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Annex
Visa Procedures for Chinese Business Visitors to Canada
Many travellers are required to obtain a visitor visa before leaving for Canada. Passengers are
exempt from the visa requirement if they are travelling on Hong Kong SAR passports or on British
National (Overseas) Passports issued to them as residents born, naturalized or registered in Hong
Kong. Residents of Macao who travel on Portuguese passports are also visa-exempt. Persons travelling
on PRC, Macao SAR or Taiwan passports must obtain visitor visas before travel. Anyone whose travel
document has a title other than passport, such as "Certificate of Identity" or "Travel Document"
should inquire whether they require a visa or not.
In 2000, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing received over 41,000 visitor visa applications.
The approval rate was about 75%. The acceptance rates for business visas are slightly higher.
China is one of the top countries in terms of improperly documented arrivals at our ports of entry.
In addition, more than 330 persons who entered Canada as visitors in 2000 have subsequently
claimed refugee status. In order to ensure that visa applications are processed in an efficient
manner, we would like to make the following recommendations:
If you intend to invite a businessperson, you should provide that person with the following
documents, which they should then submit with their application:
a formal letter of invitation that includes your full name and title, business address,
contact telephone and fax numbers, the name and title of the person you are inviting, the intended
duration of the visit, a brief summary of the reason for extending the invitation, and a statement
concerning who will pay for the trip expenses;
a copy of any additional documents that outline the business to be conducted during the
visit, or business previously conducted with the person you are inviting, which may include, but
would not be limited to:
- an explanation of how you met the applicants;
- contracts, purchase orders, bills of lading or service agreements;
- contact names, titles, addresses, and phone and fax numbers for third parties with whom
you have arranged meetings on behalf of the person you are inviting; and
- a notarized copy of your immigration status document (if you are a temporary resident
of Canada, to prove that you are legally in Canada).
In addition, if you have not previously invited any Chinese business visitors or have not invited
anyone within the past two years, please provide a copy of your Canadian business registration
documents, and a copy of the summary of your most recent Corporate Notice of Assessment form from
Revenue Canada. Unfortunately, the visa section is receiving an increasing number of fraudulent or
fabricated letters of invitation purportedly from Canadian companies.
Please ensure that all required documentation is submitted by the Chinese applicant to the Canadian
Embassy with the visa application. Please allow a minimum of five working days for visas to be
processed. Additional delays may occur if further checks and/or a personal interview are necessary.
Please remember that the Chinese procedures for obtaining a Chinese passport and permission to
travel are complicated and time-consuming. You also should keep in mind that because many businesses
are still largely state-run, representatives may be considered officials by the Chinese government,
which can slow the visa application process. All applications for visas for delegations travelling
on Public Affairs passports are submitted to foreign embassies by the Foreign Affairs Office (FAO)
of the appropriate Chinese enterprise. This is a requirement of the Government of the People's
Republic of China. It can take several weeks for the FAO to submit completed applications, collect
the passports, and finally return them to the holders once the visa office reaches a decision.
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