VISA Requirements
For entry into China, non-Chinese citizens should apply for a visa at the Chinese Embassy or Consulate in the region they live. The simplest way is to apply for a tourist ("L") visa, which should give you enough time to attend the conference and participate in pre/post conference activities. Please contact the Embassy or Consulate in your region for specific instructions. An invitation letter is not required for obtaining a tourist visa. Although the rejection rate is usually low, we urge our attendees to apply for Chinese visas several weeks prior to the conference, so that we have enough time to exploit a backup procedure, which is more time-consuming than the usual procedure, to help you get a visa in case your original application is rejected.
More information on obtaining a tourist ("L") visa in the United States can be found here here
In the United States it is highly recommended that you use a visa application service. These companies will assist you in making your application and for a small fee they will submit your application materials and return your visa to you from the embassy or consulate. While NAS does not personally endorse any particular visa service, below you will find contact information for a visa service that you may wish to consider:
CIBT The Global Passport and Visa Professionals in Washington, DC: http://www.us.cibt.com/.
If you have any problem on obtaining a tourist visa, please contact Dr. Yu Jie (nas2014_visa_help@nscc-tj.gov.cn) to prepare for the Invitation letter for Business ("F") visa to China. Information on visas can be obtained from the website of the Chinese embassy, and a country by country listing of Chinese embassy websites is available from the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.
Please CAREFULLY READ the instructions on the web pages concerning visa application (listed below). Visa requirements vary with time and place, and you should inform yourself about what is needed for the country in which you live.
VERY IMPORTANT: Register before requesting for an invitation letter; we only provide invitation letters for our registered attendees.
Situation A:
In most countries, an invitation letter signed by the conference chair or foreign affairs secretary of Tianjin University or National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, is acceptable and usually good enough for visa application. To request such an invitation letter, please follow the instructions below:
- - The letter will be issued only to those who had registered to the conference;
- - The person who requests the letter must fill in the request form (Form Download) for an invitation letter;
- - The completed request form must be sent out to Dr. Yu Jie (nas2014_visa_help@nscc-tj.gov.cn)
- - A scanned copy of your invitation letter will be sent to you by email within a week after the receipt of your request. If a hard copy is desired, please denote this as "Other requests" in the request form.
- - In some countries additional information is required to be shown in the invitation letter. In such case, do include the additional information in the request form as Additional informationrequired by the embassy so that we can prepare your invitation letter properly.
Situation B:
In a few countries, the invitation letter has to be signed by an officer in Chinese government and bearing an authority stamp. Please send an email to nas2014_visa_help@nscc-tj.gov.cn, with the subject "Government invitation" and include all the following documents required here (Download). START EARLY because this procedure is very time-consuming.