I officially hate visa applications. If you have read my blogs from the past, you might already be familiar with my frustrations at this process (see "Ma American Hoina"), but I'm now making it official.
Getting visas sucks, big time.
When living in Nepal, I remember for the first time meeting people who were doing a "visa run". Baffled, I asked for more detail. "Well, you know, there's no reason for me to be in Kathmandu, except that I need a visa for X & Y..." (Then again, perhaps it is not a good idea to get travel advice from people that think there is no reason for them to be in Kathmandu).
The process is the bane of a backpacker, because while you probably care little for weekends, it seems that many embassies and consulate's do. Even more so, they have incredibly strict opening hours, dodgy looking websites, out-of-date addresses, long processing times and unpublished rules that all factor in to whether you will find yourself making multiple trips. Also, while it is generally pretty easy to get passport photos, filling in forms is a dull and sometimes complex task, made all the more complicated when you need to print the form first, and try to keep it in a somewhat neat condition. Let alone actually having an itinerary to present alongside your application.
Before Kat & I left Australia in January, the Vietnamese visa was the only shiny new one in our passports. We tried applying for Russian, Mongolian and Vietnamese visas before we left. Russia would not provide one more than 3 months in advance of our arrival, even with a very polite letter that this Lonely Planet Forum post suggested would work. Mongolia would not provide a transit visa without us first procuring a Russian visa. Luckily (haha or so we thought), Vietnam obliged.
Our first crack at Chinese visas in Ho Chi Minh City was thwarted by the lengthy process it took to get a new Vietnamese visa (more on that later). We only had one specific day where we would have to drop our application and passports at the Chinese consulate in HCMC, allowing for 4-5 business days of processing before we needed passports again. Unfortunately, after waiting in a security line for 30 minutes (where I was waved through upon reaching the end) and a further 30 minute wait in a very confusing waiting room, China would not accept Kat's application unless she dropped it off in person (despite there being a section of the form that suggested otherwise). With Kat working at the orphanage every day, this proved an impossibility and we made hasty plans to re-apply in Phnom Penh, once we had made it to Cambodia.
In the end, this proved to be far more convenient, and I would suggest to other travelers faced with similar problems, that they should apply in Cambodia. When we applied in March, there were no lines, the process was more or less straight forward and it was easy. Let me stress that. Easy, if still frustrating . After all the schmozzle of Russia, Mongolia, Vietnamese extensions and new ones and reprinting forms for a Phnom Penh application instead of an HCMC one and the genuine fear of being in a place without your passport, this was easy. You really do not need your hotel to do the process for you (SLA Hostel - where we stayed) offered the service for $US88/pp, we did it in person for $US45/pp +2x$US8 round trip tuk-tuk, one of which we combined with a visit to the S-21 Khmer Rouge prison/museum (former school).
- Make sure you have:
- a fully completed application form
- glued on your passport photo ahead of time
- have an itinerary attached (including names, addresses and phone numbers of accommodation providers)
- have evidence of any planes or trains attached (they would not accept our application for a double-entry visa unless we had plane tickets in, out and into China again). I did manage to explain that it was too early for us to book our onward train tickets.
- Tips:
- AirBNB is unlikely to be viewed positively on the application - I suggest picking a hostel, at the very least for your first night (although we did receive our visa, our AirBNB host that was booked ahead of the visa application, spontanesously canceled a few days before our arrival in Guangzhou citing that "local police don't accept me having foreigners" - we suppose perhaps our application with his phone number on it had something to do with the cancellation.
- Pay when you pick up (cash in Phnom Penh), not when you drop off.
- We wrote a cover letter which they ignored and gave back to us before processing.
- Plan your Phnom Penh visit around drop off and pickup at the Chinese Embassy.
- I've read that looking smart (shave, collared shirt etc) helps.
- Know a few words in Mandarin - politeness helps!
- The visa processing section is at an unsigned side door down a road to the right of the main entrance (our tuk-tuk drivers both took us to the main entrance), the security guard outside is the only indication you are in the right place.
- Address: No.156, Blvd Mao Tsetung, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (P. O. Box 26)
Duty-Phone: +855-12-810928
Website: http://kh.china-embassy.org
Open Hours of Consular Office: 08:30-11:30 Monday-Friday
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