China Travel Forum

[vinra]

Hi,
My wife and I are booked to go on a tour in September with a travel company. I recently had it mentioned that we need a copy of our return ticket. However the tour we are on goes overland from Beijing to Kathmandu. I have a copy of our itinerary which shows flights into Beijing and then flights from Kathmandu to Bangkok.
I also have a copy of our travel voucher for the trip and the tickets from Kathmandu to Bangkok. However, the travel company suggests that we should not mention that we are going through Tibet as this generally results in a refusal of visa. They have applied for a group permit for Tibet so this part has been taken care of.
I am unsure as to how we should fill the China application in and what documentation we should include.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you,

[kamal]

Generally it's recommended not to mention Tibet on visa application. Right now the situation is a bit tricky. They are closing down for tourists to Lhasa right now, probably in preparation for the 40 years celebration of the TAR. When things will be back to normal I don't know. If you travel with a fixed itinary and everything arranged through an agency, meaning grouptravel in Tibet with a guide then no problem. If however, you travel independently through Tibet to Katmandu, I would not mention Tibet.
It's not Chinese authorities that would demand a proof of onwards travel, it's some airlines, that will not accept people with a one way ticket at check in (despite the fact they sold it themselves). They don't care at the airports in China. No one has ever bothered asking me about proof of onwards travel when arriving on a one way ticket.
You should follow the TT carefully for the next couple of weeks to get the latest updates about the situation.

[hayyur]

Keep quiet about it. Just put 'Beijing' and 'Xian' or some such on the form. It's most unlikely that they want to see tickets.
Things during the tor should be ok,get it easy