China Travel Forum

[jessica]

my friend (Polish citizen) lost his passport and visa in Lhasa on his way to buy his airplane ticket to Kathmandu on August 28. We went to the PSB, and got him a lost passport statement, which is apparently good for travel in China for 30 days. After 72 hours of less than luxury bus and train travel, we arrived in Beijing on Friday, and have just picked up his new (good for 30 days) passport. Now, "all" he needs is a new visa from the PSB, so he can buy a flight ticket to Kathmandu, pick up the rest of his luggage, and fly home for med school exams on Sept 10th. However, we've just been to the PSB in Beijing to ask and they said, minimum 5 working days. Is there any where we can get the visa done faster??? Is it possible to go to Tianjin, or some other smaller city, within a day's train ride of Beijing and apply at the PSB there? (I got my visa extension done in Golmud in less than 1 hour). Flights to Kathmandu might be cheaper out of Hong Kong, (we could train to Guangzhou and try the PSB there, or in Shenzhen) but apparently Poles need a visa to get into HK, and we don't know how long that takes. One last thing to consider is that the PSB in Beijing requires a hotel registration certificate (apparently the hostel is too small to do this for us), before they will accept his application. Maybe in a smaller city they woudn't have this requirement? send advice please!! thanks, soon(whose patience and Chinese is rapidly running out...)

[kamal]

The PSB often wants evidence that you're legally registered before extending a visa or providing other services, so when you've got business to do with them always make sure you stay in a formal hotel that will automatically do the registration formalities. This is true throughout China.
The Beijing PSB is not noticeably quick and no doubt there's someplace that will provide quicker service. But by the time you've found that place, the total time may be the same as if you just waited in Beijing and avoided the hassle of running from PSB office to PSB office.