Forums > Living in Kunming > New visa/immigration regulations July 1, 2013 Hi Long-Dragon, there is no indication as to date of expiry of the invitation letter - only the alien employment license has an expiry date of 6 months, so I don't have that much time left as it was issued late January (however the invitation letter was only issued in March). My documents say apply at any of three consulates in Thailand, including the embassy in Bangkok. The first time I went to apply in Chiang Mai, I was missing two key documents (my host already had them but at the time hadn't sent them to me). Later in Bangkok, everything appeared to be fine but the clerk at the Embassy insisted on seeing the original of one particular document and it's reverse side, printed in English (this is the alien employment license). Two days later, still without the originals but with a copy of both sides of the alien employment license another clerk insisted on originals for not only the alien employment license but also the invitation letter (the original of which I have had all along and submitted all three times), and then mentioned that my health exam was out of date as it has been a little over 6 months since I took it (despite the validity on the document stating it is valid for 12 months). I am hoping to try one more time in Chiang Mai again now that I have the originals of all documents - if they knock me back again due to the health exam I can do it again locally and apply again the following day but if the invitation letter is not accepted due to being "out of date" then it's going to be a long road ahead.
Forums > Living in Kunming > New visa/immigration regulations July 1, 2013 Thanks long-dragon. However, if my invitation letter states that I will be entering late March but it is now July, can I still submit my application with this old letter? My host in China said it would be a nuisance to have to ask for a new invitation letter of duly authorized unit with a more recent date. Could you tell me how to obtain this letter, so if I am unable to apply with this apparently out of date letter, I can ask her to apply for a new one for me? She knows where to go, but without elaborating said it would be a "nuisance".
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Getting A Chinese visa in Laos? AlPage48, I'm pretty sure that foreigners can still get L visas in Vientiane, as they can in Thailand and this is after July 1st as I have been to the Chinese Embassy in Thailand since then and plenty of foreigners were applying. KL and Manila may not have issued L visas for non-resident foreigners even in the past, the rules are not the same at each consulate/embassy. Also, there is nothing on the Chinese embassy/consulate websites for Thailand and Laos suggesting foreigners can't get Chinese visas in Vientiane (or Thailand).
While I don't know about the exact document requirements for L visas issued in Vientiane, an expat foreigner friend of mine who went to Kunming last year noted that he was required to present a flight ticket or itinerary and evidence of pre-paid accommodation to be issued with an L visa since he didn't have an invitation letter from a resident there.
The requirement is much the same in Bangkok. However, if you don't have an invitation letter there, there is even a requirement that you have a plane ticket routed Bangkok-China-Bangkok so you can't apply for an L visa in Bangkok if you want to first travel overland to Ho Chi Minh City before flying to China, unless you have an itinerary that shows flights going all the way from Bangkok.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Driving with a non Chinese driver's license @vagabond48, I drive in both Thailand and China and yes, while I agree with you about the driving standards, however, my point is that driving infractions are treated more seriously in China than in Thailand, where no matter what happens on the roads, nothing will ever change to the point of more road traffic safety enforcement.
Whilst driving in Sipsongbanna, Yunnan last year in Jinghong and down near Mengla, I got 4 speeding fines all in one weekend. I only received them by mail 2 months after being caught. Total fine amount? A massive 1100 Yuan. In Thailand? Well, the chance of getting caught for speeding is infinitesimally small and the fines are always tiny, compared to what you receive in the west...the exception would be if you happen to pay a big bribe, but speaking the language and smiling usually gets you off for free.
Back to the driving license part - judging from your other posts it seems that you are a regular visitor to Kunming and even have a residence permit. Why then, would you not get a Chinese driver's license? You managed to get a Thai one, which although a very easy task compared to getting a Chinese one, after you pass the multiple choice test you get a 6 year license automatically. I would seriously consider going for the test and getting the license as you'll be able to use it for driving in China on future visits.
Forums > Living in Kunming > New visa/immigration regulations July 1, 2013 I am not a teacher and have not been asked to provide a criminal record when submitting my application for a "Z" or since July 1st now a "Z1" visa. Since I was turned back due to having photocopied documents, by the time I apply again at a different consulate next week once my original documents are sent to me from Kunming, I hope the criminal record check won't be in force otherwise I may probably be forced to wait even longer for my visa.
