Important Tips to Apply the Tibet Group Visa

If you enter Tibet from Nepal, you will not need to get your Chinese Visa in advance, as you need to obtain the Tibet Group Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. After you send us scanned copies of your passport, we will apply for the Tibet Travel Permit as well as the Tibet Group Visa invitation letter from the Tibet Tourism Bureau.

1. The Tibet Group Visa is different from an individual visa, as it is printed on a sheet of A4 paper that includes all your travel information, visa validity, and a name list for the entire group of travelers in the party. Everyone on the same Group Visa should enter and exit China at the same time from the same place (Airport Terminal, train station, or border). If you have plans to travel into mainland China after you tour Tibet and will exit Tibet and China separately from your other party members, then please inform your personal Travel Consultant at Explore Tibet, so that we can apply for a separate Group Visa for you.

2. If you already have an individual Chinese Entry Visa in your passport, no matter whether it is a business visa or multiple-entry visa, then the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu will cancel it when they issue the Group Visa. It is compulsory to have the Tibet Group Visa to enter Tibet from Nepal and it is unlawful for someone to hold two valid Chinese visas at the same time.

3. Generally, we will apply for the Tibet Travel Permit and Group Visa invitation letter based on the length of your Tibet tours with us. However, if you plan to travel to mainland China after Tibet, then please inform your personal Travel Consultant at Explore Tibet, so that we can apply for a longer visa to include your stay in mainland China. The longest Group Visa validity that we can apply for is 30 days on a single-entry visa, which includes your time spent in Tibet.

4. The Tibet Group Visa is a non-extendable tourist visa and it cannot be split once obtained. All members listed on the visa must travel into and out of Tibet and China together once the visa is issued.

5. Individual travelers are not able to apply for the Group Visa by themselves. All Group Visa applications should be applied for through a local Nepalese travel agent. The registered Explore Tibet local agent in Kathmandu will process the application and receive the visa on your behalf.

Once your Tibet tour is confirmed with Explore Tibet, we will apply for the Tibet Travel Permit and Tibet Group Visa invitation letter from the Tibet Tourism Bureau in Lhasa. Please make sure you give us your real occupation, which is necessary to put on the invitation letter, and if you are retired, then please give us your occupation before your retirement. We will then arrange for our Nepalese agent to prepare the Tibet Group Visa application before your arrival. Once you arrive in Kathmandu, our Nepalese agent will meet with you to complete the visa application form, get your original passport, and make the application on your behalf. Please be informed that, for the Group Visa application, you will need at least 3 working days for the Top Urgent process and longer for the processing times where the visa fee is lower. Once the visa is obtained from the Chinese Embassy, our agent will return your passport and Group Visa to you, ready for your departure to Tibet.

1. Passport with a remaining validity of more than 6 months at the time of travel, with at least one blank visa page on the passport.

2. One standard Chinese visa photo with white background, to meet the Chinese visa requirements (33mm width x 48mm height). Both ears must be visible in the photo and you should not wear spectacles, caps, ornaments, and jewelry in your ears and around your neck. You must be looking straight ahead and your hair must not cover any part of your face and eyebrows. (See the format below)

3. Fill out the visa application form that Explore Tibet’s Kathmandu-based agent will give you. Here I have attached the form for you to be able to prepare the information in advance.

4. Receive the group visa and your passport and pay for the visa and service fee.

Note: Please note that only cash in US Dollars is accepted by the Chinese Embassy. Dollars should not be ripped or torn, and must not be from the old series of US bills (all bills must be from the US 2009 series or later). Ink printing that is not part of the bill, stamping, and bills with hand-written text over them are not accepted by the Embassy for payment.

There are only two costs for the visa: the Tibet Group Visa fee to the Chinese Embassy and the Service fee and tax to our Nepalese agent. Please check the below tables for detailed costs.

Below are the costs of group visas for different nationalities

S/No.	Nationality:	Visa Entry Type:	Ordinary Process: 5 working days	Urgent Process: 3 working days	Top Urgent： 2 working days
1.	USA	Single Entry	$140	$157	$178
2.	Canadian	Single Entry	$84	$100	$121
3.	Romanian	Single Entry	$84	$100	$122
4.	Brazilian	Single Entry	$100	$115	$135
5.	Israelian	Single Entry	$42	$59	$80
6.	Argentina	Single Entry	$147	$165	$187
7.	Nepali	Single Entry	$26.5	$40.5	$47.5
8.	Serbia & Chilean	Single Entry	$15	$20	$26
9.	Albanian &Micronesian	Single Entry	$45	$45	$45
10.	All Others	Single Entry	$51	$68	$89
Note: The above Tibet Group Visa cost is subject to change without prior notice by the Embassy, so please check with your travel consultant for the latest visa costs. The Tibet Group Visa is only applicable from Monday to Friday. The Nepal visa agent will charge a visa service fee of $10 to $40 per person based on the number of people in the same group.

Answer: Yes. If you do not have a photo with a white background or any of the other requirements, as per the embassy, then you can have a new photo taken in Kathmandu. It will cost you around 3-5 US dollars for the photo, which you will need to pay yourself to the photographic studio.