Torch fear grips Beijing cadre: China bans multiple entry visas

We can anticipate that the Beijing cadre has discovered that the Dali Lama has organized a plot to pester China with too many tourists for the games. The vigilant cadre.

Hong Kong Travel Agents Say
China Bans Multiple-Entry Visas
By JONATHAN CHENG
April 8, 2008 9:25 a.m.
HONG KONG -- Recent reports that China is banning multiple-entry visas for foreigners ahead of this summer's Olympic Games could mean complications for business travelers, and the situation was further confused by a Chinese government statement Tuesday.

Several visa agents across Hong Kong, a popular entry point into mainland China, said they received direct word from the China visa office here last week that it was barring the popular multiple-entry visas for foreigners effective immediately and until after the Olympics in Beijing this August. Single- and double-entry visas are being issued instead, they said.

An agent at Forever Bright Trading, a visa office here, confirmed a posting on its Web site that said the ban would last until Oct. 17 and said she wasn't sure whether the ban would be extended further. An agent at Compass Travel said the ban applied to both F-visas, for business, and L-visas, for tourism, and to all foreigners, regardless of nationality. Before, business travelers could obtain visas valid for multiple entries over a three-year period.

However, Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news conference that China "has not stopped issuing multiple-entry visas for foreign tourists."

The confusion comes as domestic unrest and global scrutiny of China's human-rights record grow in the run-up to the Olympics, and Beijing struggles to contain the fallout. The Chinese government has blamed foreign news media and governments for stoking protests over Tibet and other hot-button issues, including high-profile interruptions of the Olympic torch relay currently being conducted around the world. (See related article.)

"We have members who go back and forth a couple of times a week," said Richard Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. "If it's true, this is a genuine inconvenience for businesses."

Andrew Work, executive director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce here, said he has issued a notice to business travelers warning them that they would have trouble getting visas.

"If you work at a big company and you have a professional travel service or secretary, you probably won't notice it that much," he said. "But for the small-businessperson, it's going to be a big hassle." He added, with a shrug: "It's just temporary, and people can appreciate why the Chinese would take such a measure."

--Jason Leow in Beijiing contributed to this article.