What is Tibet Permit and Simple Guidelines how to prepare your Tibet permit?
If your passport valid for at least 6 months and you have already bucket listed Tibet as your top travel destination in 2018, you must have googled about Tibet and the related information you required to prepare for your Tibet Trip. While googling about Tibet, Tibet Travel Permit or Tibet Permit is something new to you and it is indispensable that you need to get All the details about what is Tibet Permit and the process involved in applying for Tibet Permit.
Tibet Travel Permit or Tibet Permit is a document which supports your entry into Tibet. It is issued by the Tibet Tourism Bureau. The approval on your China Visa doesn’t really mean that you can get entry into Tibet. There are only two ways getting into Tibet. One from Kathmandu and another from the mainland China. For those who are making their Tibet Trip from Mainland China, it is required to send across a copy of your visa and passport to your travel agent in Lhasa to apply for the Tibet Permit which usually takes about 15-20 business days to process.
Once it is approved, your travel agent in Lhasa will send the original Tibet permit to your temporary mailing address in China apart from the city of Xining in Qinghai province in mainland China where a colored-copy of the Tibet Permit is ok to board your train to Lhasa. Therefore as a tourist coming into Tibet from Mainland China, it is essential to note that you have to inform your travel agent in Lhasa about your flight details, whether it is a direct flight or a connecting flight because if it is a direct flight, your Tibet Permit carry the name of the city where you are flying directly into Tibet. If it is a connecting flight, your Tibet Permit should carry the name of the connecting city to Tibet and not the original city
For instance, when a tourist is coming to Tibet from mainland China by flight on the same day and if she or he is taking a connecting flight, for example from Beijing to Chengdu and from Chengdu to Lhasa on the same day, your Tibet Permit should carry the name of the connecting city i.e. Chengdu in the above example and not Beijing . The security check in Beijing airport will not ask you to show your Tibet Permit but the security check in Chengdu airport will definitely ask you to show your Tibet Permit because it is where you are entering into Tibet and that’s why it is also called Tibet Entry Permit. Same rule applies to the train journey as well.
Many tourists and unprofessional local travel agents make very often mistakes about this issue that the tourists just inform the local agents that I am coming from Beijing to Tibet but then the tourist takes a connecting flight, not a direct flight from Beijing to Lhasa or Shanghai to Lhasa. They take a connecting flight but then those of unprofessional local travel agents completely think that their tourist is coming from Beijing and they write Beijing to enter Tibet instead of Chengdu as they did not think about connecting flight so when the tourist is in Chengdu airport for a transit flight, the security check in Chengdu finds that Chengdu is not written in their permits and they stop tourist to board the flight so this part of information is very important as Tibet Shambhala Adventure as an experienced and officially registered local Tibetan owned travel agent, it is always our pleasure to share our valuable information, knowledge and experiences.
If you are making the journey to Tibet via Kathmandu, Remember to note that you don’t have to apply for the China Visa from your origin country in order to get into Tibet. You will have to send your passport copy to your local Tibetan travel agent in Lhasa and your local travel agent will apply for your visa invitation letter to the Tibet Tourism Bureau in Lhasa and once it is approved by Tibet Tourism Bureau, your local Tibetan travel agent will send the visa invitation letter to your Kathmandu representative who will assist you to apply for the China Visa which takes three working days. It is also referred as a Group Visa, given on A 4 paper, not on your visa. Therefore it is important to allow 3 business days in Kathmandu to complete your China Group Visa application and plan your itinerary accordingly. The good thing is that new business working days of Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu is from Monday till Friday where they used to work Monday, Wednesday and Friday only. If you have applied the China Group Visa on Monday, it will granted and deliver to you latest by Wednesday.
When you are coming to Tibet from Kathmandu, you are not required to have your Tibet entry and road permits with you from Kathmandu. You can board your flight from Kathmandu with your China visa to Tibet and your Tibetan tour guide at the airport will take care of all the necessary Tibet entry and road permits and help you to clear China custom.
We can apply Tibet permit for all the tourists except someone who are diplomats, journalists and government officials. People who are diplomats, journalists and government officials should go through Foreign Affairs Office of China based in Lhasa.
