THE ASSISTANT STORK
Your Document and Visa Specialist

Oh where, oh where do my documents go?
Oh where, oh where can it be? ...

CHANGES AT CHINESE EMBASSY AND CONSULATES:

AS OF MAY 1, 2003, YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO MAIL IN YOUR VISA REQUESTS. YOU MUST HAND-CARRY THEM IN YOURSELF OR USE A COURIER.

First, you have to get your documents notarized, county sealed (in states where applicable), State Sealed, and finally to a Consulate or Department of State/PRC Embassy for authentication. Check here for Vital Records and Secretaries of State addresses, phone numbers and fees.

Always send your documents by FedEX, ExpressMail, Airborne, UPS... anything trackable. These documents are too precious to allow them to get "lost in the mail".

Be sure to include a self-addressed, pre-paid airbill with your request. The $5 "mail handling" fee is just that... for handling your mail. It is not a fee for postage. If you are using a courier to hand-carry your documents, do not include this $5 fee.

It used to be that you could "batch" documents together under one state seal as long as you used the same notary. As of June 6, 1997, this is no longer an option. Until recently you could still "batch" two documents that were the same, i.e. if both husband and wife use the same doctor, those two documents could be batched together under one State Seal. But now, you are not allowed to batch anything.

If you mail in the documents yourself, you will need to submit a xerox of all documents, copies of your passports, and the G-1 form with your documents. If you use a courier, please check with them first. Some do not need any of those things.

Expedited Service *IS* still available for hand-carried documents.
All Consulates and the Embassy do not expedite through the mail.
You must use a courier or apply in person for expedite service.

Mail service takes approximately two - three weeks.

Here is a list of all the Consulates,
the Embassy, and the states they service:

States:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Northern California, Southern California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, US Virgin Islands,Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

Chicago Consulate

Web Address: http://www.chinaconsulatechicago.org/eng/

If you would like another adoptive mommy to expedite your documents through the Chicago consulate process, Denise Hope at http://www.theres-always-hope.com would be glad to help you.

The address is:

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Chicago
One E. Erie Street Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60611
TEL: 312-573-3070/1
FAX: 312-803-0122
Office Hours: 9 - 12 and
1 - 2:30 Monday - Friday.

Make cashier's check or money order out to "Chinese Consulate in Chicago."

Personal Check is not acceptable.

Houston Consulate

Web address:http://houston.china-consulate.org/eng/

If you would like another adoptive mommy to expedite your documents through the Houston Consulate process, Cindy Marut at http://www.MyChinaDocs.com would be glad to help you. E-mail her for info at cmarut@earthlink.net.

The address is:

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston
3417 Montrose Blvd.
Houston, TX 77006
TEL: 713-521-7459
TEL: 713-521-9589 (9AM-10AM)
FAX: 713-521-0237
visa@chinahouston.org

Make cashier's check or money order out to "Chinese Consulate in Houston."

Personal Check is not acceptable.

Los Angeles Consulate

Web address: http://www.chinaconsulatela.org

If you would like another mommy to expedite your documents through the
Los Angeles consulate process, contact Janice Moore at 951-805-3008.
E-mail her for info at gggandjmoore@aol.com

The address is:

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Los Angeles
443 Shatto Place
Los Angeles, CA 90020
TEL: 213-807-8088
TEL: 213-807-8018
TEL: 213-380-2508
FAX: 213-380-0372
FAXBACK: 213-380-2506/7

Make cashier's check or money order out to "Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles."

Personal Check is not acceptable.

The LA office will only accept return mail to be sent through the US Postal Service.
They will not send back your documents via FedEx, DHL, or UPS.

New York Consulate

Web address: http://www.nyconsulate.prchina.org/

If you would like another adoptive mommy to expedite your document and visa requests through the New York consulate process, Ms. Patti Urban and Mr. Chris Moore at http://www.Legal-Eaze.com would be glad to help you. E-mail them for info at NYOffice@Legal-Eaze.com

The address is:

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York
520 12th Avenue
New York, NY 10036
Recording: 212-330-7400
TEL: 212-330-7410
Authentications: 212-330-7410
Live Human: 212-502-0271 (2:00 PM - 4:30 PM only)
FAX: 212-502-0245
Faxback: 212-868-7761/2
Office Hours: 10AM - 12:00 noon, 12:30 PM - 3:00 PM, Monday-Friday.
This consulate accepts cash, company checks, or money orders only.

