Hi everyone,

Looking for recent experiences with the China Z Visa application via Gerry’s Islamabad centre (COVA online pre-review stage).

My application timeline:

First online submission: status unapproved, no reason provided at all.

Second submission: they asked me to modify travel/arrival-departure dates (section 6.1) according to my Work Permit Notice (WPN). I corrected all itinerary fields fully as instructed.

After updating and resubmitting the second revised application, it got rejected again, without giving any explicit rejection reason.

My WPN has a QR code for instant verification. My Chinese employer HR confirmed they never received any verification call or message from the embassy.

I have a few questions for those who faced similar cases recently:

Has anyone here had this same sequence: first silent unapproval → then asked to fix travel dates → after fixing dates, rejected again with no reason? What was your actual issue, and what fix worked?

Are these online COVA pre-screen rejections saved in embassy records even though I have not submitted my passport physically?

I plan to request a stamped invitation letter from my employer and add the official company HR email to my next application form. Has this helped anyone in this situation?

I will visit Gerry Islamabad office with printed rejection records to submit an escalation request. Can Gerry staff share common rejection patterns they are seeing for recent Z visa applicants?

Any real recent experience or advice will be much appreciated.

Hello all, this to inform all that I along with my daughter ( whom I am sponsoring) applied for China L visa on 6th October 26 and today we got the online approval..we will now be preparing our documents for submission.
Till now everything was super smooth and we got our approvals in the first go itself.
So let’s not make noise about this unnecessarily. If your documents are correct then there is nothing to worry about
This is my personal experience from Delhi centre.
If anyone needs any assistance I will be happy to help
Regards

Going home for new years, I'll be applying for the family visa, but not sure which visa he should apply for?

American passport, I filled out the application myself online, COVA completed September 17 and approved to submit passport. I used a carrier (Oasis Visa Services) just to submit passport and the embassy confirmed online it was received on Sept 22.

I understand that there were a series of holidays between Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.... but today is October 16 and I still have not received any update.... should I be concerned... Has anyone experienced this long of a wait?

I've already rebooked from my initial flight this week...and rebooked for Oct 26

Hey everyone,

I'm Tunisian, studying in Germany. Going Tunisia → South Korea → Hong Kong (Oct 27 – Nov 2). I really want to visit Shenzhen while I'm in Hong Kong — train in, stay one night, train back the next morning.

I don't have a Chinese visa. I know about the visa center in Hong Kong but don't want to waste days waiting.

What I've heard:
• Transit visa-free doesn't work for me (Hong Kong → Shenzhen → Hong Kong is a round trip, not transit).
• There's a Shenzhen Special Economic Zone visa on arrival at Luohu Port, ~¥130, 5 days, Shenzhen only.
• But some say tourism isn't accepted and Tunisian passports get more scrutiny.
My questions:
1. Anyone with a similar passport gotten the Luohu visa on arrival recently? How did it go?
2. I'm willing to stay 2 days and book a hotel if that helps my chances — does it?
I just want to see Shenzhen, not overstay. Any real experience would help.

Thanks!

Could my entry get denied if my hair doesn't match my visa application photo?

I currently have long hair and am trying to get all my documents together ASAP for my trip. I want to cut my hair before I go to China, but can't get a haircut before I send in my visa application. I might also dye my hair blue before going too so I'd like to know if that could cause problems.

Please let me know, thanks!

Question, apologies if the wrong place. Can I bring in my prescription Adderall?

I'm going to HK for exchange next year and was looking to visit China while I'm at it. I have a Canadian passport, hukou, and Chinese identity card, but I don't know if I'm able to enter China from HK using any of them. I'm looking into applying for the Q2 visa right now with my grandparent's invitation letter and it asked me to enter my Chinese identity number, will they reject my application or ask me to revoke my identity card there first?

hello. This is semi-urgent.

I was supposed to visit China for 15-day trip next week, but visa application suck in limbo not progressing.

Have decided to amend trip to 9 days to fit within TWOV window, need to confirm my travel itinerary works:

Original: LAX -> Hong Kong -> Ningbo -> Hong Kong -> LAX (with visa)

Now: LAX -> Hong Kong -> Ningbo -> [somewhere else] -> LAX

Planning to rebook flight out of Ningbo to any other country that can take me back to LAX.

I have read that my plan would violate TWOV if its all on the same itinerary, meaning if my final destination was LAX and LAX.

I need to rebook flight from Ningbo to [third country] as my final destination, then book a NEW flight from [third country] to LAX, correct?

please advise, need to do within 24 hours

Hi! Sorry to add to the heap of these, and thanks in advance. I think this should all work out, but posting here as a sanity check before booking! My itinerary as a USA passport holder would be as follows:

USA > Taipei (layover) > Guangzhou (1 day) > Lijiang (4 days) > Guangzhou (4 days) > HK (layover) > USA

Basically just making sure there are no issues with me going back and forth between Guangzhou. Thanks so much!!

