Israel, China reach agreement on 10-year visas

What is the change? Israel and China have reached an agreement to provide 10-year, multiple-entry visas to business travelers and tourists from each other’s countries.

What does the change mean? The arrangement, once implemented, is expected to significantly improve visa procedures for Israeli and Chinese nationals traveling to each other’s countries.

• Implementation time frame: Ongoing. The Israeli Knesset approved the agreement last week, but the countries have not begun issuing the new visas and have not announced an implementation date.
• Who is affected:Israeli and Chinese nationals traveling to each other’s countries.
• Impact on processing times: The extended visa validity is expected to ease processing by eliminating the number of visa renewals.
• Business impact: Affected business people who travel regularly between Israel and China will save time and money because they will only have to apply for visas once every 10 years.

Background: The Israeli-Chinese visa agreement follows similar agreements between Canada and China and the U.S. and China. While the change will reduce red tape for business travelers, work activities will not be permitted when traveling on one of the new 10-year visas.

BAL Analysis: The change will facilitate business travel and reduce the inconvenience of having to apply for a visa more frequently. BAL will continue monitoring developments and will update clients when an implementation date is announced or visa issuance begins.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Israel. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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