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUo5YeBTB
They're not issuing tourist visas - they seemed surprised when I told them China was issuing tourist visas from other consulates since March. I asked them to check about transit visas instead and they went away to ask, but came back and told me it wasn't possible (without seeming too certain). They asked me if I wanted to apply for a business visa instead, but I wasn't interested in trying to find/arrange an invitation from a Chinese company.
I hold a UK passport. They didn't seem to mind this. However, I hold a long term Kazakh visa and I did mention this, so I don't know what they would have said if I'd had visa-free entry to Kazakhstan instead.
Overall, they seemed friendly enough, but not very certain of the rules. They've only been open a month, so possibly this will change. There were a trickle of people applying while I was there.
The local news has said that China and Kazakhstan are likely to allow visa-free travel for each others citizens within the next couple of months, so I don't know how viable the visa centre will be if/when that happens (I'm not sure there'd be sufficient numbers requiring visas for them to make any money).
https://www.visaforchina.cn/TSE2_EN/gen ... 3461.shtml
The phone number (+77172799901) doesn't work currently. I called in, in person, today. The location is "Moskva Business Centre" at Dostyq 18, on the 3rd floor:
https://yandex.com/maps/-/CCUo5YeBTB
They're not issuing tourist visas - they seemed surprised when I told them China was issuing tourist visas from other consulates since March. I asked them to check about transit visas instead and they went away to ask, but came back and told me it wasn't possible (without seeming too certain). They asked me if I wanted to apply for a business visa instead, but I wasn't interested in trying to find/arrange an invitation from a Chinese company.
I hold a UK passport. They didn't seem to mind this. However, I hold a long term Kazakh visa and I did mention this, so I don't know what they would have said if I'd had visa-free entry to Kazakhstan instead.
Overall, they seemed friendly enough, but not very certain of the rules. They've only been open a month, so possibly this will change. There were a trickle of people applying while I was there.
The local news has said that China and Kazakhstan are likely to allow visa-free travel for each others citizens within the next couple of months, so I don't know how viable the visa centre will be if/when that happens (I'm not sure there'd be sufficient numbers requiring visas for them to make any money).
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