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Passport validity, photo and proof of legal stay: the basic documents behind every student visa

Unofficial summary · Sources checked

Apart from the admission papers, every applicant fills in the application form and submits a passport or other international travel document, qualified photos, and material relating to the purpose of the application — that is the entire basic list in Article 7 of the Regulations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' general instruction then adds proof of legal stay or residence and any previous Chinese passport or previous Chinese visa. Each mission writes its own version of those items, and the two embassy pages below are reproduced as those missions' statements, not as rules for all missions.

What the Regulations require of every applicant

Article 7 of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of the Entry and Exit of Foreigners (State Council Decree No. 637, promulgated 12 July 2013, in force from 1 September 2013) reads: a foreigner applying for a visa shall fill out the application form, and submit his or her passport or other international travel documents, qualified photos, and material relating to the purpose of application.

Three things follow from that wording alone:

  • The form, the travel document and the photos are the items the Regulations name for every applicant; the admission papers belong to the fourth item, "material relating to the purpose of application", and are not restated here.
  • Article 7 gives no period of remaining passport validity, no number of blank visa pages and no photo specifications. Where a number appears later in this article, it comes from the embassy page that states it.
  • Article 7 says "passport or other international travel documents"; it does not rank one over the other.

The Ministry's general instruction

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Visa Application Instructions of the People's Republic of China, published on the China Consular Services website, is the Ministry's general instruction rather than a single mission's list. Its basic-documents section asks you to fill in the visa application form online and submit the applicant's passport and photo, proof of legal stay or residence, and the previous Chinese passport or previous Chinese visa, "as required by the Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General in your locality", pointing to the "Guidance on Visa Application" section of the China Online Visa Application System or to the website of the embassy or consulate-general in your locality.

That qualifier matters for reading everything below: the Ministry's own text sends applicants back to the mission handling the case, so a mission's page governs an individual application even where it asks for more than the general instruction. The instruction gives no fees and no processing times. (Where a Chinese official title appears above, the English rendering is this site's translation of the Chinese text; this site checked that page on 10 October 2026.)

What the Embassy in the United Kingdom lists

The Embassy of the PRC in the United Kingdom's page Part Two: How to Apply for a Visa for China (Mainland only) carries a page time stamp of 2020-07-01 20:30 and lists these basic documents:

  1. Passport — original passport with at least six months of remaining validity and blank visa pages, plus a photocopy of the bio data page. The page does not state how many blank visa pages are needed.
  2. Photo — one recently-taken colour passport photo (bare-head, full face) against a light background, with a reference to "Photo Requirements for Chinese Visa Application".
  3. Proof of legal stay or residence status (applicable to non-British applicants) — a valid British visa or other proof of legal stay, residence, employment or study in the U.K.
  4. Photocopy of previous Chinese passports or previous Chinese visas (applicable to foreign nationals who once held Chinese nationality) — the Chinese passport last held and a photocopy of its data page, together with permanent residency of the foreign country and the naturalization paper, are required when applying for a Chinese visa for the first time. Where the current passport contains no Chinese visa, photocopies of the data page of the previous passport and of the previous Chinese visa are required. If the name on the current passport differs from that on the previous one, an official document of name change is required.

The page lists what the UK missions ask for; the requirements of other missions may differ. It gives no fee figure — it points to the latest notice on visa fees on the embassy website.

What the Embassy in the United States lists

The Embassy of the PRC in the United States' notice Requirements and Procedures for Chinese Visa Application (Updated September, 2025), dated 2025/09/22 on the embassy website, applies to applications made to the Chinese Embassy in Washington through the new COVA system, launched there on 30 September 2025; consulates-general and other missions may differ. The notice separates its documents into two lists.

Documents to be uploaded online:

  1. Passport bio-page and blank visa page — passport remaining validity must be more than 6 months with at least 2 blank visa pages.
  2. The latest Chinese visa or the Chinese residence permit.
  3. Proof of residence (for example, driver's licence, utility bill, bank bill).
  4. If the applicant is a foreigner in the US, a photocopy of green card, visa, I-20 or I-94 to prove legal residence in the US.
  5. If the applicant was of Chinese nationality and this is the first Chinese visa application after naturalization in a foreign country, the bio-page of the Chinese passport and the naturalization certificate.
  6. If the applicant's name has been changed and this is the first Chinese visa application after the name change, the name change document.
  7. For a visa application by a minor of Chinese origin born in the US, follow the guidance — the notice itself does not set that guidance out in the text reproduced here.

Documents to be submitted on-site as originals:

  1. The passport original used for the visa application.
  2. The application info-page showing "Passport to be submitted" status and the barcode of the application form.
  3. The old passport containing a previous Chinese visa or residence permit that is still within validity.
  4. If the applicant was of Chinese nationality, the latest Chinese passport.
  5. For a Q1 or S1 visa application, the original certification showing the relationship of immediate family members between the applicant and the inviting individual.
  6. Other original documents that the consular officials asked to be submitted on-site.

A photo does not appear as an item in either of the two lists reproduced here. The notice gives no fee figure; it links to a separate fees page.

Where the two embassy lists are not the same

Item Regulations, Article 7 Embassy in the UK Embassy in the US
Remaining passport validity Not stated At least six months More than 6 months
Blank visa pages Not stated "blank visa pages", no number given At least 2
Photo "qualified photos", no number or specification One recently-taken colour photo, bare-head, full face, light background Not named in either list reproduced here
Proof of legal stay or residence Not in Article 7 Required for non-British applicants Proof of residence; green card, visa, I-20 or I-94 if a foreigner in the US
Former Chinese nationality Not in Article 7 Last Chinese passport, its data page, permanent residency and naturalization paper on a first application Bio-page of the Chinese passport and naturalization certificate on a first application; the latest Chinese passport as an on-site original
Name change Not in Article 7 Official document of name change where names differ Name change document on the first application after the change

Both embassy pages sit on top of Article 7 rather than replacing it: each adds detail the Regulations leave open.

Questions people ask

Does the Regulations text say how long my passport must remain valid?

No. Article 7 names "passport or other international travel documents" and qualified photos without any validity period or page count. The six-month validity figure and the blank-page counts above come from the embassy pages, which is why they are given as those missions' statements.

Am I asked for proof of legal stay if I hold the passport of the country I apply in?

The UK page makes item 3 applicable to non-British applicants. The US notice asks every applicant for proof of residence and adds the green card, visa, I-20 or I-94 item only for applicants who are foreigners in the US. Neither text is a rule for other missions.

Do I need my old passport if it holds a previous Chinese visa?

The UK page asks for photocopies of the data page of the previous passport and of the previous Chinese visa when the current passport contains no Chinese visa. The US notice lists the old passport containing a previous Chinese visa or residence permit still within validity among the originals to be submitted on site.

What must former Chinese nationals add?

Both lists ask for the Chinese passport and naturalization papers on the first application after naturalization, and an official name change document where the name has changed. The UK page adds permanent residency of the foreign country; the US notice asks for the latest Chinese passport as an on-site original.

Do these pages give a fee or a processing time?

No. The UK page points to the latest notice on visa fees on the embassy website, the US notice links to a separate fees page, and the Ministry's instruction gives neither fees nor processing times. This page therefore quotes no fee and no processing time.

For the X1/X2-specific papers that sit alongside these basic documents, see the documents overview.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026 (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instruction was checked on 10 October 2026).

This page is an unofficial summary of the official texts named above; it is not legal or immigration advice and is not published by the bodies named, and where anything here differs from the official text or from the instructions of the visa office or exit-entry office handling your case, those prevail.

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