New Visa Requirements:   The Houston Chinese Consulate announced that, effective April 20, 2008, all applicants for both tourist and business visas will need to submit a copy of their flight itinerary and hotel reservations. 

NOTE:  If you are traveling to China to adopt a child, please call or e-mail us so we can explain how this applies to you.

Applicants for a business visa will need to submit  an Invitation Letter from an authorized Chinese government agency.  Typically, this would be the Foreign Affairs Office of a local city or province.  Click here for more information on Business Visas.  

As of September 1, 2007, there is a new visa application form.  As of this date, the other China visa application forms in circulation will no longer be accepted.  You may download the new form and instructions below.  Also, effective January 20, 2008 the fee for a visa to visit China  increased from $100 to $130.

All applications for a Chinese visa must be submitted in person or by visa service.  Applications sent to any Chinese Consulate by mail or express delivery service will be returned to the sender. 

Note:  I have been authorized by the Houston Consulate to submit visa applications from residents of all 50 states.

Click here for Visa Questions & Answers.

Holiday Closings:

MyChinaDocs and all of the Houston Consulates will be closed on Monday, September 1, 2008 in observance of the Labor Day holiday.  

Visa Service

Items Needed

Application Form

Shipping Info.

Visa Services & Fees

For your fee, the day your visa application arrives I carefully review it and your passports to make sure that everything is O.K.   If there are any potential problems, I will notify you right away.  After completing the review, I assemble everything in the order preferred by the Consulate.  This allows them to approve your application and issue the visas quickly.   

In 2003, the Consulate began to enforce visa requirements very strictly.  Reviewing your application allows us to identify and correct any potential problems before they result in  delays at the Consulate. 

The following business morning, I take your visa application to the Consulate and submit it to the appropriate officials for processing.  

On the scheduled pick-up date, I will drive back to the Consulate, and:

• Pick-up your visas.

• Check and make sure that the visa matches the dates, terms, and conditions requested.

• Place the completed visa(s) and passport(s) in the overnight shipping pack provided by the client.

• Drive the overnight package to an approved FedEx or UPS pick up location for return to the client.

Items You Will Need:

The completed and signed visa application form.  As of 9/1/07, the Consulate will only accept the new visa application form.  You can open and download an Adobe Acrobat^© version of the form using the following link:

    New China Visa Application Form

You may also download and print the following instructions for completing the China visa application:

    Instructions for Completing China Visa Application

You will need Adobe Acrobat^© Reader to open the form.  Click on the Adobe graphic to download a free copy of Acrobat reader.

In addition to your completed, and signed, application you will need:

1. A valid U.S. passport for each person traveling.  Two of the inside visa pages must be blank and the passport(s) must be valid for at least 6 months beyond your travel date.  

If you need to obtain or renew your U.S. Passport, click here to link to the State Department's passport page.

Note:  Each passport must be signed.  Adults and older children should always sign their own passports.  The signature should match the name on the passport.  For children who are too young to sign their own passports, a parent may sign on their behalf using this format:  "child's name by parent's name (relationship)."

Important!  Please make and retain for your records a photocopy of the signature/photo page from each passport.  

2. One passport style color photo of each person traveling.

3. A copy of your flight itinerary (or airline tickets) and a copy of your hotel reservations.  The Consulate requires one copy for each visa application. 

For example, if you have 4 people traveling together on the same trip, submit 4 copies of the flight itinerary and hotel reservations.

4. If you are applying for a  business visa, a copy of the invitation letter from the Chinese business that you plan to visit and a copy of the invitation from an authorized Chinese government agency. Click the following link for an example of a local Chinese government invitation and more information about Business Visas.   

5. A money order made out to "Consulate General of the P.R.C. in Houston."   You may combine the Consulate fees for all of the visas you need onto a single money order.

The Houston Consulate accepts payment by money order only.  As of 1/4/07, the Consulate no longer accepts company, "official", or "certified" bank checks.

The Consulate fee per visa for normal, 4-5 working day processing is:

 

Consulate Fee for Chinese Visa - Normal Service
Number of Entries	New Fee (Application Submitted After January 20, 2008)
Multiple 12 Month (All Visas are now issued for multiple entries for a 12-month period.)	$130

Note:  For expedited "Next Business Day" rush service, add  $20 per visa.

6. A prepaid, self-addressed FedEx or UPS letter pack so that we can ship the passport(s) and visa(s) back to you.

Make shipping easy - set up an account with FedEx. Click this link to find out how.

7. A check for our service fee of $35 per visa for normal service.  For next business day rush service, we charge an additional $20 per visa.    Please make the check payable to "Cindy Marut."

MyChinaDocs Visa Service Fee
Number of Visas	Normal Service  (4-5 Business Days)	Rush Service (Next Business Day)
1	$35	$55
2	$70	$110
3	$105	$165
4	$140	$220
5	$175	$275
6	$210	$330

Most adoptive families and anyone visiting China for tourism need the standard tourist visa and normal processing.  Please e-mail us if you have questions about the type of visa that you will need.

NOTE:  We receive many inquiries from adoptive families who want to return to China with their children.  Evidently some of the other Chinese consulate locations are requiring that copies of adoption paperwork be submitted in order to apply for a standard tourist visa. 

As long as your child has a valid U.S. passport, the Houston Consulate does NOT require the original Chinese passport or any copies of the child's adoption paperwork. 

For adopted Chinese children who are now age 13 or older, the Consulate is requiring that the Chinese characters for the child's original Chinese name be written in box 1.3 of the visa application form.  For example, let's say that the adopted child's original Chinese name was Zhang (family name) Xuemeng (given name) in Pinyin.  On the visa application, write the following in box 1.3:

Please make sure that you use the correct Chinese characters.  For most adoptive families, the easiest place to find them will be on the child's original Chinese passport or the Chinese adoption certificate.  If you don't think you can render the Chinese characters accurately, don't worry.  Just send us a copy of the photo page from the original Chinese passport and we will have one of our Chinese staff write them on the application for you. 

NOTE:  Once your visa application has been submitted to the Consulate, it is not possible to change the type of processing you selected.  In other words, if you selected normal processing you cannot change it to rush service.   If there is any chance that your departure date for China might be moved up, please consider submitting your visa application for rush service.  

Shipping Instructions:

When you are ready, please send the documents and payments to me using the shipping service of your choice (we recommend Federal Express)  to:

Cindy Marut

MyChinaDocs.Com

1860 FM 359, # 125

Richmond, TX  77406

832-368-1844

Please e-mail before you send your visa applications so I'll know to look for them.

NOTE:  Want to ship for delivery for us on Saturday?  Please call or e-mail us first for special instructions.

Please Note:  We recommend using FedEx for shipping visa applications and dossier documents.   FedEx has proven services that are very reliable and - almost always - deliver your documents on schedule.   For FedEx, we recommend their Standard Overnight service for delivery to us by 3 PM the next day.  If you prefer UPS, we recommend their Next Day Air Saver for delivery to us by 5 PM the next day.

Important:  Never use any form of regular mail or USPS "Priority" Mail to ship documents.  These services are NOT tracked ("Delivery Confirmation" is not the same thing as tracking).  If the postal service does not deliver your documents, there is no way to trace the package.  For additional explanation see question #15 on the Visa Q&A page.

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