I travelled with my family to China in April 2025. In February 2025, we went to apply for our China Visa (L) with Multi-entry.
The process to get a Visa for China isn’t too difficult but requires many steps.
Access to a printer will come in handy. Please do no staple your papers as they will ask you to take them out.
Before you can even apply for your Visa, you will need to have proof your flights (inbound & outbound) are booked. You will also need to have your itinerary and accommodations figured out and booked. Make sure you have a valid Passport for the full duration of your trip and if you are applying for multi-entry and want to maximize, try to get the 10 year and time it correctly.
The China Visa can be a single entry or multi-entry for tourism (L). The multi-entry can be as long as 1-9 years depending on the validity of your passport. Your passport must also have 1-2 blank Visa pages.
You also need to have a photocopy of your Passport’s data page.
You will need a digital passport-like photos done against a white background (size:48mm x 33mm). They will be used digitally to be uploaded on the online application. They digital upload will also have parameters in which you are to scale up or down your photo to fit. You should also have that same photo printed in the correct dimensions just in to bring when applying in person.
You can apply for the China Visa at the Chinese Embassy or Consulate in Canada or through a Chinese Visa Application Service Center. My family and I applied via Chinese Visa Application Service Center. Their Toronto office location is 393 University Ave – Unit 1501. They are open 9AM-3PM Mon-Fri.
To start the application process, you must fill out the application online and submit online. When you submit, you need to download the PDF version of your application and must print out a copy for your in-person appointment.
From the website, it asks for you to get a queue number to make an appointment which will say it’s all unavailable. This function is now defunct, and they have gone back to first come first serve in-office for appointments as long as you application has been submitted online.
You will need to have printed copies of all the information for your travel to bring along with you to your appointment. (Flight confirmations, hotel confirmations, tour confirmation (if you have)). If you happen to have missed printing something or need to get a passport photo done ASAP, there is a Staples just south of the China Visa Application Service Center where you can get your paperwork/application printed or get your photo taken.
This was my experience going into the China Visa Application Service Center and applying for a Multi-entry China Visa as a Canadian resident who has never been to China before.
The Office is at University & Dundas. You enter the building and take the elevator to the 15th floor. Once you enter the center, take a left and queue in line for the queue desks (1-4) where they will review your paperwork and application form. Have your passport ready and potentially a passport sized photo (same one that you used for the online application). Once they have gone through this process, they will give you your ticket for the Application queue.
I have to say the process didn’t take too long. We got there around 1111AM on a Friday morning and were 26th in queue. When we made it to the Application desk, the employee goes through all the paperwork yet again and verifies all the details. Lots of highlighting was happening.
At the application desk, you will be required to give your fingerprints as China uses biometrics as well as taking a photo. This is only for people over the age of 14 and under the age of 70. We handed over our passports with all the paperwork and paid for the visa via debit. We were told to come back the following Wednesday to pick up our Passports. They give you a Pick-up slip that you must bring back and it’s the only way to retrieve your passport back with so don’t lose it!
We applied for the Multi-entry Visa and it came out to $137.15CAD per person.
With the Pick-up slip in hand, we were out of the office by 12PM.
We returned to the China Visa Application Service Center and went directly to counter 17-19 and handed over the slip to receive our passports.
