Any preference between L and Q2 visa?

[Florian]

Hi,

 

I am married to a Chinese citizen and living with her in the US (I am a French citizen).

 

As we are planning a trip to visit my parents in law in China for about 10 days, I was wondering if I should apply for a L (tourist) or a Q2 (short term family reunion) visa.

Is one of them easier to obtain? Cheaper? Valid for a longer time? What is your personal experience with either?

 

Thanks!

[889]

Unless you need the benefits of a Q2 visa -- which might be longer stay and might be multiple-entry -- applying for an ordinary tourist visa would be easiest.

[fabiothebest]

Q2 visa could let you stay for longer time eventually. If you as French citizen are like me that I'm Italian you can stay up to 30 days for a single entry with a tourism (L) visa. Anyway the best thing to do is going to the Chinese embassy or consulate and speaking to the officer while filling the application form and stating how long you plan to stay there. You just need to have all the requirements. Usually for a tourism visa you need the roundtrip flight ticket and the hotel booking or invitation letter + a copy of the id of the person who invites you. I think the options are L visa, S2 visa for visiting a Chinese citizen for a short period of time (for example if your wife's parents live in China they could invite you by providing an invitation letter) or Q2 visa for family reunion as you said. I didn't try applying for Q2 because I'm not married yet. Please note that the best way is speaking to the officer and anyway at the end it's the consul who decides which visa to grant you. For example I sometimes applied for S2 because my purpose of travel apparently was visiting a Chinese citizen for a short period of time (and I used an invitation letter) but sometimes I was given a L visa type. Nothing changed for me..anyway L visa type can be potentially extended while in China at the foreign affairs office while S2 cannot be extended for example. I would just suggest speaking to the officer (eventually also by phone first, if the consulate isn't near you).

[889]

But she's not applying in France, she's applying in the US, and the requirements and what you get applying outside your home country are often more stringent. Besides, in the US China has outsourced visa applications to a third-party service center, so you don't have the option of speaking directly with the consul.

 

If she just wants her visa  the simplest way is to go with the flow and get the L visa.

[edelweis]

18 hours ago, 889 said:

If she just wants her visa

Florian sounds like a male name (in French).