CRI NEWS

New American Visa to Be Offered in China

2005-1-7 17:21:25 CRIENGLISH.com

The US embassy and its four Consulate Generals in China will begin to offer a 12-month multi-entry visa from the middle of this month.

The move, taking place at the same time across the globe, will allow applicants to travel in and out of the country with greater ease.

So far, short-term Chinese visitors to the US can only travel on visas effective for half a year.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also agreed to provide the same treatment to American citizens.

In Washington, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services Janice Jacobs says the government welcomes more Chinese tourists, but gave no indication of further steps towards approved destination status.

"We welcome Chinese tourists here. It's basically the same requirement as what we were talking about earlier to get a visa. We hope we will see more Chinese tourists applying [for] visas."

China's National Tourism Administration and officials from the United States signed a memorandum of understanding a month ago to facilitate Chinese group tourism to America, but visa policy becomes a key barrier for simplifying application procedures.

Last year, the US Embassy and four Consulate Generals in China issued nearly 230,000 non-immigration visas to Chinese citizens.

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