It is the responsibility of the participant to review his/her visa status and determine whether they need a visa or visa renewal for entering the country where the conference is hosted. Furthermore it is up to the participant to pay any related fees, find out how to schedule an interview appointment and other instructions for the application process.
Please note that Visa letters will be only issued to:
- Authors who have paid their registration fee in full;
- Committee members;
- Invited guests and speakers;
- Persons know to the committee members;
For details that apply specifically to your country please visit a website of the nearest Consulate or Embassy of the country hosting the event.
All requests for visa letters should be addressed to the Local Chair.
Visa – additional information
In most cases, a visa should be obtained from a Chinese embassy or consulate before arriving anywhere in China. See the China page for more information.
Certain nationalities arriving from Hong Kong can obtain a single-entry five-day Special Economic Zone Tourism Visa on arrival for ¥168-1,000. At the Luohu border (罗湖口岸), the office is on the Chinese side of the river, and is accessible by using the escalator signed “Port Visa” to the left just before immigration control. It is open 09:00-23:30 seven days a week (the opening time may now be 8AM or earlier) and accepts RMB and credit cards (Union Pay, Visa and MasterCard). The telephone number of the office is +86 755 8232-7700 for enquiries. In theory, the visas are available for most nationalities (with the notable exception of French and Americans), though it should be noted that no nationality is guaranteed a visa and some nationalities (Filipinos and Indians, for example) seem to have had issues. In March 2014 it was observed that Dutch, Australian, Irish and Colombian passport holders were obtaining visas without issue. Note that the charge for UK passport holders is much higher at ¥469 for a five-day Shenzhen-only visa, while it costs only ¥168 for most other nationalities.
As of January 2016, fees for a U.K Passport holder are ¥304 at the Louhu crossing with Hong Kong.
Note that there are reports of US passport holders being denied the visa and being fined for entering the Chinese side of the border without a visa/eligibility to obtain a visa. Don’t get fined for arriving without a valid visa! There are conflicting reports regarding the availability of the same five-day visas at other border points between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. There is no visa-on-arrival office at the Futian border. The reason for the differing fees is that Chinese visa fees are set on a reciprocal basis.
It is worthwhile to point out here that even though the Huanggang (皇岗口岸) and Futian (福田口岸) borders are only a few hundred metres apart, they are different land crossings that connect to different points in Lok Ma Chau on the Hong Kong side. Huanggang connects to the 24-hour Lok Ma Chau Control Point and has bus service on both sides, while Futian connects to the Lok Ma Chau MTR station and the MTR in Shenzhen. On the Shenzhen side, there are large buildings between the two points making it impractical to move between the two points. Unlike the Luohu border crossing, there is extremely limited shopping at both Huanggang and Futian.
Besides the five-day SEZ visa, you may also apply for a full China visa (single and double entry only) at the Luohu border. This visa can be obtained only between the hours of 09.30-16.30. Again, UK passport holders are expected to pay more and US passport holders are not entertained at all. It is better to apply for a ten year multiple entry visa at any consulate in the US for approximately $140 (ten year visa recently introduced for US citizens). For US passport holders, the length of the visa will depend on the previous visas that have been issued. The first visa will be double entry, the second will be six month multiple entries, and so forth. US citizens who were originally Chinese citizens or are married or children of Chinese citizens are eligible for two year multiple entry visas. If you have an old Chinese visa in another passport, it will be helpful to include the old passport in the visa application.
Getting a tourist visa in Hong Kong takes from 1 to 3 days and costs HK$150-1,100. A list of costs [2] is available. Macau‘s visa office is less crowded and the hotels are a bit cheaper, but it takes just as long. In general, only single and double entry visas are granted to visitors without HKID cards, although foreigners with previous entries into the mainland and Hong Kong student or work visa holders have been known to be approved for multiple entries.
You can get a taxi van from HK International Airport to Shenzhen via the Huanggang border for HK$150. This fee includes ferrying you onwards to some destination within Shenzhen (e.g. hotels) after you have cleared the China immigration, but do clarify with the airport service counter staff first. Well worth it if you have a valid visa.