Easier to apply for visas from China to Norway

Beijing,China. Chinese and Norwegian flags.Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

Easier to apply for visas from China to Norway

Norway opens eight new visa centres in different parts of China on Monday the 3rd of December. This means shorter travel times and a lower threshold for applying for a visa.

 

The total population in cities receiving new visa centres is around 65 million. In addition, these will serve surrounding regions.

Norway and China have for a long time negotiating the opening of visa centres. Applicants can now submit visa applications and issue biometrics in eight new locations.

Access to the new visa centres will not only contribute to increased tourism but also to more person-to-person cooperation, as well as strengthen business cooperation between Norway and China stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The new Norwegian visa centres will open in the cities of Hangzhou, Shenyang, Xian, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changsha, and Kunming.

Up to now, Chinese tourists who want to visit Norway have had to travel to either Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou to apply for a visa. This means, for example, that tourists from the city of Chengdu have had to travel to Beijing, which is 1,800 kilometres away.

As late as October last year, Norwegians were still the only Schengen citizens who could not travel visa-free to Shanghai and Beijing.

“Norway is already on the list of countries that can travel visa-free to the island of Hainan, and we hope Norway will soon be included in the visa-free transit program that applies to other parts of China,” said Communications Manager, Frode Overland Andersen, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to NTB news.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today