China temporarily eases visa rules for Indians
Circular Ref: A(23)148
Issue Date: 23 Aug 2023
As per a Statement issued on the Official WeChat blog of the Chinese embassy in Indian on 17th August 2023, China has temporarily eased its visa regulations for Indian citizens applying for business (M), tourism (L), short-term family visits (Q2) to Chinese citizens, transit (G), and new (C) visas. According to the statement, eligible applicants seeking single or double-entry visas for business, tourism, short-term family visits, transit, and crew purposes will no longer need to provide biometric data (fingerprints) until December 31, 2023. These changes will remain in effect until the end of 2023. As per a previous Statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March 2023, exemptions were already in place, including for individuals below 14 or above 70 years old, those who have recently undergone fingerprint collection by the Chinese Embassy or its agents, and those whose fingerprints are deemed “uncollectible”. To help Indian nationals seeking visa-related information, direct communications channels have been established with the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi.
Required supporting documents for Chinese Visa Applications are usually the followings:
- Completion of the application form and confirmation page from the online visa application process.
- Possession of an original passport with a minimum validity of six months.
- Availability of two or more blank visa pages in the passport.
- Submission of photocopies of relevant passport pages.
- Presentation of photographs.
- Providing evidence of validate residential and employment status.
These changes will directly impact crew changes for Indian seafarers in China. Please find attached the Statement on the WeChat Official blog of the Chinese embassy (Chinese version only) in India for your easy reference.
Members may call the Chinese visa application service centre in New Delhi at 91-9999036735 (Working hours: 9:00-14:00, 15:00-17:00) for more details of these new arrangements.