my visa got rejected the first time. here's what i did wrong.

ChinaNewbie

thought i'd share this because almost no one talks about visa rejections.

i applied for a tourist visa to china last year and got rejected. felt terrible. wasted the application fee and had to delay my trip.

here's what happened. i didn't have a hotel booking for my whole stay. i booked only the first two nights because i thought i would figure out the rest later. turns out they want to see where you are staying every single night. learned that the hard way.

the second time i booked fully refundable hotels through booking.com. yeah it was a bit more expensive but i canceled them after getting the visa. some people say this is shady but honestly everyone does it.

also make sure your flight booking is round trip. they need to see you plan to leave. i had a one way ticket because i wasn't sure when i would go home. bad idea.

the application form is online. it took me about 30 minutes. double check everything because a tiny mistake got my friend rejected. he wrote his passport number wrong.

my advice is apply at least one month before you go. and bring more documents than you think you need. bank statements help. a letter from your job helps.

hope this saves someone from making the same mistakes.