Important!  The Houston Chinese Consulate announced that, effective September 24, 2008, the additional visa requirements imposed in April, 2008 as part of the security preparations for the Beijing Olympics are no longer in effect for most applicants.   

What does this mean?

For business visas, applicants will no longer need to present detailed flight and hotel itineraries as part of their application.  You will also no longer need to submit  an Invitation Letter from an authorized Chinese government agency (such as the Foreign Affairs Office of a local city or province).  An invitation from a Chinese company or from the Chinese office of an international company is still required.   

The Consulate officials may request this information in certain individual situations - but we expect this to be relatively rare.

The business invitation letter should be issued by the Chinese educational institution, government agency, or Chinese company.  If the invitation is from or on behalf of an international company with affiliates in China, it should be issued by the Chinese office of that company.    

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

Which Chinese Government Agencies Provide Invitations?

In the unlikely event that the Consulate requires a particular applicant to provide an invitation letter from an authorized government agency, it should be similar in nature to the example shown on the link below.

It is impossible for us to provide a list of the Chinese government agencies authorized to issue this type of invitation.  The names of the agencies differ from one province or city to another.  

Please ask your business or educational contacts in China to make the necessary inquiries in their own city or province and to arrange for the invitation to be issued for you.

What Does the Invitation Look Like?

The following example is an invitation used by an American who needed to make repeated visits to a business partner in Shanghai.  The first page is a copy of the Chinese original (the name and identifying information about the company and person making the original application have been removed).  The second page is an English translation of the Chinese original.

The invitation is in Adobe Acrobat^© format.  You may open or download the sample invitation by selecting the following link:

    Sample Invitation for Business Visa  

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

Translation of the sample invitation was provided by Adele Chen Hall. Adele was born in China and Chinese is her native language.  Adele and her husband are the parents of a daughter from China.

Click here to return to the visa page.

Back to Top of Page

^©Copyright 2003 - 2007, MyChinaDocs, All Rights Reserved