Your next Chinese visa will have your picture on it. The National Immigration Administration of China announced on May 31 that, starting from June 1, a new version of Chinese visas will be issued for foreigners in China. The administration noted that visas, group visas and residence permits now have a revamped look to them. Following many Western countries, China’s new visas and residence permits now come with color photos of the individual visa holder.
Group visas do not have a photo. According to immigration authorities, many of the visa changes are being implemented to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s DOC 9303 (a list of specifications for machine readable travel documents). Aside from the added photo, new visas have adopted multiple design features to safeguard the document. Other aspects of the visa process will remain the same, with no changes in application conditions, procedures and fees. China visa of the old design are still valid until their respective expiration dates.