After 11 years, Yunnan's railroad from hell sees the light
发布者Geogramatt, eventually it may cross into Myanmar. However, given how it will only be finished as far as Ruili in 2022, there's still many years before it ever makes it into Myanmar. Hopefully that will be enough time for Myanmar to end it's wars in the northern part of the country but that's wishful thinking at this point. After all, the Kachin Independence Army or KIA broke a 17-year ceasefire back around 2011 and fighting has actually increased in the meantime.
Myanmar-Thailand-Laos-China: 4 countries, 4 days, 400 yuan
发布者Myanmar didn't only open up for tourism in 2011. It has been open for years just that not many westerners went prior to 2011, even though there was little stopping them. The only thing you couldn't do prior to 2013 was travel overland unless you had a permit. I first went to Myanmar on a day trip to Tachilek in 2001 and flew into Yangon in 2004 and 2005. It was just as easy to get a visa back then as it is today, except that there were more restricted areas than there are now. Also, getting to Mu-se on the Chinese border seems to be OK. I went there in February. The adjacent areas where the Kokang conflict erupted are of course out of bounds. Chinese citizens generally aren't allowed to travel across to the Burmese side overland either, except to Mu-se for up to 7 days but that isn't always allowed either. Burmese who travel to China illegally risk arrest and those that travel overland from Mu-se can only travel to Ruili. To enter China properly and travel wherever they want, they either need a permit or must fly in, just like other foreigners.
Yuxi-Mengzi: China's newest railway
发布者To further add to Tom69's comments, I have recently heard that the go-ahead has been given for a railway from Kunming to near the Lao border, but as for continuing into Laos and beyond to Thailand, this is uncertain at the moment. In any case, overly optimistic Chinese journalism should be dismissed as reliable news sources as they have many times mentioned things that have yet to materialize.
Anyway, to get back on track a little bit can anyone tell me if there are now more services out of Mengzi (and in the reverse direction) than the one lone train? If coming from Vietnam it would be impossible to make the 9.03am train, since a bus journey would take 2 hours and then you would need to consider that the border only opens at 8am Chinese time I think, so only by staying in Hekou itself could you make it to Mengzi (possibly) if you departed Hekou around 6am by the time the train departs.
Yunnan reopens 13 international border crossings
发布者@Peter99, as you say, it's up to the individual countries concerned, not China, to allow entry to Myanmar/Vietnam overland from China. If a bomb attack occurs in Myanmar near the Chinese border (where I've been to just like you have been), that's something that should concern China but isn't enough to prevent the Chinese authorities from allowing foreigners to cross as foreign citizens are not of concern to China when they exit Chinese territory. Having said that I keep reading that the official opening of the Ruili-Muse crossing to passport and visa holders of all nationalities is scheduled to proceed as planned this year, but an exact date is not yet known. 4 border crossings with Thailand opened last August and I have travelled overland into the interior of Myanmar to/from Thailand 3 times since that time.
As others have said, a number of these crossings have always been open so I don't know what the authorities mean about being recently "re-opened". The Lao Cai-Hekou crossing is open to all who have valid documents to cross between China and Vietnam there (some nationalities don't need a visa to enter Vietnam and as such can just cross through without a visa). Only cars generally can't cross the border here, one must be a pedestrian to cross and there are no cross border bus services either.
Photos of flash flooding in Yunnan's capital
发布者@LaoQingwa and laoshi19, I just arrived back in Kunming today. Today the weather was partly cloudy with plenty of sunshine and comfortably warm temperatures. I was told the past 2 days have been similar. It seems that the weather forecast is not very accurate - my hunch is on partly cloudy skies, with some possibility of overcast skies and light rain being more likely over the next few days but probably nothing like Kunming experienced last week (well, at least, hopefully not).
There is no evidence left of the flooding which affected Kunming mainly last Friday. I too was worried as evidenced by my earlier post, but it seems that even the most low lying areas around Beijing Lu, which were most flooded and the rest of downtown are back to normal - I drove through there from the airport today and everything is business as usual.