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Dear Daniel,
Just wanted to say that we had a wonderful time in Tibet and we are very pleased with Access Tibet Tour, our guide Pasang and our driver. Everything worked smoothly and we enjoyed our stay very much.
Thomas & Lee Ti
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Travel Documents Like the trip to any other countries, it is the same that you must have the valid passport, China visa, and furthermore you must also have a Tibet (entry) permit for the trip to Tibet.
  • Overview
  • China Visa
  • Tibet Permit
  • Apply Permit
  • Useful Tips
Documents needed in Tibet travel
General Word About Tibet Documents needed for a trip to Tibet:
Like the trip to any other countries, it is the same that you must have the valid passport, China visa, and furthermore you must also have a Tibet (entry) permit for the trip to Tibet. And if you go further into Tibet, like going to Tsedang, Everest, and etc, you have to have some other permits or “travel allowance” as well.
There are altogether 4 kinds of documents related to Tibet travel, they are:
China Visa:
 Tibet is part of China, under the Chinese Central Government's Sovereignty. Thus to travel to Tibet, you have to obtain a China Visa at first stage before all are followed up.There is no Tibet Visa or something like this. There is only China Visa or Tibet permit.If you get into Tibet via Kathmandu, you still need to apply another China Visa (this is under the Agreement between China and Nepal governments), no matter whether you already have a China Visa or not.
travel to Tibet, a Tibet Entry Permit issued by the Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB) is needed, although you already have a China Visa. Without this permit, you can not aboard the train or plane.
In Tibet, there are many counties not declared open to foreigners. If you want to go there (many Tibetan Buddhism Monasteries and beautiful scenic spots are located in these counties), you must apply for the Aliens Travel Permit from the Public Security Bureau (PSB).
For going to more remote area, you need more permits. For example, if you travel overland (from mainland China) to Tibet, besides the documents stated above, you still need the Military Allowance.


About China Visa

A Brief Introduction to the Tourist Visa :

Chinese visa is a permit issued to a foreigner by the Chinese visa authorities for entry into, exit from or transit through the Chinese territory. The Chinese visa authorities may issue a diplomatic, courtesy, service or ordinary visa to a foreigner according to his identity, purpose of visit to China and passport type. Hereunder is an introduction to the ordinary visa and its application procedure:

A tourist visa, issued to aliens who come to China for sightseeing and visiting relatives, is marked with “L” in the many kinds of Chinese visas. Visa L is characterized by a short duration of stay, usually 30 days, no more than 90 days, and could not be extended upon expiration.

Group visa, another kind of tourist visa, is applied by foreigner traveling in tour groups. Group visa is not issued on the passports, but on a separate paper, which requires the group members enter and exit the Chinese border together.

The Special Note:
When a tourist wants to go to Tibet via the way of Kathmandu of Nepal, he or she must have the Group Visa in the separate paper, even there is only him or her, no matter whether she or he has in his passport already a China visa or not. If already have a China visa, it must be cancelled no matter it is a single entry or multiful entry visa.If there are more than one persons in the group, they must go in and leave Tibet together.

From Nov. 15th 2000, aliens traveling to Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions(SAR) in tour groups organized by travel agencies registered in the above-mentioned SARs are exempted from visa requirements for a period of not exceeding 6 days when entering into the following Chinese mainland cities: Guangzhong, Shenzhen, zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jinangmen, Zhaoqing, Huizhou,etc. The premise is that the traveler shall have the citizenship of a country having diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China and carrying an ordinary passport.

The ordinary visas consist of eight sub-categories, which are marked with Chinese phonetic letters (D, Z, X, F, L, G, C, J-1 and J-2 respectively).
Get your China Visa before travel to Tibet
Brief Introduction to Chinese Visa and the Procedure for Visa Application:
Visa D
 issued to aliens who are to reside permanently in China. A permanent residence confirmation form shall be required for the application of Visa D. The applicant shall apply to obtain this form himself or through his designated relatives in China from the exit-and-entry department of the public security bureau in the city or county where he applies to reside
Visa Z
 Issued to aliens who are to take up posts or employment in China, and to their accompanying family members. To apply for a Visa Z, an Employment License of the People's Republic of China for Foreigners (which could be obtained by the employer in China from the provincial or municipal labor authorities) and a visa notification letter/telegram issued by an authorized organization or company are required.
Visa X
 Issued to aliens who come to China for study, advanced studies or job-training for a period of six months or more. To apply for a Visa X, certificates from the receiving unit and the competent authority concerned are required, i.e., Application Form for Overseas Students to China (JW201 Form or JW202 Form), Admission Notice and Physical Examination Record for Foreigners.
Visa F
 Issued to an applicant who is invited to China on a visit, on a study or lecture, business tour, for scientific-technological and cultural exchanges, for short-term refresher course or for job-training, for a period of no more than six months. To apply for a Visa F, the invitation letter from the inviting unit or the visa notification letter/telegram from the authorized unit is required.
Visa L
 Issued to aliens who come to China for sightseeing, visiting relatives or other private purposes. For a tourist applicant, in principle he shall evidence his financial capability of covering the travelling expenses in China, and when necessary, provide the air, train or ship tickets to the heading country/region after leaving China. For the applicants who come to China to visit relatives, some are required to provide invitation letters from their relatives in China.
Visa G
 Issued to aliens who transit through China. The applicants are required to show valid visas and on-going tickets to the heading countries/regions.
Visa C
 Issued to train attendants, air crewmembers and seamen operating international services, and to their accompanying family members. To apply for a visa C, relevant documents are required to be provided in accordance with bilateral agreements or regulations of the Chinese side.
Visa J1
 Issued to foreign resident correspondents in China.
Visa J2
 Issued to foreign correspondents who make short trip to China on reporting tasks. The applicants for J-1 and J-2 visas are required to provide a certificate issued by the competent Chinese authorities.
There are two main documents required for foreign tourists who want to travel in Tibet. please be noted that Chinese visa and Tibet permit is two things totally different.
 
