How to Obtain a Chinese Tourist Visa in Edinburgh (including Essential Tips)
Getting a tourist visa to visit China is a somewhat tricky process. It entails lots of various documents and requirements and it can be easy to miss a step. In this post, we’ll break everything down for you so that your Chinese tourist visa application goes off without a hitch!
In the UK, there are four Chinese Visa Application Centres: in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Belfast. We suppose we’re lucky to live in Edinburgh as that meant we didn’t have to travel far to visit a centre.
We’ll first look at all of the various documents that you need to provide:
| Documents to Provide | Notes & Links |
| Photograph | Photo Requirements To be uploaded to online application form |
| Online Application Form | Application Form To be printed out and signed on 1st and 8th pages |
| Passport | At least 6 months' validity and two blank pages |
| Photocopy of Passport | Data and photo pages - A4 |
| Declaration | Declaration Form To be printed out and signed |
| Proof of Legal Status | If relevant, original and photocopy of visa |
| Photocopy of Previous Chinese Visas | If relevant, original and photocopy of data and photo pages and Chinese visa page |
| Name Change Document | If relevant, original and photocopy of name change document |
| Travel Tickets and Daily Itinerary | Must show incoming and outgoing travel as well as daily itinerary |
| Letter of Invitation | Letter of Invitation Form |
| Photocopy of Inviter's Identity Card | Front and back sides |
| Inviter's Proof of Address | On identity card |
Your online application form must be complete before you can make an appointment online. Once your appointment is made, download and print the Reservation Form and bring it with you.
When booking your appointment, choose a date where the earliest time slot is available. They recommend showing up ten minutes before your appointment time, but we found that when they opened the door, everyone was asked to sit on the seats first. This makes the queue prior to entering somewhat useless since the order gets messed up anyway.
Then, when they’re ready, you’re asked to queue at the podium for the person to review your application and give you a ticket. Therefore, the most important thing to do is to get a seat closest to the podium, which is directly in front of the door but on the other end of the room. If you don’t get to the front of the queue, you could be waiting all morning.
After the person reviews your application and you’re given a ticket, you’re asked to take a seat again. You’ll then be called up to another area for someone else to review your application and take fingerprints as well as payment.
The good news is that when you’re picking up your visa, it is rather quick. The person at the podium will ask if anyone is there to pick up and you can skip the queue and get a ticket.
Do note that if they find anything missing on your application, you’ll either have to use their computer stations to print off whatever you’re missing and join the back of the queue or you’ll have to make another appointment.
We hope this post was useful in helping you complete your Chinese tourist visa application! Let us know if you have any questions in the comments!
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Getting a tourist visa to visit China is somewhat tricky, so we break down everything you need so your application goes off without a hitch!