As all of you may already know, in order to enter in China you must request and obtain a visa. In case you want to go for a tourist visa the visa category you need is L. If you have all the necessary documents and a passport obtaining the visa takes two to four working days. The best time to get a China visa is between two months and fifteen days before departure.

If you’re wondering which documents you need to apply for a tourist visa, here you have all the information that you need. These are the document for the application:

• Passport with at least 6 months remaining validity and available blank pages, and a photocopy of passport’s data page.
• Application form
• Recent Photo
• Round-trip ticket, Hotel Booking or invitation letter
• Other supporting documents

Since it’s a tourist visa, you are required to show a copy of the round trip flight ticket to China and a copy of the reservation in one or more Chinese hotels indicating the entire duration of your stay that contains the names of all persons who intend to apply for a visa and stay in the hotel. If you are planning to stay with a friend or family, you will not have to book a hotel. Nevertheless, your friend or relative will have to send you an invitation letter.

The most common tourist visa is the single-entry visa (it is not allowed to leave and re-enter China with the same visa) and it lasts 30 days. It is also possible to apply for a double entry tourist visa and a multiple entry tourist visa. However, the double or multiple entry visa is only issued in very rare cases.

If travelling with an organized tour group, you might not have an individual tourist visa in your passport.  Instead, the tour group will be issued a group tour visa bearing all the members’ names. In such situations supply your details to the travel agency beforehand and you will have no further concerns.