New Visa Passback System

As a further public service improvement, the Consular Section of the US Consulate in Shanghai is pleased to announce a New China Post Visa passback system for the convenience of visa applicants. This new passback system will allow us to streamline our processing, eliminate inconvenient aspects of the visa application process, and allow us to focus on providing more appointment times for non-immigrant visa applications. 

Effective September 2, 2008, ALL applicants for a US Non-Immigrant Visa at the US Consulate in Shanghai will have to submit a completed NEW mailing address label with their applications.  New labels will be supplied to all applicants while in the waiting room.  The new mailing labels are provided free-of-charge.

The new procedure is a “CASH ON DELIVERY” system.  Successful visa applicants will receive their passports with visas via the address they write on the mailing label (example here).  They will then pay the 50 RMB delivery fee at the time of pickup of their passport at the delivery address.  Applicants can complete the mailing label to choose pickup at the China Post Office on JuLu Lu OR home/business delivery within the Shanghai Consular District (Shanghai, JiangSu, ZheJiang, Anhui).  For the fastest service, we suggest self pickup at the China Post location at 915 JuLu Lu, in Shanghai.

Successful US non-immigrant visa applicants traveling on Service or Public Affairs passports will continue to receive their passports and visas from their respective Foreign Affairs Office.   Frequent Traveler visa renewals using CITIC Bank (http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/drop_box.html), and American Chamber of Commerce applicants will pre-pay their passback costs at the time they submit their applications.   Participants in these special programs will not need to pay upon delivery of their passports and visas.

Applicants will be provided with a copy of their completed mailing label, and can use the shipment number to track the progress of their passport online at the China Post EMS website (ENGLISH:  http://www.ems.com.cn/english-main.jsp), (CHINESE: http://www.ems.com.cn/).