I’ve dropped off my passport and the person at the consulate said pick up on Friday(today).

But on the COVA site it’s still saying “Your passport has been received by the Embassy/Consulate. Please follow closely the status changes of your application.”

So do I go by what she said or what’s on the site?

Hi everyone. My L visa was rejected because I couldn’t submit proof of my parents’ green cards at the time of my birth so I have to rely on the 240-hr TWOV. My trip is 19-20 days split into 2 legs.

The second leg of the trip requires me to fly to Hong Kong and reenter China to trigger a second TWOV. I was looking at high speed trains from HK to Zhangjiajie area (specifically Fenghuang ancient city) to get through immigration but know the visa policy update is relatively new so there may be a chance I can’t get back into China.

The alternative is to fly from HK to ZJJ then take a train to fenghuang but it’s $442 and a 7 hour flight with a layover.

Can anyone advise if it’s more sensible to fly vs train to ensure I can get through immigration?

Or are siblings in law not included

Flying in for the Canton Fair on an M visa (business). Everything for the expo and border entry is prepped, but I’m staying a few extra days after the fair to travel around Guangzhou.

As part of the pre-arrival prep, I’m sorting out day-to-day payments so I don’t get stuck at local shops or taxis. I heard about Tenpaygo which connects to Apple Pay with just an email, saving the hassle of doing passport verification before landing.

Has anyone used this setup recently after arriving on a business trip, or should I just stick to setting up standard Alipay with my passport before departure?

Hello, I applied with single entry but just realized I would like it change it to multiple. My application is at the ‘submit documents’ step so I need to go into the embassy and submit my passport. I don’t see an option to change or submit a new application online (it tells me there’s already an application and to not submit a new one) If I show up to the embassy will they change it for me? I am going to the New York location

I’ve been offered a teaching job in Beijing, and the school wants me to enter on an L tourist visa, get my medical exam done there, and then apply for my work permit and work type residence permit without leaving China.

They say they’ve done this with other teachers and that the paperwork should take around 7 working days once my apostilled documents are ready. They also want me to start teaching before everything is finalized.

Is this actually a legitimate way to get a work permit in Beijing, or would I still need to leave China for a Z visa? Has anyone successfully done this recently? And if I start working before the paperwork is finished, what risks am I taking, especially if the school delays or never completes the process?

Usually, how many days does the x2 visa let students stay in China after their studies end? Is it around 1 week?

I’m planning to visit China next summer, probably around June or July. My family is going in January, and they’ve already booked their flights. My mom is planning to apply for Chinese visas for all of us in person at Washington next week.

The application asks for flight information, hotel bookings in each city, and the dates I’ll be staying in each city. The problem is that I haven’t planned my trip yet. I just want to get my visa done early to save time.

From what I understand, the online application only allows me to apply if I plan to enter China within the next 90 days. Is that correct?

Do I need to provide flight and hotel information for my application to be accepted, even though I haven’t made any travel plans yet? Can my mom submit my application along with my family’s applications, or should I wait until I have actual travel plans?

With my Canadian passport, I will enter visa-free on Dec 4, exit on Dec 17th, and then re-enter using the X2 visa to start my winter study program that is Dec. 21-Jan 8. Can I still stay until Jan 17th even if my x2 visa is expired since I entered China on Dec 17th and I’m visa free for 30 days?

I got my visa approved, but put the dates on the application more so as a reference. Do I have to stick those dates, or could I buy the tickets for any specific time?

Flying USA - HKG round-trip. When I make entry in W.Kowloon (train to Guangzhou) will there be a problem since my return flight is not China - foreign country but HKG - USA?

Wanted to confirm if my TWOV transit is acceptable. For entry I plan on doing USA > Shanghai. I plan to stay in Shanghai and nearby places like Hangzhou and Suzhou for 10 days. For exit I’m doing Shanghai > HKG > USA. So essentially I’m doing USA > Shanghai > Hong Kong > USA. Is my transit good?

Edit: I also understand that some flight staff are not familiar with TWOV. What do I do to make sure I am not denied entry

I'm applying for the visa in LA and it's taking a lot longer than expected for my trip on October 28. My plan B is to use the 240 hour rule if the visa doesn't come in time. Would this itinerary work for it? All are separate flights, except taking a train from Shanghai to Beijing -

Flying from US to Taiwan (3 days), Taiwan to Shanghai (4 days), Shanghai to Beijing (3 days), Beijing to US

hey

i wanna ask, if im planning to travel to guangzhou, the flight that is available from taipei is not that much
so im planning to go from taipei to guangzhou using cathay and the flight itself will have a layover from hongkong
then after 4 days ill leave china via hongkong.

is that allowed? it my first flight (entry) being counted taipei to guangzhou or hongkong to guangzhou

thanks