A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors

Going to China for the Olympics or for a visit or business?

You’ll have to get a visa first.

Here is everything you need to know to obtain your visa.

You have to have a valid passport with at least six months validity and at least one blank visa page. If you don’t have six months validity, you will have to renew your passport prior to applying. If you do not have blank pages, you will have to add pages to your passport prior to applying.

You will have to either appear in person at the Embassy of China or one of its U.S. consulates. If you cannot appear in person, contact A Briggs and we will secure your visa for you. China does not allow visa applications to be mailed or shipped to its embassy or its consulates. A personal appearance by the applicant or a representative is required.

Visas are required to transit China.

Special permits are required to visit Tibet. China visa applications to visit Tibet require a Travel Permit issued by the Tourism Bureau of the Tibet Autonomous Region in addition to other requirements listed below.

Single-entry visas must be used with three months of the date of issue. Double-entry visas must be used in three or six months, but are usually issued for use within three months. Recently single-entry visas have been extended to six months; however, there is no assurance that this practice will continue.

Multiple-entry visas are issued for use within either six or twelve months depending on the invitation.

You can stay in China for up to 30 days on each visit.

The validity of a China visa is not from the date you enter China but the dates issued on the visa.

China takes four days to issue visas. You can pay an extra $10 and secure it in two days or $20 and secure it in one day.

If you are going to China then Hong Kong and back into China, you will need to obtain a double-entry visa.

If you are traveling only to Hong Kong and do not plan to enter China, you do not have to have a visa. You can stay in Hong Kong for up to 30 days without a visa. You will need a valid passport. Each time you enter Hong Kong or Macao from the mainland, you need one entry.

Tourist visas are marked “L”, Business visas “F”, Student visas “X”, Work visas “Z”, Crew visas “C”, and Transit visas “G”. Single-entry visas are marked “1”, double-entry “2”, and multiple-entry “M”.

If you are traveling on business, do not apply for a tourist visa. We hear of persons traveling on business advised by some travel professional to get a tourist visa. Do not do that. If you are in China doing business and have an incident with the police or authorities and they learn that you there on business with a tourist visa, you will be in trouble. China is not the place to get into trouble with the authorities.

To secure your visa, the following documents must be presented:

Your valid passport with at least six months validity and at least one blank visa page.

One completed visa application form

One passport photo.

China consular fee for issuing the visa of $130.

If applying for a business visa, you must submit a letter from your U.S. employer indicating the purpose of your travel, duration of your stay, and taking responsibility for your moral and financial actions.

If you are applying for a multiple-entry business visa, you must submit an official invitation from the Chinese Provincial Government specifically requesting a multiple-entry visa.

For other types of visas, including single- and double-entry business visas, invitations from China are not required.

Applicants who were born in China must submit either their China passport or a prior U.S. passport with a China visa in the passport. Applicants born in China must put their names on the application in Chinese irrespective if they hold U.S. passports.

If you cannot appear in person, contact A Briggs and we will secure your visa for you.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

The new passport card has information encoded electronically in the card to speed processing of citizens coming back into the U.S. The card has been criticized by some for the fact that the data in the card could be hacked into because the data can be picked up from more than a few inches away. The critics say the data could compromise the holder’s personal information.

We have never agreed with this criticism because the only data on the card is a unique number of the holder that has nothing to do with their identity. Instead the number is only good for use on the database of the U.S. Customs officials. When put into Customs computer database, the number will identify the holder, so he or she can be correctly and immediately identified and allowed to enter the U.S.

So even if someone did successfully hack into the card and get the passport card number of the holder, it would only be helpful if they also had hacked into the Customs database, and that is as close to impossible as the government can guarantee. We respect the integrity of the databases of the U.S. government, so we do not think the passport card is a personal security risk.

Read an interesting editorial on this subject by the Buffalo News whose readers are heavily impacted by this card because they are only a few miles from the Canadian border.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Regular U.S. visitors to Mexican beaches just south of San Diego are showing up less because of an increase in armed robbery on the beaches.

The Associated Press reported “Surfers and kayakers are frightened to hit the waters of the northern stretch of Mexico’s Baja California, long popular as a weekend destination for US tourists.”

Weddings have been canceled and beach front restaurants have seen a dramatic drop in business, even on the usually busy New Year’s weekend.

