If I obtain a Chinese tourist visa does its validity always start immediately, or can I get one that begins at a certain date in the future?
I've had a few Chinese tourist visas before, but I was always heading to China soon after getting the visa.
This time I'm thinking of getting a Chinese visa at home, where I can get a pretty flexible one, then travelling to a different destination for some months, where I would only be able to obtain a very limited Chinese visa, and later travel from there straight to China.
Since the visa is only valid for a certain length of time, I'm wondering if I can get one whose validity would only begin about the time I would be arriving in China, which would be some months after I obtained it in my own country.
Is this even a possibility?
Best Answer
As mentioned by George Y., there's (technically) no "valid from" date. I had a look at my last visa (I have dozens of them), and there are actually two dates in a row:
ENTER BEFORE: 12AUG2018
ISSUE DATE: 12FEB2018
Real dates from my last visa. This was a six-month visa. As you can see, the expiry date (ENTER BEFORE) is exactly 6 months (and one day) after the ISSUE DATE, which makes the latter the date from which the visa is valid: as soon as the visa is produced, its validity starts.
As I said in a comment above, I was told several times by the travel agency I use for Chinese visas that the first date of travel you fill in on the form is to make sure there's enough time to get the visa (ie if you want to leave in 2 days, there might be a problem, as the processing time for French passports is 5 working days). And it is definitely not for later departures. "You want later, come later lah" I was told every time...
So all in all, I would say that if you want a visa with a later start date, you'll have to do it later. One solution came to me (as I might use it myself: I can get a one-year visa in France, but not in HK...). If your country allows two passports, leave one with family/friends, along with photo, form, etc. Have them apply for you (either directly or via a travel agency) in due time, and courier the passport to wherever you are.
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How long is a Chinese tourist visa valid for?
Usually the validity of a Single Entry or Double Entry "L" visa is 90 days or 180 days from the date of issue. This means the holder of the visa shall enter China no later than 90 days or 180 days from the date of issue, otherwise the visa is expired and is null and void.Is a visa valid on the day it expires?
A visa issued for a single entry (denoted on the visa under \u201cEntries\u201d with the number 1) is valid, or can be used from the date it is issued until the date it expires to travel to a U.S. port-of-entry one time.Can I enter China on the day my visa expires?
Validity of a visa refers to the period that the visa holder is allowed to enter China. Unless otherwise specified, a visa holder may enter China at any time prior to expiry of validity (right up to midnight Beijing Time on the final day of validity), so long as the entries granted on the visa have not been used up.What is the meaning of visa validity date?
Visa validity is the length of time that a visa can be used to enter and/or stay in the destination country. Each country has its own visa policy, which determines how long each type of visa is valid for. Validity periods can vary depending on the purpose of the visa (e.g. tourism, business, work, etc.)Did we (or did we not) get our Chinese tourist Visa issued in Hong Kong????
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Answer 2
Every Chinese visa I had did not contain the "valid from" date at all. It only contained "issue date" and "enter before" (i.e. expiration date). Assuming the visa sticker is the same for all countries, I don't see how this could be implemented in practice.
And at least for US citizens the visa application form does not allow you to specify the date you want your visa to be valid from. Since there is no interview (you just pass the paperwork to a clerk who checks it for validity), there doesn't even seem to be a way to communicate this information.
Thus in my opinion this is not possible at least for US citizens. However US citizens can obtain 10-year Chinese visas, so this is not really a concern.
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