rphpcf Posted June 14, 2017 #1 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Hi We are taking an enrichment journey to Japan and China on October 1st on the Celebrity Millenium. 3 land days in Tokyo, 12 days on the ship to Shanghai, then 9 days on land in Shanghai, 3 days in Xian, and 3 days in Beijing. My problem is we need to get a China visa and to get that you need to submit a photo that's 48mm x 33mm according to their website and CIBTVISAS ( the private visa Service center). All passports in US require a 2" x 2" photo . I've called Walgreens, Costco, FedEx, kinkos, and AAA travel and none of them can make the Chinese size. cIBT suggests we take a mobile phone photo that meets the many, detailed restrictions and pay them another $25 pp to adjust the photo. Have any of you gone through this ? Please help Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Click Posted June 14, 2017 #2 Share Posted June 14, 2017 We went to Costco and had them do regular passport pictures and sent them on to our visa service and they were fine. The most common problem I have heard about is they want your hair back behind your ears. They will also not accept the same pictures you have on your passport. Oh well, we had extras but we went and had more done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sky303 Posted June 14, 2017 #3 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Hi We are taking an enrichment journey to Japan and China on October 1st on the Celebrity Millenium. 3 land days in Tokyo, 12 days on the ship to Shanghai, then 9 days on land in Shanghai, 3 days in Xian, and 3 days in Beijing. My problem is we need to get a China visa and to get that you need to submit a photo that's 48mm x 33mm according to their website and CIBTVISAS ( the private visa Service center). All passports in US require a 2" x 2" photo . I've called Walgreens, Costco, FedEx, kinkos, and AAA travel and none of them can make the Chinese size. cIBT suggests we take a mobile phone photo that meets the many, detailed restrictions and pay them another $25 pp to adjust the photo. Have any of you gone through this ? Please help Pat Had a Chinese visa several times in the past. The consulate in Houston and the Embassy in DC never had an issue with normal US passport size photos. Only done TWOV recently so maybe they've changed tunes, but I highly doubt it'll matter. Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqua Posted June 14, 2017 #4 Share Posted June 14, 2017 We also used Costco passport photos without a problem. Our visas were processed in the Washington, DC embassy. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbenboys Posted June 14, 2017 #5 Share Posted June 14, 2017 We went through a company here in Seattle to get our visa's. We had our photos taking at Walgreens. We got the 10 year visa without any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rphpcf Posted June 14, 2017 Author #6 Share Posted June 14, 2017 According to the Chinese consulate website the photo requirements as of December 5, 2016 are 48mm x 33 mm. So I guess these are newer requirements than any of you had to deal with. I looked up other visa agencies and some say 48 x 33 mm and some say 2x2" Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diesel1973 Posted June 14, 2017 #7 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Had mine done at Walgreens last year with no problems. One problem I had was going thru customs in China. My passport photo had me with a full beard and mustache but I shaved it off since. Needed a supervisor to OK entry. China is an amazing country and I'm sure you will enjoy it. Am making plans to to return next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alakegirl Posted June 14, 2017 #8 Share Posted June 14, 2017 Isn't 2 x 2 bigger than what is required? Can't you just cut a 2 x 2 photo down to size? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribill Posted June 14, 2017 #9 Share Posted June 14, 2017 My problem is we need to get a China visa and to get that you need to submit a photo that's 48mm x 33mm according to their website and CIBTVISAS ( the private visa Service center). All passports in US require a 2" x 2" photo . I've called Walgreens, Costco, FedEx, kinkos, and AAA travel and none of them can make the Chinese size. Although you submit a 2x2 photo to get a USA passport, the photo in the passport is 45 mm x 35 mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theriac Posted June 14, 2017 #10 Share Posted June 14, 2017 I just used AAA. If you're a plus or premium member you get the photos for free. Got my visa with no problem earlier this year. whatever will bewilder me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunello22 Posted June 14, 2017 #11 Share Posted June 14, 2017 I sent in a passport photo for my 10-year visa. No issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostchild Posted June 14, 2017 #12 Share Posted June 14, 2017 The US passport photo is just a bigger size picture with more empty space around. The face height requirement is almost identical. You can just trim the 2x2 inch to 48x33mm. US passport face height: 25.4mm to 35mm China Visa face height: 28mm to 33mm The passport place will try to make your head size right in the middle around 30mm so the picture will work for China Visa. Even if your face height came out to be 26mm, I don't think they are going to notice the 2mm difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Click Posted June 14, 2017 #13 Share Posted June 14, 2017 The one thing you have to realize about China. Often they do things because they can. It is a communist governed country and the "rules" don't always make sense. On our recent Millennium cruise from Hong Kong to Shanghai the Chinese officials did their best to complicate things. During the cruise we had two sea days before our first China port and we have Chinese immigration and customs officials on board so we could "save time" Once we reached Tianjin they still held us on the ship for an extra 2 hours on the pretense of "computer problems. When we left Tianjin 3 days later heading to Shanghai they demanded that we first go back to Korea before going on to another port in China. That meant we had to sail an extra 160 miles, sail past the port, do a technical visit ( the captain had to call Celebrity's port agent, email some paper work and wait for the paper work to be processed by the Jeju Island harbor master before we could continue. Why? Because that is what the Chinese wanted. Captain Nicholas was not really to happy about before forced to run for a day and a half at full speed rather than the planned leisurely 14 knots. My only guess it the air in China was not quite polluted enough so they wanted us to add to their carbon foot print... China is an amazing place to visit, I am really glad we went but I would be hard pressed to go back, even thought we have the 10 year visas now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammigar Posted June 15, 2017 #14 Share Posted June 15, 2017 The one thing you have to realize about China. Often they do things because they can. It is a communist governed country and the "rules" don't always make sense. On our recent Millennium cruise from Hong Kong to Shanghai the Chinese officials did their best to complicate things. During the cruise we had two sea days before our first China port and we have Chinese immigration and customs officials on board so we could "save time" Once we reached Tianjin they still held us on the ship for an extra 2 hours on the pretense of "computer problems. When we left Tianjin 3 days later heading to Shanghai they demanded that we first go back to Korea before going on to another port in China. That meant we had to sail an extra 160 miles, sail past the port, do a technical visit ( the captain had to call Celebrity's port agent, email some paper work and wait for the paper work to be processed by the Jeju Island harbor master before we could continue. Why? Because that is what the Chinese wanted. Captain Nicholas was not really to happy about before forced to run for a day and a half at full speed rather than the planned leisurely 14 knots. My only guess it the air in China was not quite polluted enough so they wanted us to add to their carbon foot print... China is an amazing place to visit, I am really glad we went but I would be hard pressed to go back, even thought we have the 10 year visas now. Thank you for the insight, that cruise is on my bucket list, so the information is handy. I'll be prepared for hoops and have my PF Flyers on so I can run fast and jump high. Sent from my SM-G920T using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Click Posted June 16, 2017 #15 Share Posted June 16, 2017 It was a great cruise and I am really glad we went but all of the China nonsense got to me by the end of 21 days of traveling. If you do it plan on at least 3 extra days pre and post cruise so you can really see Hong Kong and Shanghai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NantahalaCruiser Posted June 16, 2017 #16 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Used regular 2x2 passport photos from Walmart for china visas last September - not a problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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