Most frustrating experience of the trip.
Below is an account of my experiences with the Chinese Embassy in UB Mongolia. It may come off as a rant, but anyone who goes to Mongolia and has to work with this Embassy ought to be warned. Before heading over to get my visa I was somewhat worried about dealing with them as I read a user's post on Travel China Guide:
Stay away from this Embassy for getting Chinese visa if possible. People who work there are very unfriendly and non-cooperative.
I consider myself relatively patient and didn't think there would be much of a problem... maybe this was just a bad experience. Anyways...We went to the Chinese Embassy in UB, Mongolia 3 times in 3 days. They are open every other day (Mon, Wed, Friday) from 9 - 12 am. There is one person who collects forms, and one person who gives the passports back with Chinese visas. Our first time in the office we stood in line for 20 minutes before seeing a post on the wall saying that in order to get a tourist visa for China you need three things (make sure you have them):
1) Ticket showing your departure
2) Place where you intend to stay while there
3) Proof of financial stability
We left the office and went to a nearby Internet cafe and printed off the first two, not bothering to consider the third one because no one could tell us what it was.
We returned to the office at 10:30, stood in line for half an hour. A few people furiously stomped away as the officials told them that they had 'insufficient information'. The person in front of me was turned down for 'insufficient information' and the employee behind the counter disappeared - not saying anything - for half and hour. As time drew closer to closing we became anxious. Eventually the official came back and we were helped being told we also needed to show our ticket into China. They would not accept "we're taking a jeep" which is how we crossed into Mongolia.
We left the embassy, having to spend two more days in UB rather than being able to head out to the countryside. We had to buy an expensive ticket through a travel agency which showed exactly how we would cross the boarder.
We returned to the embassy on Friday at opening with all the information hoping that we would be able to sort everything out at least by noon. While waiting in line the guy collecting forms left again unexpectedly, thankfully returning after only 10 minutes. We laboriously talked him into accepting our forms finally it sounds like things will work out... We go to pick it up this Friday.
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