90 day L visa

[tatetate]

hi -

i read on the american chinese embassy site that you can sometimes get 60 or 90 day L visas if you request them. does anyone know how often this happens? apparently you have to justify your reason for touring china for that long. does anyone know of an acceptable reason? (other than you were born in china, family stuff, etc.) the website doesn't make any of this too explicit.

thanks.

[md1101]

well i can say that here in australia all you have to do is tick that you want 90 days and they'll give it to you no questions asked.

[mikelove]

I had the same experience at the consulate in Chicago a few years ago - just told them I was planning to stay for more than a month and they gave me the longer visa no-other-questions-asked. I've never tried it in New York, but based on my other experiences with them I imagine they work similarly, and the embassy in DC probably does as well - they're pretty much always happy to encourage tourism, so if they ask they'll probably be satisfied if you simply say you have a lot of places you want to visit.

[onebir]

It might be worth being a bit careful about what you say/show them - see this post.