US Citizens: Get your China Tourist visa with the TDS Washington DC Office

Please send TDS your current valid and signed passport. It must not expire within 6 months and must have at least two blank visa pages. Foreign Embassies cannot issue a visa on a page not labeled as a Visa page. Amendment and Endorsement pages in the back of the passport cannot be used for issuance of a visa.
A visa cannot be stamped on a page even if only one Small Stamp is on the 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.

If your passport expires between 6-12 months at date of submission for your Chinese visa, you are only eligible to apply for a single or double entry visa; you are not eligible for the 1-2 or 10-year multiple entry visa.
Please complete and sign the Acknowledgment Statement required by the Chinese Embassy if your passport has limited validity remaining.

The Chinese Embassy would like for you to consider applying for a Passport Renewal before applying for your visa if you have limited validity.

Please send 1 recent professional passport-type photograph.
No eyeglasses or jewelry are to be worn.

New: Chinese Embassy Passport Photo Guidelines Effective 05/12/2017 - Click Here

Common Problems to Avoid:

No smiling, photos should have a neutral expression
No jewelry of any kind
No eyeglasses
No light colored shirt, please wear a dark color
Hair not pulled back away from the face
No background light or shadows

1. Media and Religious ministers or anyone who works for a religious organization traveling as a tourist must write a letter on the organization's letterhead declaring:

Their name as it appears in their passport,
Their passport number,
When they plan to travel to China, Date of entry and exit
What cities they plan to visit while in China,
What they will be doing in China and state that they will NOT perform any religious or media related activities while visiting China.
Letter must be signed by the applicant.

2. Applicants will only be issued a one month single entry visa, valid for a stay of between 10-20 business days in most cases.

If you are a former Chinese citizen you must also supply.

Photocopy of previous Chinese passports or previous Chinese visas (applicable to foreign citizens, those who were Chinese citizens and have obtained foreign citizenship).
If you are applying for a Chinese visa for the first time, you should provide your previous Chinese passport held and a photocopy of its data page.

If you have obtained Chinese visas before and want to apply for a Chinese visa with a renewed foreign passport that does not contain any Chinese visas you should present a photocopy of the previous passport's data page and the photo page if it is separate, as well as the previous Chinese visa page.

If your name on the current passport differs from that on the previous one, you must provide an official document of the name change.

Documentation for a child of Chinese descent born in the U.S.
A child of Chinese descent born in the U.S. applying visa for the first time should provide the original and a photocopy of either parent's foreign passport or green card and Certificate of Birth besides other regular materials.

A child with Chinese descent born in the U.S. applying for a visa who has had a Chinese visa before could provide a photocopy of the former visa instead of either parent's foreign passport or green card or Certificate of Birth.

Your passport must be signed to apply for a Chinese Visa, please be sure to sign the signature section on your passport before sending to Travel Document Systems.

Please Send One Completed and Signed Online Application Form along with the other necessary documents above to Travel Document Systems.

Application form MUST NOT be printed double sided your application will be rejected if it is not printed single sided.

Please send one completed and signed confirmation form that you are currently in the United States Click Here

The Completed Chinese Online Application Form (COVA) will be in pdf format, which will require Acrobat Reader to view.

Residents of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin please select Chicago as your processing center when you open the Chinese application form.

Questions marked with a (*) are MANDATORY, if some of these questions do not apply to you , please tick "NOT APPLICABLE" to proceed.

Please be sure that all information is complete and accurate before you click the "Submit" button. Once the application is submitted you cannot make any changes. You can click the Save button which will save your application for 30 days, to return to your application click the "Retrieve an Application" button, you will need the application ID number and your Passport/Travel Document Number.

Travel Documents will make the appointment at the Embassy/Consulate once we have received all your documents, you do NOT need to go to the Embassy/Consulate.

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.