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I have a Chinese visa valid till 20 Dec 2013 (6 months). It is a F visa, which means a business visa. It also is a double entry visa, meaning that I can only enter China twice in the whole 6 months period.

The problem is that I need to enter China three times. I arrived in China on July 10th, I will leave China on July 31st to go to Europe and come back to China on August 17th (here I will already have consumed the second entry). And I need to go from China to Hong-Kong on Augst 24th and back to China on August 30th. Of course this last entry will not be possible with my current visa. What can I do, then?

The only option I can foresee is that on July 31st when I travel to my country, apply for a new Chinese visa (a new double entry visa). This would solve the problem. However, can I apply for a new visa if my visa is still valid and still has one entry left?

If the answer was yes, then it is solved I apply and that is it.

If the answer is no, then, if I had consumed the two entries before the new application, could I apply for a new one? This way, although the visa was still valid in terms of dates, it would not have entries left. If yes, then I can consume the second entry before travelling to Europe and then apply for the new visa.

But if not, what can I do? Can I cancel the visa and apply for a new one? Is there such a thing as cancelation? Or What option is left for me?

One last issue: once I find the way to apply for a new visa in these circumstances, should the new visa be Business or Tourism? I plan to combina both in my second period in China. If for business, could I use the same original letter from the company inviting me to come to China for two months, that I used for the first visa I got? Should I get a new letter from the company? Better to apply for a tourist visa? But if I do that, they could see that in the letter for the original visa the invitation for business was for two months, and now I am applying for a tourist visa for a period that correspond to the one I was supposed to be doing business. Or this really does not matter?

The case is very complex, I feel lost, and action need to be taken immediately as the dates are approaching.

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  • Have you tried to contact the Chinese embassy in your country? They'd be the ones to give you a definitive answer.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Jul 20, 2013 at 18:04
  • I had a 2 times entry visa (L class) with one visit used and needed to change to a Business visa (Z class). The office in HK just cancelled the existing 'L' and issued a new 'Z'
    – user5043
    Dec 23, 2013 at 10:13

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I have also successfully applied for a new visa while the old one still there in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong is very easy to obtain Chinese visa. Just go to a travel agency, I paid around 150 HK dollars and I get a new visa in two days.

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I have successfully applied for a new tourist visa while holding an old one. As it turned out the old visa had a few minutes left on it when we arrived, the passport official simply cancelled it at that point (entries didn't matter as these were multi-entry visas.)

While I have never had either a double-entry or a F visa I would expect things to work the same.

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  • Thanks Loren, as I see the official was aware that you had a visa still valid. Did you have to fill a form to cancel it, or he/she simply told you that was going to cancel it and that is it. It seems that there s light at the end of the tunnel. Was yours a Chinese visa as well?
    – Jaume
    Jul 19, 2013 at 17:30
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    @Jaume Of course it was China, why else would I reply? I did nothing special at the time of application (although it went through a visa agent, something that's basically required in the US due to them playing tit-for-tat), when we got to passport control I saw the official mark off the old visa. I'm not aware of any comment about this although he could have said something to my wife that I wouldn't have understood.
    – Loren Pechtel
    Jul 20, 2013 at 17:43

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