Make cashier's check or money order out to "Chinese Consulate in New York."

Personal Check is not acceptable.

Expedited service ONLY available in person. There will be no expedited service through the mail.

 

San Francisco

Web address: http://chinaconsulatesf.org/eng

If you would like an adoptive mommy to expedite your documents through the San Francisco Consulate process, contact Jill Touloukian at jill@papermidwife.com or her website http://www.papermidwife.com

The address is:

 

Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco
1450 Laguna Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
TEL: 415/674-2900 (Main Number)
TEL: 415/928-6931 (Visa Section)
TEL: 415-563-9232
TEL: 415/674-2928 or 415/674-2941
FAX: 415/563-4861

FEES

For Documents:

For Mail-ins:
  • $20 per document for 10 business day turnaround plus a $5.00 per package mail handling fee
  • No rush service for mailed-in documents
  • Please note "Consular Application" in an obvious place on the front side of the envelope
  • Self-addressed return envelope with sufficient postage. Only FedEx, DHL, UPS, Airborne, Priority and Express mail envelopes are accepted. For FedEx, only those with account numbers are accepted. Return envelopes with meter stamps are not accepted.
For Walk-ins (Courier) :
  • $20 per document for 5 business day turnaround
  • $40 per document for 1 day turnaround
  • No same day service

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO CONSULATE ONLY: The San Francisco Consulate wants a photocopy of each document sent for authentication as well as copies of your passports.

For Visas:

For Walk-in service (Courier) only, no mail service available:
  • $50 per single-entry visa for 5 business day turnaround
  • $80 per single-entry visa for 24 hour turnaround
  • $75 per double-entry visa for 5 business day turnaround
  • $100 per multiple-entry visa good for 6 months for 5 business day turnaround
  • $150 per multiple-entry visa good for 12 months for 5 business day turnaround

Make cashier's check or money order out to "Consulate General of the PRC - SF"

Personal Check is not acceptable.

 

Washington, DC Embassy

Web address: http://www.china-embassy.org/


(If you'd like information on a courier for these documents, click here for my page at http://www.asststork.com/pages/courier.html.)

These states also need to have their documents authenticated by the State Department.

Their address is:

The Authentication Office of the U.S. State Department
Columbia Plaza (State Annex#1)
518 23rd Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
TEL: 202-647-5002
or 800-688-9889 (option #6)
http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/

Fee: $7.00 per document

Make personal check, money order or cashier's check to "U.S. Department of State"

This step takes 2-6 weeks by mail or 1-2 hours in person. (Which is why I'm a courier for the DC area.) But if you DO go in person, the Authentications Office is in a shopping mall, the last "shop" on the left. Also, realize that they will only process 15 documents per day.

 

The address for the Embassy is:

Visa Office of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China
Room 110
2201 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
TEL: 202-338-6688
Faxback: 202-265-9809
FAX: 202-588-9760
Office Hours: 9 AM-Noon and 1- 2:30 PM Monday - Friday

For Walk-in service only, no mail service available:
  • $50 per single-entry visa for 5 business day turnaround
  • $70 per single-entry visa for 24 hour turnaround
  • $75 per double-entry visa for 5 business day turnaround
  • $100 per multiple-entry visa good for 6 months for 5 business day turnaround
  • $150 per multiple-entry visa good for 12 months for 5 business day turnaround

Make cashier's check or money order out to "The Embassy of China."

Personal Check is not acceptable.

*SPECIAL NOTE FOR THE EMBASSY*

* The Embassy prefers you use ExpressMail for the return of your documents.

* The Embassy will NOT expedite any document they receive in the mail.

* The Embassy will NOT allow you or anyone else to pick up in person any document they receive in the mail.

 

this page last edited 08/07/06

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