2010 June: Shanghai: Visa Preparations

Visa Application: China

Visa is required in any parts of China for Filipino travellers. We first need to prepare the long list of requirements before we can continue our Shanghai dreams.

Here are the requirements as of June 2010:

• Passport (valid for at least 6 months)
• Passport picture or 2x2 (white background)
• SSS Contribution History (You can print what is posted in your contributions in http://www.sss.gov.ph/)
• 2 valid IDs (Should be with photo and signature; this could be a driver’s license, SSS id or Company ID)
• Employment Certificate (Get this from your Company HR, take note that this will take 3 – 7 days processing)
• ITR (A photocopy of your recent ITR will do.)
• NBI Clearance (should specify that this is FOR TRAVEL PURPOSES. You can get this from NBI or other NBI authorized stalls, there is one in Park Square Makati or Megamall)
• Round trip plane ticket- Tour/Hotel Voucher- Bank Certificate dated at the same month that you are applying for the visa (range of 75-100k as a minimum will do. Bring your bank passbook if possible.)
• Application Form (You will get this from the Embassy Guard for free)
  

For full details of the visa application you can go to this link: http://ph.china-embassy.org/eng/lsfw/hzqz/t171818.htm

Once you’re ready, wake-up early on the day you are submitting the requirements. You should be at the venue like 6am or earlier. I’m telling you that the queue is too long. Following is the location of the Chinese Embassy Consul Office in Makati.

Consular Office, Chinese Embassy in Manila, Philippines (Visa, Passport, Notarization & Authentication)
Address: 2nd & 3rd Floor, the World Center, 330 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Tel: +63-2-8482396, 8482395

We arrived at around 7:30am on the day we are submitting the requirements, first queue will be combination of all the travellers (Filipino or Chinese). Upon entering the office (at 8am), a customer number will be distributed between: New Visa Applicants, Claiming of Visa, and Passport Application/Renewal (for Chinese). After getting the application form from the Guard’s Desk, we filled the necessary information and waited for almost 3 hours. We were served at around 11:30 and they finally accepted our requirements.

Rules in the Embassy:

• follow your line,
• be attentive on your turn,
• keep your voice low,
• do not take photos; and
• do not make or accept mobile calls.

Single entry at normal processing costs 1400php. A slip will be given to you on your return date (normally, after 3-4 days) on when to claim your visa. Again, the same way, be there the earliest possible time to avoid the long queue and long waiting.

Or if you don’t want to go through this tedious process of visa application, why not go through travel agencies. But here expect a more expensive price of visa processing.