John C Klensin [mailto://john-ietf(_at_)jck(_dot_)com] writes:
...
Two additional observations may be useful. In the US, someone
must appear in person at the embassy or consulate -- there is no
mail-in service, at least for US citizens. In practice, that
means that if one is in a city with a consulate (or close to
^not
one), one has to use a visa service as an intermediary. Their
fees can easily exceed the visa fees themselves unless one works
for a company that has a special deal with one of them. More
important, they often require far more documentation than the
embassy nominally requires, presumably to be sure that they have
what they need if the embassy (or local consulate) starts asking
questions about the traveler. That additional documentation may
include confirmed flight or hotel reservations, letters of
endorsement or guarantee (in addition to meeting invitations,
etc.). So, especially if one cannot appear in person, one
should get started early or be prepared to pay even higher fees.
I have traveled to China fairly frequently over the past few years (3GPP2
used to meet there at least once a year). I have a current double-entry
visa, obtained here in Bangkok in about 48 hours (not a rush order), while
the last one I got in Hong Kong in < 24 hours (rush order). However, the
first & most subsequent Chinese visas I obtained were through Visa Network
(http://www.visanetwork.com/index.shtml); it's been awhile but as I recall
their fees were quite reasonable (far more so than the service that the
company for which I worked used). They can normally do a 24 hour
turnaround. For that matter, I can't think of a reason why one would want
or need a multiple-entry visa for an IETF meeting (except, perhaps, if the
meeting was in Shentzen & you wanted to commute from HK ;-).
If I remember correctly from the embassy's web site, part of the
documentation requirement for a multiple-entry visa is previous
visits to China and associated visas. I.e., if you haven't had
at least a couple of single-entry visas, there is no point
thinking about a multiple-entry one.
Maybe things have changed, but my first Chinese visa was a double-entry
(note that "multiple" != "double").
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