China Group Visa(Tibet Group Visa)

If you are entering Tibet from Nepal, a China Group Visa/Tibet group visa is required. The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu doesn’t issue visas to individual travelers, only to those booked in a group with group visas. If you turn up with a Chinese visa in your passport, it will be canceled for visiting Tibet from Nepal. However, if you are going to mainland China such as flying to Chengdu from Kathmandu, a Chinese Visa is still valid.

China Group Visa is a separate sheet of paper with all the names, gender, date of birth, occupations, nationalities and passport numbers of the group members. It's important to note that the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu only issues a group visa with a minimum of 4 applications and no maximum limit. All applications on the list should come to the visa center for an application. If some of them will not come, then the application will not be accepted. But the Tibet side stipulates that they only issue an invitation letter with a minimum of 5 applications. The invitation letter is a mandatory document for a group visa now.

For travelers on the same Group Visa, they should exit China at the pre-arranged city together, as the exiting city listed on the group visa should be exactly as same as their export city. Otherwise, they can't get through customs when exiting China. If any of them find this issue at the end of the tour in Lhasa, they will either have to exit China with their fellow group members or split from this group visa at considerable cost and hassle.

Some travelers coming together but exiting China/Tibet from different cities may meet a problem - splitting the group visa. It can only be done by a local Lhasa travel agency that arranges your travel into Tibet but it's a real pain to be avoided at all costs. To avoid this situation, please ask the visa center in Kathmandu to issue two pieces of China group visas and specify the export places separately. Eg. There are five travelers listed on a China Group visa while two travelers would exit China from Beijing and another three would exit China from Guangzhou, they need 2 pieces of China Group visas but The Tibet authority only issues one invitation letter for every 5 applications. Please ask the visa center in Kathmandu to list Beijing and Guangzhou as the exiting places in two group visas. Each group takes the corresponding group visa paper and exits China together.

After you book a Tibet tour with a local Tibet travel agency like us, we will prepare an official Invitation Letter for you. After your arrival in Kathmandu, you can apply for your China group visa with your ORIGINAL PASSPORT + 1 HEADSHOT, along with an Invitation Letter from Tibet Tourism Bureau at the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Alternatively, you can entrust this process to our Nepali partner, who can take your passport and photo at your hotel and send back your China group visa with your passport at a service fee of USD20 p.p. Here's the what invitation letter looks like.

Meanwhile, we will apply for all your necessary Tibet permits in Lhasa. Whether you fly to Lhasa or go overland via Gyirong Port, besides your China Group Visa, your Tibetan guide will wait for you at the airport customs/Gyirong Port with your Tibet Tourism Bureau Permit (TTB).

Since 05 Jun 2017, officially, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu requires the China Group Visa application to be submitted 3 working days in advance with your original passport. If you do sightseeing, go trekking or even take a flight within Nepal, you can use your passport copy. However, if you have no plan to visit Nepal, this would be rather annoying.

NORMAL (3-working-day Service): The passport remains with the embassy for 3 days, and it is returned with a China Group Visa on the 4th day. If you want our partner to help you obtain your Tibet group visa, there's a service fee of USD20p.p. Here's the newest version.

Tibet Group Visa Fee

Notes about the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu

1. Chinese Embassy accepts visa applications from 09:00 am to 11:00 am every weekday, and issues them after 3 days, at about 17:00;
2. Chinese Embassy in Nepal takes the day off on both China & Nepal’s national holidays.