Every foreigner who wants to enter China needs a visa. Normally, you would get a visa in the country where you live at the embassy. If you fly to Hong Kong and want to visit Shenzhen, there is another possibility though; you can get a visa for short stay in Shenzhen. There are many conflicting reports about this kind of visa for Shenzhen though. This article provides an overview of the facts.
Q: Who can apply for a visa in Shenzhen?
A: Most nationalities can get a Shenzhen Visa, but there are some exceptions. Americans cannot get a visa for example. About.com maintains a list with nationalities that can and cannot obtain this kind of visa. In general all EU passport holders can get it, but US passport holders cannot.
Q: Where can you buy the Shenzhen Visa?
A: You can only buy the Shenzhen Visa at the border crossing LuoHu (also called Lo Wu) between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Luohu is the biggest checkpoint and is located in Luohu district at the end of Metro line 1 . Shenzhen visas cannot be bought via travel agents or from the Chinese embassy.
The exact procedure is like this:
- you first pass through Hong Kong immigration
- walk over a footbridge
- you will see a pair of escalators on the left hand side that go to the Shenzhen Visa office (before you arrive at the Chinese immigration desks).
- Get a number when you enter, then wait (shortly) in the queue. The office is open 09:00 - 12:00 and 14:00-16:30, so make sure you arrive in time!
- You will normally get a visa within a few minutes, but during holidays there might be queues
If you don't get a visa for Shenzhen, you can still return to Hong Kong. The price of the visa depends on your nationality, but the standard price is 160RMB and applies to most EU citizens. For UK citizens it's more expensive. You can only pay in RMB.
Q: What do you need to hand in?
A: Applicants do not need to fill in visa application forms, nor submit
photographs. They only need to fill in the entry card.
Q: How long is the Shenzhen visa valid and where can I go?
A: Shenzhen visas are valid for 5 days and cannot be extended, so you must really leave Shenzhen before the visa is expired. You are also not allowed to travel outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. So that means you can go to Nanshan (including Shekou), Futian, Luohu without problems, but factories further from the city might pose a problem. Guangzhou is definitely NOT included in this type of visa.
Q: How about Zhuhai?
A: Zhuhai is another important city in the Pearl River Delta, across the border from Macau. Zhuhai has a similar policy as Shenzhen. The border crossing is called Gongbei, as far as I know the rules are the same as above.
PS. If you found any inaccuracies or have additional information, please let me know!
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 18 April 2010 )
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