Shakedowns by police and drug-related violence have continued as in past, but starting last summer, attacks by masked, armed bandits has frightened even longtime visitors, according to the A.P. store.The Baja California peninsula is known worldwide for clean and sparsely populated beaches.

The US Consulate in Tijuana has not reported an increase in attacks on American citizens but many crimes are not reported, according to US consular officials. The State Department has always warned motorists on Mexico’s border to watch for cars following them. But citizens should reasonably ask themselves what could they do if they were being followed in a remote area even a few miles from the U.S. border?

In Rosarito, a city an hour from the border, authorities recently forced police to surrender their weapons for testing to see if they were linked to any crimes.

In 2007, 18 million tourists visited Baja, down from 21 million in 2006. Mexican crime continues to soil the lovely nation and its people. The tragedy of this level of crime touches both the direct victims, the tourists, and the Mexican citizens who lose their jobs because of the crime driven drop in visitors.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Passport Update on new Passport Rules From A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors

January 4, 2008

FIRST: New regulations go into effect on January 31st that require all persons entering or re-entering the U.S. to show proof of citizenship. Prior to that date, persons can continue to prove citizenship verbally.

Proof of citizenship can be accomplished by presenting a valid passport, an original or certified copy of a U.S. birth certificate, or an original copy of your certificate of citizenship or naturalization. We recommend a passport because it is the only document that proves both your citizenship and your identity.

SECOND: The Department of State, the agency of the Federal Government that issues passports, issued new rules regarding the new passport card on December 31, 2007. Here is a summary of everything covered in the new regulations. As you will see, there are more rules to be issued in the future telling citizens when and how the State Department will begin issuing passport cards. When and how the State Department will begin issuing the passport cards is not yet known.

1. The State Department will issue passport cards. The official name of the document will be “passport cards.” State will continue to issue “passport books” which up until now we have known as a “passport.”
2. The passport card is valid only for passage through land and sea ports between the U.S. and Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The passport card cannot be used for flights into or out of the U.S.
3. The passport card will be issued to citizens in all 50 states but it is exclusively for use for land and sea entrance to the U.S. Passport cards cannot be used for international air travel.
4. Passport cards can be used for identification for domestic flights. Remember: the passport card can be used as government-issued proof of identity and proof of citizenship. So, if you do not have a driver’s license and need identification for passing through security for domestic travel, you can use your passport card for proof of identity instead of presenting your driver’s license.
5. Passport cards have the same validity as passport books – 10 years for adults 16 and over and 5 years for children under 16.
6. Citizens will be able to apply for a passport card at any acceptance agent on the same basis as a regular passport.
7. Passport books must be signed on the signature page by the passport holder to be valid. Passport cards do not have to be signed to be valid.
8. The passport cards will be able to be scanned at U.S. borders when a person is in the vicinity of an electronic reader that will be operated by U.S. border control officials. The chip in the card contains only one item of information – a unique identifying number that has meaning only inside the secure database of the State Department and Homeland Security Department. There is no personal information such as name, date of birth, social security number, etc. stored electronically on the chip. So, if someone did pick up the signal, they would not be able to use the data to learn anything about the holder.
9. The execution fee for applying for a passport card is $25. The execution fee for applying for a passport book is $30.
10. The fees for obtaining a passport card for persons without a passport are as follows:
    • Adults: Total $45 — $20 application fee, plus $25 execution fee
    • Children under 16: Total $35 — $10 application fee, plus $25 execution fee
11. Persons who have a valid passport book (Remember: a “passport book” means a person who has a “passport”) and who are applying for a passport card (in addition to holding a valid passport) are not required to pay the execution fee. Thus, persons with a valid passport who also want a passport card can apply for $20.
12. The government may permit alternative documentation for land crossings such as driver’s licenses issued by states that have established methods for determining citizenship acceptable to the Federal government. Several states have already submitted proposals to the Federal government. This matter will be addressed in subsequent regulations issued by the Federal government.

We’ll keep you posted.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

If you want to carry extra lithium batteries on a flight, don’t pack them in your checked luggage. You can take them in your carry-on luggage, but each battery must be placed in a separate resealable platic bag or the original package.

If you have lithium in your camera, cell phone, laptop, etc., you can leave them in the device and that is allowed.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.

Remember that effective January 31, 2008, when returning to the U.S. from any destination, you must present proof of citizenship. A passport is the best proof because it also identifies you and it can be scanned and you can quickly move through the border.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a Passport.