I need some travel visa clarification... Please and Thanks so much

[LovesTimone]

We are just in the very very beginning of planning a trip to Shanghai, or Hong Kong or Tokyo... so some type of mixture of 2 of them.. Hitting Disney while there...

I have been reading up on the travel visa...I am sorta confused.. so any help is much appreciated...I know you must have a passport then other documents...

1) We must have travel Visa for Visiting Shanghai ?

2) No travel Visa is required for Hong Kong for US citizens ?

3) No travel Visa is required for Tokyo for US citizens?

For travel Visa to China - we have to " present our-self in person" at the Chinese Consulate, and must have airfare and hotel reservation as well as our plans to travel within China?

We live in Florida so I looked in up and for Florida is show Houston TX is where we would have to go to get the Visa. So that would mean a Trip to Texas. We have a trip to NYC planned for later on in the year sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas... So we could work things around to go to the Chinese Consulate there... and get our Visa... I know we would have to pay extra for some type of quicker turn around time... Does anyone know if we have to go to the regional office or can we go to the one NYC and do it there?

A co-worker told DH that we have to some type of medical card or medical paper work... as well as proof of certain shots to enter those countries... I haven't found anything on this yet... and as well a friend told DH and I... we should get a list of vaccinations before going to over there...any info on this is much appreciated..

 

[DizDragonfly]

Depending on how long you will be in China, you may not need to apply for the visa in advance. You may be eligible for the 144-hour China transit visa, which is issued upon arrival in China.

If you will be there for more than 144 hours, you do not need to apply for a Chinese visa in person, you can go through a visa service (such as CIBT or one of the many others). The New York consulate may not even allow you to apply there, because you are FL residents. The visa service will have all the information you need to apply. There are a LOT of details with the Chinese Visa and obtaining one is _not_ inexpensive.

You don't need a medical card or medical paperwork or vaccinations to visit Shanghai. But, I highly recommend travel insurance.

 

[LovesTimone]

Depending on how long you will be in China, you may not need to apply for the visa in advance. You may be eligible for the 144-hour China transit visa, which is issued upon arrival in China.

If you will be there for more than 144 hours, you do not need to apply for a Chinese visa in person, you can go through a visa service (such as CIBT or one of the many others). The New York consulate may not even allow you to apply there, because you are FL residents. The visa service will have all the information you need to apply. There are a LOT of details with the Chinese Visa and obtaining one is _not_ inexpensive.

You don't need a medical card or medical paperwork or vaccinations to visit Shanghai. But, I highly recommend travel insurance.

Thanks for the info... something to look into the 144 hours... so 6 days basically...

 

[DizDragonfly]

Thanks for the info... something to look into the 144 hours... so 6 days basically...

Correct.

 

[gelatoni fan]

FYI, due to poor China/US relations, the visa application is somewhat annoying and they will take your passport away for something like a week. I've always used a visa service in recent years.

From my understanding, if you do the transit visa from Shanghai, you must continue on to a country that is not the same country you arrived from. So if your flight goes from the US to Shanghai then Shanghai to Tokyo before going back to the US, you're OK. But if you don't stop in a 3rd country, you'd be ineligible.

 

[Mousequake]

Thanks for the info... something to look into the 144 hours... so 6 days basically...

Just to clarify-- you're only eligible for the 144-hour transit visa if you're flying on to a different country after you visit Shanghai and not returning home. It'd work perfectly if you're doing US > Shanghai > Tokyo > US, or US > Shanghai > Hong Kong > US, but NOT US > Shanghai > US.

 

[LovesTimone]

Just to clarify-- you're only eligible for the 144-hour transit visa if you're flying on to a different country after you visit Shanghai and not returning home. It'd work perfectly if you're doing US > Shanghai > Tokyo > US, or US > Shanghai > Hong Kong > US, but NOT US > Shanghai > US.

OP here,

I think I got it...

DH and I are really excited about this trip... I think that we are leaning more toward now...., Japan and Tokyo Disney... DH's work plays into this decision, he needs to be able to be easily reached...As well DH and I really like to really explore a bit more, and really don't like changing hotels constantly and like to soak up the country that we are in... last year in Paris this worked really great for us... the concierge at the hotel... gave us some ideas, and places to check out that really were not on most tourist main agenda and some places to get great views and photos that were off the beaten path.. and we loved just walking the streets in the city of lights...

So any info on where I should start, reading material, on-line or real books would be great or any other suggestions, or thought are much appreciated...

 

[gelatoni fan]

OP here,

I think I got it...

DH and I are really excited about this trip... I think that we are leaning more toward now...., Japan and Tokyo Disney... DH's work plays into this decision, he needs to be able to be easily reached...As well DH and I really like to really explore a bit more, and really don't like changing hotels constantly and like to soak up the country that we are in... last year in Paris this worked really great for us... the concierge at the hotel... gave us some ideas, and places to check out that really were not on most tourist main agenda and some places to get great views and photos that were off the beaten path.. and we loved just walking the streets in the city of lights...

So any info on where I should start, reading material, on-line or real books would be great or any other suggestions, or thought are much appreciated...

For English guides, I usually start with TDR Explorer. For your dates, you need to be careful of Golden Week crowds. I will personally experience Golden Week in TDR this year so I can at least report back my experience. According to my cousin, most rides had triple digit wait times with some exceeding 4 hours when he went a few years back.

 

[LovesTimone]

For English guides, I usually start with TDR Explorer. For your dates, you need to be careful of Golden Week crowds. I will personally experience Golden Week in TDR this year so I can at least report back my experience. According to my cousin, most rides had triple digit wait times with some exceeding 4 hours when he went a few years back.

Our Friends cautioned us about this... so we are going to move to either Mid April or Mid May to skip the holiday... they arrived the last few day of Golden week, and said it was like Christmas week crowd level crazy.. they stayed on site and got to use a special gate for something, and got extra FP's I think she said... I will look forward to your trip report..

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

Our Friends cautioned us about this... so we are going to move to either Mid April or Mid May to skip the holiday... they arrived the last few day of Golden week, and said it was like Christmas week crowd level crazy.. they stayed on site and got to use a special gate for something, and got extra FP's I think she said... I will look forward to your trip report..

I second TDR Explorer and Disney Tourist Blog. For general Japan there's some great YouTubers. He isn't active anymore but I also like the Honoroble Rat.

Don't go Golden Week for sure, we were in Japan for Respect the Aged Day and it was such busy, hot sweaty chaos. I'm used to London Underground and rush hour and it was another level. You'll love Japan though - make sure you get Ghibli museum tickets 3 months in advance if you're interested in going.