Please send TDS your current valid and signed passport, plus one photocopy of the vital information page. It must not expire within 6 months and must have at least one blank visa page. If you do not have any blank visa pages in your passport, TDS can assist you in applying for additional pages. If your passport expires within 6 months, you must renew your passport and then we will secure your visa with the new passport.

Please send 1 recent professional passport-type photograph.
Passport Photo Guide - Click Here

A business letter of responsibility (sample) is required, to be typewritten on your company letterhead and addressed to:

Consulate of China, Visa Section, San Francisco, CA
The letter must explain all of the following:
Nature of business to be performed
Name and address of reference to be visited
This letter should request Multiple Entries visa if required
Guarantee of return transportation and sufficient funds for the visit
The letter should be signed by an officer of the company other than the applicant.

The Chinese Consulate requires that one of the following two items be submitted in addition to the Business Letter of Responsibility (Above) from your company in the United States.

A letter from the organization to be visited in China, including all of the following: applicant's name, gender and birth date, purpose and dates of visit, places to be visited, full contact information of inviter, seal and signature of company representative. Faxes/scans accepted.
or a

OR an invitation known as a "Visa Notification Form" from the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from China Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission or from any authorized government entity. This invitation should be arranged by your host in China and may be emailed or faxed to you.

Applicants who wish to Study or Intern for 180 days or less will receive a Business "F" visa.

A letter of invitation from the Host School or Organization is required.

If your intended stay is over 180 days please apply for a Study "X" visa.

Copy of round-trip air tickets, or travel agency/airline itinerary required if you are requesting "Rush" processing.

This is not required for "Regular" or "Express" processing

Please Send One Completed and Signed Application

Note: Application form MUST be typed, hand written applications will NOT be accepted. All questions MUST be answered, do not leave any question blank, type N/A if need be.
Note: All applicants must sign the application form even if the form is completed by another person, except that a parent or legal guardian may sign on behalf of an applicant under the age of 18.

You must complete the Online Order Form.

The order form gives TDS your name, address, shipping information and payment method. Multiple applicants can be entered using one order form. You only need to complete one TDS order form per request. Please print two copies of the confirmation page. Include one copy with the documents you ship to TDS and keep one copy for your records.

While completing the online order form in this step, you will be asked how you want to pay TDS fees. You may pay our fees online with a credit card or enclose a personal or business check or money order.

Please forward the completed requirements detailed above to:

TRAVEL DOCUMENT SYSTEMS, INC.,
3 Embarcadero Center
Lobby Level, Suite 2
San Francisco, Ca 94111

Urgent applications should be shipped to TDS using only the FedEx Company.
Please use FedEx Priority Overnight. Do NOT ship "First Overnight." This will delay the delivery of your package.

First time applicants whose former nationality was Chinese, shall write down his/her Chinese name in the application form and submit his/her original Chinese passport and a photocopy of the information page of the passport; if the name in the new passport is different from that in the old one, an official document for name change should be provided; applicant who was formerly Chinese and has acquired a new US passport, if there is a Chinese visa in the old passport, he/she shall submit his old US passport or the photocopy of the Chinese visa.

The China business visa is usually valid a single entry for three months from date of issue, for length of stay not to exceed 30-60 days from the date of entry. Please Note - Chinese visas use the yy/mm/dd format.

Short term Study or Internship applicants receive a Business "F" visa.   Long term Study or Internship applicants (Over 180 days) receive a Study "X" visa.

If Applications require Same-Day or 24 hours processing please send to TDS using only FedEx Overnight Priority Service.

Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP)

By connecting on the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, State Department will be able to assist you better in the case of an emergency, such as if you lose your passport or it is stolen while you are abroad.