Chinese Visa Application in Vancouver Experience

I recently visited the China Visa Application Service Center in Vancouver to apply for a tourist visa and here are a few things they do NOT tell you on the website, but are necessary:

• You need to bring photocopies of your passport and drivers license
• You need to print out a copy of your flight information and your hotel (I did not have a hotel booked yet and they told me to just book a hotel for one night somewhere at my destination)
  • Make sure everything is booked under YOUR name or has your name somewhere on it
  • If you plan on staying with someone you know in China, you need a formal invitation letter filled out along with a copy of their Chinese ID
• YES, you do need a professionally taken photo- similar to getting your passport photo taken (tell the photographer it is for a Chinese visa though, the dimensions are different than the Canadian passport one)
• don’t forget your printed application form too!!

All in all, they do seem pretty flexible (they let me print things last minute and there are 4 computers with printers available for the public to use), but I found the website extremely unhelpful when it came to what you need to bring and have prepared. The people there can also be helpful but it depends on who you get, I saw one lady going out of her way to write down and help an older couple figure out what they were missing, but the lady helping me just verbally told me the few things I was missing and sent me off to fix it.

Timing wise I had an appointment booked for 10AM-10:30AM on a Friday and I arrived at 9:30AM. There was just one person ahead of me and I was at the application counter in about 10 mins. The lengthy part was obviously because I had to immediately book and print out my hotel information (along with the other missing pieces). When it got to around 10AM it immediately got a lot busier, so I think earlier is better for sure.

Hope this helps someone!