How to Get a Chinese Visa

Or more accurately, How to Get a Double Entry Chinese Visa for Travel During the Beijing Olympics if you Live in Okinawa (and an Assortment of Other Lengthy Comments on Organizing My Trip to Mongolia).

Back in college, I decided I wanted to volunteer at a summer camp in Mongolia. I applied for a grant from the Office of Volunteer Services to pay for it. And my application was rejected. Why? Was my application essay not convincing enough? Did my fellow students have much more impressive and heart-warming volunteer proposals? Or did the folks at the Office of Volunteer Services know just how hard it would be for me to actually get to Mongolia? As I am headed there this summer, I am finding out just how hard it is to get there.

To the best of my knowledge, there are 4 ways to get there. Though Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan. Coming from Russia and China, you can fly or take a train. From anywhere else, you have to fly. Flights from Japan are infrequent and expensive. Any Japanese person who would even consider going to Mongolia would probably be going on a very expensive guided tour. I am not about to go on a very expensive guided tour. Flying from Okinawa to South Korea to Mongolia is not so cheap either. So I decided to save money and redeem frequent flyer miles.

Easier decided than done. There are only a handful of airlines that fly to Mongolia. Mongolia is a remote location. Similarly, there are only a handful of airlines that fly to Okinawa. Okinawa is also a remote location. So I spent much time on the internet (and calling airlines) to find out if there was a way to get from Japan to Ulaanbaatar while flying one airline group.

Yes! There was a way! I could fly Korean Air from Fukuoka! Korean Air is partners with Delta! I had a lot of miles with Delta! And according to the flight reward chart, I had enough miles for the flight. So I happily called Delta to redeem my miles for a free flight to Mongolia. BUT. There were blackout dates. For some reason, Korean Air wouldn't let me fly on certain dates in August. So I decided I could work around those dates. I asked for the earliest flight possible. And the Delta guy found one! And just as he was about to book my free flight, he realized that Korean Air considered the 2 legs of my flight to be 2 different flights. And I would have to pay double the number of miles... which I didn't have.

So then I decided to find the cheapest way to get to Mongolia. If I couldn't fly for free, then I'd fly partially for free. I was able to redeem miles for a free flight between Okinawa and Beijing! From Beijing, I decided I would take the Trans-Mongolian Railway to Ulaanbaatar. It would be interesting taking a 30 hour long train ride through the middle of nowhere. And so I looked into reserving train tickets.

After much researching, I decided that it was impossible to buy Trans-Mongolian tickets on the internet. And, after consulting with the Lonely Planet Tans-Siberian Railway guidebook, I still had no idea how to buy my tickets without actually going in person to Beijing or Ulaanbaatar first. And so I had to do something that I wasn't too happy about. I had to accept that I couldn't do it myself and that I had to use a travel agent.

So I contacted two travel agents- one in China and one in Mongolia. And I found out some troubling news: the Chinese government decided that during the Olympics, no one could make a reservation for an international train ticket more than 3 days in advance. It made me a little uncomfortable booking my ticket at the last minute, but what choice did I have? I looked into plane tickets, and flying was a lot more expensive than taking the train.

With my transportation to Mongolia and back to China still up in the air, it was time to apply for my Chinese visa. Unfortunately, China wouldn't let me apply for my visa through the mail. And as there isn't a Chinese Consulate on my island, I would have had to fly to mainland Japan during business hours to both drop off and pick up my passport. Not so easy (or cheap) to do! So once again, I had to turn to a travel agent for help.

The travel agent required the following documents in order to process my visa application: proof of residence from city hall, confirmation of a hotel reservation for each night I would be in China, a copy of my e-ticket for the flights between Japan and China, a copy of my e-ticket for my flights between China and Mongolia, the application form, a photo, and my passport. But wait! I didn't have a reservation for flights between China and Mongolia. I wanted to take the train!

Too bad. I would have to book plane tickets. Again, I went through a travel agent. And unfortunately, the travel agent with the lowest price was in Mongolia and wouldn't accept credit cards. Apparently the credit card system was broken. And so I had to send an international bank transfer. I went to the closest bank after work to ask about the transfer and was told I'd have to go to a bank in Nago. So I went to my bank in Nago. And someone there told me I'd have to go to a different branch of the bank in Nago. So finally I showed up at the correct branch, and I filled out the paperwork. And although I didn't have the branch name for the bank in Mongolia (I suspect there is only one branch of the bank, so there was no need to specify the branch name.), the money went through! After a week of waiting and the unfortunate added expense of sending the transfer.

The day after the Mongolian travel agency emailed me the itinerary for my e-ticket, I printed a copy and dropped it off with the travel agent. And then I worried about whether or not I would actually be able to get my visa. I had heard rumors that China stopped giving out multiple entry visas for this summer. Worry worry worry worry... And then 2 weeks (and a lot of yen later), I was able to pick up my visa! Finally! Soon I'll be on my way to Mongolia! Take that, Office of Volunteer Services!