Chinese visa extension is always a gamble. Information in the web are confused and mostly outdated. This is how we easily extended our visa in Shangri-La, bearing in mind that we hold an italian passport.
REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE
First step to proceed with the visa extension request is to collect your registration certificate. How to do that? Easy!
Make sure that the guest house / hotel has registered your passport into the Police system. Go to the police office with just your passport and ask to collect the registration certificate. If the guesthouse/hotel has done everything correctly, the police leaves you a paper slip with the registration certificate.
Police Office is just outside Shangri-La pedestrian area on Changzheng Avenue.
PSB OFFICE
Once you have the registration certificate head to the PSB Office. The Office is located out of the old Shangri-La area, right at the south end of Huancheng S Rd. If you come out of Shangri-La Gate (the one in the picture), just keep walking straight until you reach the big road, Huancheng S Rd, here you can catch the bus number 2 south direction and get off as soon as you see the roundabout with the big white stupa in the middle, alternatively you can ask the driver for the PSB Office.
DOCUMENTS TO BRING
1) Registration Certificate
2) One recent picture
3) Passport
4) Application for Visa Extension form (they’ll give you this at the office)
5) 60 CYN
PROCESSING TIME
Day 1: Arrive at the PSB Office with all materials before closing time (4 pm), fill in the form and give it to the staff. PSB Staff speaks a decent english and are very helpful, they will tell you to come back the day after at 3 pm to collect your passport with the new visa.
Day 2: Go at the office after 3 pm, pay cash the 60 CYN and collect your passport with your brand new chinese visa. The new visa should have a validity of 30 days starting from the date of your extension request.
Warnings: Always double check if there’s any particular chinese festivity on the go, as most governmental offices are closed during bank holidays (e.g. the Mid-autumn festival in September or the National Day in October).
Nothing has ever been so easy in China!
9 comments
Pierre 16 May 2016 at 07:21
Thanks a lot for the tips! I will probably extend my visa next week in Shangrila
Simona 17 May 2016 at 09:04
Hi Pierre,
Thanks a lot! Let us know if anything has changed so that we can update the post 🙂 and enjoy Shangri-La, it’s a very nice town!
Pierre 19 May 2016 at 02:47
Hi,
It’s me again. I got new Chinese friends in Lijiang and they want to help me for the visa extension. But I wonder if the conditions are different from a city to another one. I read that police ask for 160rmb, bank informations and special Id photos in Lijiang…
If so I will extend in Shangri la on 23th. (My visa expires on 27th)
Thanks a lot.
Pierre
Simona 22 May 2016 at 03:36
Hi Pierre,
I would suggest you to ask your friend to collect information directly at the PSB office in Lijiang. The post I wrote refers to Sept 2015, I don’t know if there was any change in the policy afterwards (e.g. the cost for the extension). It could be that it changes from prefecture to prefecture, a friend of us was asked a sort of “guarantee” letter from a chinese resident to extend her visa in Shanghai. But as per our personal experience I would suggest you to ask your friend to call Lijiang PSB office and collect information.
Let us know how it goes!
Pierre 27 May 2016 at 09:41
Hi,
So I got my visa extension yesterday after paying 160RMB. They didn’t ask any documents except the paper that shows where I am currently staying in China.
I asked the officer about the differences of price from a prefecture to another one. He told me it was the same everywhere in China. Also I thought i could extend twice my visa but the officer told me that I couldn’t extend more than once.
Anyway, I can stay in china till 25th of June. It should be enough… 😉
Simona 29 May 2016 at 02:53
Hi Pierre,
thank you so much for the information. We’ll ask some friends to double check the cost for the extension in Shangri-La.
Where are you going next?
Andrzej Brandt 25 July 2016 at 09:10
July 2016 – important update!
Almost a week ago we arrived in Shangri La to extend our one-month visa, hoped – as it is stated in the text above – to sort it out in one day.
Well, no more.
Shangri La visa extendind process takes now FIVE WORKING DAYS. We have been pretty surprised by this. In our case (we applied on thursday), we had to spend in Shangri La entire week. Have this in mind while approaching Shangri La – you have to apply for a visa 7 days before your visa runs out. If you come having 8 days – you will be advised to come the next day. If you come 6 days – you might get lucky, but it needs to be monday. Otherwise, your visa will not be extended! Yep, the guy in the PSB was pretty clear about this.
The process is the same, and it is very easy, but still cant think while it needs to take so much time. The guys working in PSB seem really to be not doing anything.
DNL 22 August 2016 at 09:11
Hi Andrzej, thank you for the update! It’s always important to have the latest information from travelers around! 🙂 We follow your trip, say hi to Kasia!
Alexandra 6 April 2018 at 06:23
Hi guys !
Here is an update from March 2018 for extension in Shangri La , to whom it could help :
– Process still takes 5 working days (but the office may work on the weekend, they will tell you when you ll apply
– The good news is that they give you an ID paper with which you can travel everywhere during this waiting time (even tale a plane !), so you re not stucked in the city
– The other good news is that they speak pretty good english
– You need the hotel accommodation certificate and the detailed itinerary of your trip + picture/bill (see below)
– The bad news is that they send you to a pictures-shop (even if you already have a picture) : you have to come back with 1 picture and the bill.
BUT there is an organized scam there !! -> the guy in the shop sells you 8 pictures (even if you only need 1) and you have no choice than paying 80Y. The help of chinese friend did\’nt change anything : you had to pay otherwise you ll get no picture and no bill (and the guy was really threatening).
Therefore I would strongly recommanded to avoid Shangri La for doing the extension. It does not have anymore the good reputation it had in the past.