Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in New York

The Visa office works very efficiently. However, you have to have all papers ready and correctly filled or no mercy. There is a copy machine inside, but you are better off doing your homework and come prepared
Application with photo
Hotel reservations or
Invitation letter with copy of inviters ID
Flight confirmation
Copy of your passport
.... (your list may differ)
And to the remarks of rudeness -
a) this is a consulate and not a comedy club, you can find yourself in the same situation in any US consulate as a foreigner!
b) our contacts from outside the building to the window inside were all friendly (or at least professional) and helpful. We were actually talked out of using Express service saving us 30 dollars per application (we can wait another day)
c) we might have cultural differences on how to communicate and when to express emotions

We were landing in Hong Kong, meeting extended family and then traveling to mainland China. On all our applications we put our hotel in Hong Kong as the address we would be staying at - we had no idea where our family would be taking us to stay beyond the city names. Well, we soon found out that, for Visa purposes, Hong Kong is not China! We had traveled 3 hours to the consulates so we found an internet cafe, called family, got another letter from them, copies of their ID, back to the consulate , take another ticket and wait another 90 minutes to be called. The whole ordeal took about 4 hours. The people were unwavering with their regulations to the most minute detail. Not impolite, just unwavering.

Went to this consulate with my hand written visa application and was refused. Luckily, I found an internet cafe called Postal Connections located at 200 W. 39th Street, New York, NY 10018. They already had pre-loaded on their computers the Chines visa application form. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I suggest you go there. These guys were very helpful and knowledgeable.

One star is even a reward for it! When I gave my form to the lady, which is at 11th window of second floor, she threw out my paper and blamed me that i didn't have the copy of my stuff. I said I am sorry I don't know i need them, what else do i need to provide. She said “Can't you read the announcement in the conner?” Ok, that's fine! After I provided the copy of my passport and green card, she frowned and yelled at me "Why you didn't make a copy of this page! Why you didn't sign here! " Excuse me! Why didn't ya tell me early! And everytime I asked her what else I need to do, she never give me a direct answer. She always tried to blame me because I look like a kid(I guess, cuz she treated others much more better) I really want to tell her "I don't think you would die if you told me what I should do! If we should know everything, you ain't get your job. If you really hate your job, just go back home! " Worst experience in America! Hope you guys won't meet her here.

When I read these reviews prior to going here, I was afraid. Afraid of the nightmare this could have very well been.

None of that happened.

My friend and I applied for a tourist visa. Number one mistake people do; bringing their visa applications HANDWRITTEN. NO! Don't do that! All capital letters on the visa application. For a tourist visa, I brought the following...

Itinerary / tour invoice
Copy of passport
Copy of drivers license
Passport sized photos
Visa application typed entirely in capital letters, with any non applicable space filled with a capital N/A.

You grab a ticket and wait, but if you do the above correctly, processing the paperwork takes about five minutes.

The woman who waited on us was nice as well.