John C Klensin [mailto://john-i...@jck.com] writes:
...
> Two additional observations may be useful. In the US, someone
> must appear in person at the embassy or consulate -- there is no
> mail-in service, at least for US citizens. In practice, that
> means that if one is in a city with a consulate (or close to
^not
> one), one has to use a visa service as an intermediary. Their
> fees can easily exceed the visa fees themselves unless one works
> for a company that has a special deal with one of them. More
> important, they often require far more documentation than the
> embassy nominally requires, presumably to be sure that they have
> what they need if the embassy (or local consulate) starts asking
> questions about the traveler. That additional documentation may
> include confirmed flight or hotel reservations, letters of
> endorsement or guarantee (in addition to meeting invitations,
> etc.). So, especially if one cannot appear in person, one
> should get started early or be prepared to pay even higher fees.
I have traveled to China fairly frequently over the past few years (3GPP2
used to meet there at least once a year). I have a current double-entry
visa, obtained here in Bangkok in about 48 hours (not a rush order), while
the last one I got in Hong Kong in < 24 hours (rush order). However, the
first & most subsequent Chinese visas I obtained were through Visa Network
(http://www.visanetwork.com/index.shtml); it's been awhile but as I recall
their fees were quite reasonable (far more so than the service that the
company for which I worked used). They can normally do a 24 hour
turnaround. For that matter, I can't think of a reason why one would want
or need a multiple-entry visa for an IETF meeting (except, perhaps, if the
meeting was in Shentzen & you wanted to commute from HK ;-).
>
> If I remember correctly from the embassy's web site, part of the
> documentation requirement for a multiple-entry visa is previous
> visits to China and associated visas. I.e., if you haven't had
> at least a couple of single-entry visas, there is no point
> thinking about a multiple-entry one.
Maybe things have changed, but my first Chinese visa was a double-entry
(note that "multiple" != "double").
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