WE are Canadian. We just received our Chinese Visa in our passport. We did not use CIBT, they said that it could not be done till December ( we are booked on the 73 day South America/Antarctica Cruise in October). After application on line, we were given a date to go to the Chinese Visa place in downtown Toronto and fingerprinted and they took the fee for the visa. We were given a date to return ( 5 days later) and the Chinese Visa was in our passport good for up to 3 years. You can get the visa now by forgoing the CIBT.