I am heading to China tomorrow for the first time in some years and I just picked up my visa at the Chinese Consulate in Osaka. (I write this on the train back to Kyoto.)
Getting the visa was my worst customer ‘service’ experience in like a decade! They could have saved me an extra trip to Osaka if they simply answered their telephone. Oh well. China, here I come!!
If you are getting a visa for China in Japan, my experience may be of some help to you. Bring documentation to show that you have an airline ticket and hotel reservation!! (Or go home empty handed and come back again another day.)
What I needed:
1. Photocopy of front and back of my alien registration card
2. Photocopy of the first page of my passport
(There is a photocopier there that charges ¥10 per B/W copy. I say, skip the lines at the consular office and get your copies at a convenience store with their nice new, shiny clean and easier to use photocopiers.)
3. 3 x 4 cm color passport photo of you (I frantically looked around for glue to use to affix my photo to my application form — and didn’t find any. The lady behind the glass had some and affixed it for me. They never tell you beforehand when they will help and when they won’t. You just have to find out along the way.
There is a photo booth in the office where you can also get your photo taken. I didn’t use it. It did seem that it is primarily operated with Chinese.)
4. Application form; OMG, what a disaster! Get the form, in Chinese and stilted Japanese and then look for the sample taped to the tables near the windows of the office. If you don’t understand Japanese or Chinese, just fill it out the form as best you can and take it to the application window. (That window had a piece of paper taped to it that said ‘Visa’ when I was there.) They will give you some English language documents to fill out – again. You just keep going back and they keep telling you to fill out more. You will get through it though.
5. Proof of airline ticket booking
6. Proof of hotel booking
For 5 and 6, I printed out all the documents I received by email from the airline and hotel I had booked. (They returned my passport and sent me home without accepting application because I didn’t have 5 and 6. Coming all the way from Kyoto on a rainy day, this did not make my day!)
You have to leave your passport with the consulate. They gave me a pink receipt with the date written to come back and get my passport and visa. Mine took five days. I heard that you can pay more for a rushed application.
6. Pay Money (As an American, I was fleeced of ¥15,000 for my visa! I was impressed: Nulla vita data. Ovid Orare vitam! On the brighter side, the staff kindly told me that for Americans it is the same price for a single or double entry visa and recommended to get the double. She was Japanese, not Chinese, I think.)
When to Pay: You pay when you go back to pickup your passport and visa. Bring your receipt to the window (unmarked and to the right of the ‘visa’ window) and they tell you how much to pay for your visa. You don’t pay the person but go to a vending machine near the window, insert your cash and push the button for the amount to be fleeced. The machine gives you a ticket that you take back to the window. Give them your ticket and they give you your passport and a receipt for amount fleeced.
From my experience, the Chinese Consulate does not answer the telephone number on their webpage.
The office is only open from 9am to 12 noon. The first two times I went, the lines were LONG. So, get there with plenty of time to spare. Ironically, when I went to pickup my visa, I don’t think I was in the office for more than 90 seconds. (Maybe they have that part down. ha ha)
Given the haphazard process I witnessed, I would not be surprised if the process differs from mine when you go. Good luck! And be sure to keep your sense of humor.