I do my own visas where needed, and I’ve never used a service. But it can be a pain in the bum and having a professional handle it can save time and hassle that many consider worth the money.
One company offering this service is Allied Passport & Visa and they’re points and miles community members who participate in and even write for blogs at times.
Since I haven’t used the services I haven’t written about them, but they came up with a great offer for readers of the blog that I couldn’t resist passing along.
I like that their website has examples of how to fill out forms. Often the forms aren’t really clear and I worry that I’m answering a question wrong, that I’ll run into problems getting approved or worse.
They’ve offered me to try their services to try for free in the past. That wasn’t something I’m cool with, and I liked the of letting readers try their services for free instead!
So they’re offering blog readers a discount on their services and they’re offering the service for free for China visas.
You’ll save the usual service fee on a visa to China if you get them to do it for you by the edn of next month. You’ll pay only shipping fees and the fee that China itself charges.
Of course, if you’re only going to be staying a short time and depending on the airport you can likely turn up and receive 72 hours on arrival without getting a visa in advance. But if you plan to spend time outside of the most major cities, or you plan to spend more than 3 days, you’ll need a visa. This will cut down on the hassle.
Here’s the offer:
To introduce their services to View from the Wing readers, Allied has agreed to waive their service fees for any tourist visa to China from now until the end of September. You must also hold a USA passport for the free service. Here are the details:To qualify for Allied Passport’s waived service fee offer, you must:
- Submit documents 10+ business days (standard processing) before your departure.
- Ship your documents using FedEx before September 30th
- Carefully follow the directions on their website and provide comprehensive country requirements.
- Provide payment and mention “View from the Wing” on your Allied Order Form.
- For China, the cost is $140 + return shipping. Click here to apply.
There is no limit to the number of travelers that can participate in this promotion. Combined shipping rates apply to 4 or less passports, and a small fee will be added for groups of 5 or more.
If you’d like to use Allied Passport’s services for any other country you can receive a $5 discount on your order for mentioning View from the Wing.
If you’ve used them, or plan to, I’d love to hear about it. And if you’ve used a visa expediting company before, please share your experiences as well. I haven’t, so reader input would be invaluable.
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I recently used Allied for a Visa to China. I was very impressed by their service. Some of the other companies were asking for all sorts of additional documentation, and I was at first a little concerned because Allied didn’t. But they got my visas quickly and there was no fuss. I highly recommend them.
I’m going to China in October (as a side trip on the Great United F-cabin Pricing Mishap of 2014) and was just looking at getting my visa on a future trip to SFO. This will definitely save me some time! I’ll let you know how it goes.
Too late. I already paid $180*4.
Is a China visa required if spending less than 72 hours in Beijing, if it is a simple round trip Detroit-Beijing-Detroit? I am a bit confused if the transit rule applies if it is the only destination, but under 72 hours. I am considering a quick trip in October.
It’s a pity that they are restricting this short-term just to US citizens. There are so many international readers of your blog, Gary! 🙂
Visa expediting companies are good if you a) don’t live in a city with the necessary consulates b) need multiple visas in a tight time frame. I used a company (not Allied) for a trip requiring Uzbek, Kazakh and Kyrgyz visas, but it was still a fairly difficult process. I’ve chosen to do it myself since then, but haven’t needed multiple visas since.
@matt s– since you are returning to your country of origin you do not quality for 72 hour transit.
It’s a good service. I’ve used them before multiple times and can recommend.
They provide a pretty good service. My only complaint is their stickers are too long for the passport, and as a result they start peeling pretty much once you start using the passport, until eventually its gone. Travisa’s stickers on the other hand, are small, and don’t seem to come off unless intended.
So just put “View from the Wing” in the “Referred by” box on the payment form?
@Trevor
What do you mean by ‘stickers ‘?
So, Travisa and Allied both put stickers on the front of your passport. I think its a marketing thing, so you remember who you used for your visa expediter. Its just the Allied one is too long/wide for the passport. Imagine those annoying security stickers that various customs/security/etc. put on the back of your passport? Well, you get something on the front from an expediter. Not necessarily a bad thing, except when they start peeling off.
While Allied has, to my knowledge, a good reputation, pursuant to the following message on their Web site, living in LA, they would not process my visa application for India:
“Allied Passport will only process visas from the Washington Jurisdiction. If you hold a driver’s license from: Bermuda, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia or West Virginia; we will be able to process your visa application.
If you reside in other states we are unable to process your application at this time and you must either send your application directly to your local India outsourcing office or make other arrangements.”
Frankly, it seems to me that a major agency such as Allied,, particularly to be able to service their corporate clients who may have employees living outside this area, should be able to make the necessary arrangements to properly service them.
I have regularly used a company called Peninsula Visa ( http://www.peninsulavisa.com/ ) which has consistently provided reliable, efficient and speedy service along with excellent customer service.
It seems to me the agency has only ONE office in US to handle China Visa because they can only process the states and DC that are under the jurisdiction of the Embassy in DC. For those who do not know, China requires US citizens to apply thru the Embassy / Consulate offices that govern the states they live. For example, we live in Florida, the ONLY consulate office we could get our China visa is the Consulate office in Houston. Even if we are in DC in person, we would be turned away and must get the Visa from Houston Consulate Office.
Must say we would prefer an agency which has offices in all 7 districts in US for China visa. Just got ours 2 weeks ago from one of such. Exactly 6 business days for standard processing from when we UPS ours to them to their FedEx the passports back to us. Very smooth service and has a reputation among China travel forum on FT.
Call me crazy, but there is a difference between China and Hong Kong SAR correct? I will be going there 04SEP for five days. I will stick to Hong Kong this go round.
Do I need a visa? If so, then I am going to try them out. Your timing is impeccable! 🙂
@drew – yes, there is a difference between china and hong kong and us passport holders do not need a visa prior to arrival
@FLL Allied processes China visas in all jurisdictions. This is stated on our China webpage.
Any body who paid to Allied: Does the $140 charge from Allied being categorized in travel spending for Capital one or Barclay Arrival card(that means it can be paid by miles)?
I have always been told that China enforces jurisdiction. Meaning, if you live in CA, you have to apply in LA or SF. If Allied only has offices in DC, how can they handle all visa requests?
Success! Excellent service and no complaints.
My passport arrived with them on 8/20, and they sent it back on 8/25. Just the embassy fees and $22 for overnight return shipping. No advertising stickers gumming up my passport either.
I’ll definitely use Allied in the future.
Great news @jered!
Wow! Allied Passport and Visa just processed our visas for China in just over a week. Sent the paperwork etc. to them on August 27 and the passports were just delivered to me today, August 4. And over the Labor Day weekend, no less. I’m very impressed with their service and the speed. Just paid the Chinese visa fee and return FedEx shipping. I’ll definitely use them again and can highly recommend the service. And as Jared said, no stickers on the passport.
I’m going on a cruise and they said we have to get a double visa, one for China and one for Hong Kong–in advance. Why would they have us get the HK visa in advance? Because they think it’s too complicated logistically once we’re there? Thanks for any insight.