 
Departures to Mt. Everest every 6 days
  
 
 
    Tibet Permit
A Brief Introduction to the Tibet Permit:
Tibet permit is actually a secondary travel document to a special zone besides China visa with which you can come to China for the first step of your travel though you must get approved by Tibet Tourism Bureau before you obtain China visa. It is a certificate only for the travel, and there are a few names about it such as Tibet permit, Tibet travel permit, Tibet entry permit, Tibet tour permit, and etc, while correct one is Tibet travel permit. Tibet travel permit is classified in to a few kinds if you travel through all over Tibet.
  To start your trip to Tibet, you must get the first permit to get in to Tibet no matter how many or how less places you want to visit, and whatever how long or how short you want to stay in Tibet. This kind of permit is also named as Tibet entry permit, but it is not only for the entry in to Tibet. With which you can also travel to some places within its power limit. See photo copy of TTP below:
Aliens' Travel Permit & Military Allowance
A second permit or travel document is also needed or a must after you stand on the roof of the world and you want to travel to places out of Tibet travel permit limit. This is called Alien’s Travel Permit ( short form: ALP) This kind of permit can be only obtained from Foreign Affairs Division, Public Security Bureau Tibet and it is AFTER you get in to Tibet. What’s more, if the places you travel to are within the military control, you must or have to get the third permit named as Military Allowance (short form: MA) which can be issued by the concerning military offices.
Sample:
 Aliens' Travel Permit

Military Allowance
Tibet travel permit or Tibet entry permit can be issued by a few government institutions. Mostly you can get it from Tibet Tourism Bureau (hereinafter we call it TTB) if you, as a tourist, go to Tibet only for a tour. To make it clearer outline arrays can illustrate a few different ways of obtaining Tibet travel permit.
If you hold a tour passport and you go to Tibet only for a tour, TTB can issue you the Tibet permit But if you are a journalist or a government official or an ambassador, even though you hold a tour passport you must or have to get Tibet travel permit from Tibet Foreign Affairs Office since you are a big banana, like the journalist, it is often named as “uncrowned king” This is equally treated.If your visa type is “F”, not “L”, you also must or have to apply for Tibet travel permit with Tibet Foreign Affairs Office
Businessman who want to invest money in Tibet and enjoy the tour during their spare time can get Tibet travel permit from Tibet Economic Development & Foreign Trade Committee Taiwanese can get Tibet travel permit from Taiwan Affairs Office Tibet Branch.
To draw a conclusion, Tibet permit is a travel certificate or a travel document although it draws out some other kinds of permits related to a tour such as ATP and MA. And it can be easily issued for tourists if they are NOT within the unwelcomed people by Tibet local government or China. And it is NOT Tibet visa in terms of China’s sovereignty.
Important Notice:
* If you do not book any tour(Like Land cruiser with driver ,guide ) from us, we can not help you get the permits. No travel agency can provide "permit-only" service.
Feel free to contact us,We'll be happy to help you.

   How to apply for Tibet Permit?
Tibet Entry Permit
Tibet Entry Permit: issued by Tibet Tourism Bureau. Needed if you want to travel to Tibet.
Please prepare the following documents ready before asking your travel agent to apply permit:
A copy of your Passport;
A copy of your China visa (tourist visa);
Full names, gender, Date of Birth, Passport number, nationality, occupation.
Aliens' Travel Permit
Alien’s Travel Permit:
issued by Public Security Bureau. Needed if you want to travel to some unopened areas in Tibet.
Military Allowance
Military Allowance:
issued by military office in Lhasa. Needed if you want to travel to some remote and military sensitive areas.
We can also arrange extensions to/from Kathmandu, Nepal and all the necessary permits.
 Here are some useful tips: 
Where to apply for a China Visa?
Before going to Tibet, you should apply a China Visa. Here are the websites of the Chinese Embassies and Consulate-Generals in some countries. You can find the address of the Chinese embassy or consulate-general the nearest to you.
Click Here to see......
How to obtain China Visa faster?
There is a trick can help you obtain the China visa faster, which is when you apply for a China visa at a China Embassy (China Embassy in Kathmendu is the exceptional), just put Tibet Travel aside, and you can get China visa quicker, or the process could be prolonged.
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