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China Business Visas. Just When You Think It Can't Get Any Worse.

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

"Just when you think you've lost everything, you find out you can always lo-o-o-o-ose a little more," Bob Dylan, from "Trying to Get to Heaven (Before They Close the Door)" Financial Times is out with an article entitled, "China cuts business visas before the Olympics," detailing how Chinese business visas are going to be restricted even further for the next two months:

Several of the main cities hosting the Olympics have said they will stop issuing visas for general business trips until late September, after the games and the Paralympics are over. International business organisations in China warned yesterday that the new visa rules were likely to have a significant impact on business. "The introduction of such restrictions without warning creates serious problems for companies operating in China," said the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. In a statement posted on its website, the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission, which deals with visa applications, said it would not approve the invitation letters needed to secure a business visa until mid-September unless the trip was for "urgent" matters.

Beijing is obviously one city, but the article notes Shanghai is hosting some football matches and Qingdao, Tianjin, Shenyang, and Qinhuangdao round out the list. One World One Dream..... My one year multi-entry visa is good until the end of September and though I usually like to wait until the end of summer to go to China, I am getting tempted to go just to say that I did.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on July 29, 2008 (boomark / email).