emily.37643 7 Report post Posted November 7, 2012 Hi all, Just thought I'd fill you in about another of my experiences living and traveling with Turkey as home base. If you have a residence permit in Turkey, you are eligible to apply for a Chinese visa here even if you are not a citizen, but you do have to file a supplementary form. In fact, you can apply as a tourist, businessperson, official, or journalist quite easily. Fill out the documents, secure an invitation letter (as is required by China for almost all countries), gather your passport and blue residence book, and you're ready to apply. Here's the site for all that + a host of other possible requirements : http://tr.chineseembassy.org/eng/lsfw/ in English & Turkish. However, and quite sadly, what the Ankara embassy doesn't say in English is that for the Istanbul consulate you MUST APPLY THROUGH AN AGENT. Do not go to the consulate for any reason, really. No one there is even Chinese! I discovered this unexpectedly this morning, and in fact there are less than 10 agents that will help you get a visa in Istanbul. They are listed here (only in Turkish): http://istanbul.china-consulate.org/tur/lsfw/t321497.htm So now I'm back to square one...at least I have all the documentation ready! I just wanted to let you and the internet know this because the consulate is not easy to find and their hours are very strange, and it was a huge waste of time for me to go there this morning. If you have any other questions, feel free to send a message. By the way, this info does not apply to people with certain connections to China, apparently, because there were a bunch of Chinese-looking Turkish speakers there this morning, who I assume were either half turkish or Turkish-born Chinese nationals. Anyway, best of luck to all! As an American this was the first time I ever had to apply for a visa, and it has been quite complicated so far. Now I understand how some of you feel when you're trying to go to the US! 1 Abi reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Abi 661 Report post Posted November 7, 2012 Thanks for the post Atayavie, it sounds like a nightmare, but hope you manage to get the visa and have a fabulous time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emily.37643 7 Report post Posted November 29, 2012 As a follow-up, I'd like to say that once you do hire an agent (which worked very well for me)! they will be able to fake almost everything (for example, book fake flights/hotel reservations). The main thing you will have to do is show funding, so for a tourist visa that means a hefty $5,000.Good news is that can be faked also, just get someone to put the money in your account and print the statement. They can take it right out after you print it :PI got my visa finally after a 1 month jumping-through-hoops experience. Don't follow my example and just hire an agent -- it's the only way in Turkey and costs just 75 TL at Setur. Turnaround after I gave them everything was 7 days.Now, to apply for a Brazilian visa... 1 ShaunWorden reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cayaholic 69 Report post Posted November 29, 2012 Thanks for the info. Are you going there to work or travel? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
emily.37643 7 Report post Posted November 29, 2012 My Dad and Stepmom live there. She's Chinese. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malik 0 Report post Posted January 10 hi im going to apply for chinese student visa from istanbul.....can you help me and let me know what kind of necessary doumensts we need to provide them thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
