China opens visa centre in Banani, Dhaka

The Chinese Embassy in Dhaka has opened a separate visa centre to provide better visa-related services to the people of Bangladesh.

Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Yao Wen inaugurated the visa centre at the Prasad Trade Centre in the capital’s Banani area on Thursday.

General passport holders will no longer have to go to the embassy to receive a visa, the Chinese embassy said. However, those who have diplomatic or official passports will still have to apply at the embassy.

Explaining the reasoning for opening the visa centre, the ambassador said that exchanges between Bangladesh and China are increasing, close, and frequent at all levels and in all sectors.

“More and more Bangladeshi people are willing to travel to China, and their demand for Chinese visas has been growing,” he said.

An average of 1,500 Bangladeshis applied for a Chinese visa every day last year despite a shortage of manpower and extended visa processing times, Wen said.

With the Dhaka centre, China has opened 103 visa processing centres in 55 countries and regions, the ambassador said.

Wen also noted that there had been positive results after the decision to shift the entire visa process in Bangladesh online last year.

The embassy officially launched the Chinese online visa application system on Jun 15, 2023. Since then, all steps including filling of application forms, submission of application documents and visa interviews have been conducted online.

In less than 10 months, nearly 44,000 visas of various types have been issued.

The Chinese embassy said that details of the application can be found on the visa centre’s website. In order to file an application, a fee is required in addition to the visa processing fee charged by the embassy and any express fee charged where applicable.

The visa centre will be open Sunday to Thursday, aside from holidays. Application and fee submissions are open from 9am to 3pm while passport collection hours are 9am to 4pm.

Those who hold ordinary passports need to log onto the visa centre’s website and initially fill out an online application for a Chinese visa. They must then go to the centre for further processing.