[Kyrgyzstan to China] Visa, overstaying and hassle of paperwork, Osh.

[La Trottineuse]

Hello,

New report coming from Osh, Kyrgyzstan : maybe some of the details of the following adventures through bureaucracy will be of interest for someone.

As a French citizen on a very long tour, getting my visas along the way, I knew the Chinese visa was very hard, nowadays impossible to get in Central Asia as a foreigner. Before sending my passport back to France in an attempt to get the visa for China through an agency called Action-Visas, I tried my way in the relatively new Chinese Consulate in Osh. Since I found no update here about the eventuality of them delivering visas, I wanted to give it a chance.

/Trying the new Chinese Consulate in Osh
The consulate is facing the Town Hall, it has moved I believe, it is now here (not indicated on google maps).

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I tried to enter two times, at least to get past the first iron gate heavily guarded.
The second time, with two employees of the town hall, who could explain for me what I was looking for : just speaking with an official to know if they were delivering visas. But unfortunately, there was no way of getting further the guards, they just refused.

/Visa application by mail from country of residence, delays
I've now been waiting more than a month for an answer from the Chinese ambassade in Paris, as they announced they would take time to examine this particular file.

/Overstaying free visa as a consequence
Consequently, I'm now about to overstay my visa free duration of stay, so I went to the Bureau of Passports where they handle those cases, hopping they would agree for an extension on the basis of my passport photocopies and myself. It is called the Tson G, and here is the address :

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One has to go downstairs for visa extension matters. I was lucky enough to find upstairs an English speaking student who helped me through the encounter, as I don't speak Russian and there was a lot of discussion going on. They refused to make an extension without my passport, and announced that when I'll get it back I'll have to pay a 10 000 SOM fine + 50 000 SOM for a visa allowing me to quit the country. I urged my kind translator to make them produce proof of that last amount which seemed pretty over proportionate. As they could not produce anything, 10 minutes later, they announced 10$ fine + 50$ for the exit visa.

As of now, I have no guarantee that they will stick to those last numbers next time I'll go there, and honestly don't know what is the official cost of such a visa, but will do some research.

/Paying fine
Next step is to go to the GYVB to pay the fine when the passport is back on my possession, which is situated here :

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Hope some this information can be useful !

Good travels,
Blandine

[Nemo73]

Hello Blandine,
Too bad you didn't get your chinese visa besides you sent your own passport to Paris more than one month ago !!! I was expecting to cycle through Xinjiang from Kyrgyzstan to Mongolia in a couple of months but your experience reveals it's an issue.

So, where are you thinking going next ?

[La Trottineuse]

Update on the topic.

/Chinese visa application by mail from country of residence (France) - OK

After 2 months of holding back my file in pre-autorization mode, the consulate finally delivered me a visa, 2 entries of 30days, valid until October 2018 (that is 7 months window) !

I must say I had someone in France send a letter insisting on the problem and the situation they had put me in here in Kyrgyzstan. I was otherwise unable to have the slightest contact in the consulate, and the agency (Action-Visas) could not do a thing. I think the letter put things into positive motion, since, because of the delay, the flight reservations and hostels booking I had given were no more relevant, and my passport holds recent stamps from Turkey and Iran.

Now I have to solve my situation here and get an exit visa.

Cheers and good winds fellow travelers!
Blandine

[Nemo73]

Hi Blandine,
Glad to hear that you finally got your master key for China ! Well, does that mean it is necessary to forsee 2 months at least of stay in Osh, with passport sent to France (inducing no move inside the country !), to expect the chinese visa ? How long did you stay in Kyrgyzstan finally ? More that twice two months ? Means the first extension was not enough ?!!!
What’s your last advice in other words, to get the chinese visa in this country, if you had to do it a gain ?

[bodenseeoverlander]

In Germany it is possible to get a second passport. We have had the second passports at home and sent them (the chinese visa included) to the German Embassy in Bishkek.

Isn't that possible for French citizens as well?

[La Trottineuse]

Last update on the topic :

/Overstaying free visa as a consequence

=> Fine : As mentioned on the first post, the delay for the obtention of the Chinese visa forced me to overstay the 2 months free visa duration.
As soon as I got my passport back from France, I then headed to the Police where one has to pay a fine.
They had announced 1000SOM a few weeks ago in another department, but it is 10 000SOM (1000SOM is apparently the ancient fee).

=> After that, the exit visa can be asked at the Passport and immigration building (Tson G. Osh), for 50$. Delay of obtention is 4 work days.

The bank were both payments are to be made is the RSK bank.

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Good travels fellows
Blandine


@Nemo73: No, I would not make a rule of how it happened to me. And technically, I did not obtain my visa in Kyrgyzstan, so if one has the opportunity to make it in advance, nowadays, it seems the safest solution (I did not, as I can not plan so much ahead my itinerary and time schedule).

@bodenseeoverlander: As far as I know, not officially unfortunately. One can make a declaration for a case of loss/robbery and try to get another one though, but it can get tricky with the biometrics elements required if you're already far away.