New visa requirements: invitation letter and itinerary

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New visa requirements: invitation letter, itinerary and employer letter

Revised: 2024-03-07

You may refer your Chinese host to the Chinese version of this page, which may help him/her better when preparing the invitation letter for you.

If you can read Chinese, we strongly suggest you to read the Chinese version instead.

I. Tourist Visa (L Visa)

From January 2024, flight and hotel reservations are not needed for tourist visa.

II. Family Visa (Q2, Q1) and Private Visit Visa (S1, S2)

Please provide

An Invitation Letter issued by individuals in China, and
color prints of the ID of the individual (both sides are required, take a photo instead of scan). If the invitor is not a Chinese citizen, please provide copies of passport and residence permit.

Invitation letters from companies, corporations, institutions are not good for these types of visa, so do not use. The invitation letter needs not to be original, it can be a scanned copy and sent to you by email.

Q1, Q2, S1, S2 Invitation letter

Inviter’s name XX, gender X, date of birth: XX, Chinese ID number XXX (or foreign passport number XX, Chinese permanent residence card number XX), current address in China is XX, contact phone number XX, email XX.

I hereby invite the following relatives to visit China for a short-term visit/long-term residence. He/She plans to go to China on XX, and stay in China for XX days.

Invitee information: name XX, gender X, date of birth XX, nationality XX, passport number XX, and the relative relationship with the inviter is XX.

Inviter's signature:

Date:

(Please provide a color photo of Chinese ID card of the invitor, both sides; non Chinese citizen invitor please provide copies of passport and residence permit)

(If you have multiple applicants, you may list their information on one letter. However, you need to make multiple copies of both the letter and the Chinese ID card of the invitor, as each application is processed independently of other applicants, even from the same family.

III. Business Visa (M), Visit Visa (F)

Special note:Currently the consulate issues M visa with 10-year multiple entries, but only 1-year multiple entries for F visa, per US-China agreement.

One of the following documents is required:

An Invitation Letter of Duly Authorized Unit or a Confirmation Letter of Invitationissued by an authorized Chinese agency;
An invitation Letter issued by the Chinese local governments, companies, corporations and institutions other than above-mentioned Chinese agency.

M, F Visa Invitation Letter

(Copied from official website of the consulate)

Personal information of the invitee: name, gender, date of birth, passport number, etc.
Information about the invitee’s visit to China: reason for coming to China, date of arrival and departure, place of visit, relationship with the inviting unit or inviter, who will pay for the travel, etc.
Inviting party information: inviting party name, address, telephone number, official seal, legal representative or inviter’s signature, date, etc. (the information must be included in the text of the invitation letter)

When drafting the invitation letter, consider simply listing the required items. In this way, both you and the consulate are unlikely to miss something. The letter does NOT have to be pretty, it just needs to have the required items, in an easy to read format.

The invitation letter needs not to be original, it can be a scanned copy and sent to you by email and printed as a color copy.

The consulate does random check by calling your host in China to verify. Failure to answer the phone calls may cause delay or even rejection of your application.

IV. Employer letter

This is for Chinese Embassy in Washington DC only and is required since March 2024 for M visa applicants (all need to provide) and for selected applicants of other types of visa (provide only when requested).

The letter should cover the following:

The applicant's name, passport number, birth date
Brief description of the company/organization.
The applicant's current position
The applicant's job responsibility
When the applicant started the job
About the current trip (e.g. tourist, family visit, or company business), provide a little bit more details if you can. If trip is not for business, please say that this trip is not related to the business of the employer.
If the applicant is employed by a religious or news/media organization, please emphasize that the applicant will not be engaged in religious or news reporting activities on the trip.
It is best printed on official letterhead, otherwise please include company address, phone number.
Letter does not need to be from human resources, a departmental administrative personal can write and sign the letter.
Scanned copy is acceptable.

V. Proof of Kinship (Q1, S1, S2)

Copies of documents showing the relationship between applicant and invitor are required for family based residence visa (Q1) and private visit visa (S1, S2).

Short term family visit (Q2) does not need proof of kinship documents. Non-family based S1, S2 visa also do not need this kind of documents.

The documents include, but not limited to, marraige license, birth certificate, adoption paper, court issued documents, Chinese HuKou. Sometimes you may need more than one document and through a third person to bridge the applicant and invitor (e.g. grandparents and children relationship).

"Family members" refers to spouses, parents, sons, daughters, spouses of sons or daughters, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandsons, granddaughters and parents-in-law.

VII. Questions and Answers

Q: Can I change/cancel my hotel reservation after I get my visa?

A: Definitely. You can even cancel the entire trip.

Created: 2012-07-24