Travelling to Finland from China

[SRND]

I have a friend from China who would like to visit Finland but I've been told that acquiring a tourist visa is a little more complicated than what it is for other countries. Is it possible to write an official letter of invitation so that my friend may visit? If this is possible, are there any other documents which are required for such an invitation and how long can one normally get a tourist visa for?

Thanks in advance.

[sy]

Check the web page of the Embassy of Finland in Beijing: http://www.finland.cn/zh/

[Paul_D]

Is it possible to write an official letter of invitation so that my friend may visit?

Not really recommended. Finnish organizations will not write fake invitations, even if you offer them hundreds of euros.

So, your friend can write its own fake invitation-letter, but that's a bad idea too. It could work for getting the authorization from the chinese government to visit Finland, but Finland may refuse to let your friend entering the country if they suspect that the official letter of invitation is a fake, or, even worse, a real invitation letter purchased to a corrupted finnish organisation.

A couple of links, where one can learn that Finland refuses visas acquired for artificial reasons:
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Chines ... 5222973707
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Chines ... 5223183087

A link whose last paragraphs indicate that Finland can grant a private tourist visa to "wealthy" Chinese:
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/COMMEN ... 5223136892

And a discussion about this topic:
bb/viewtopic.php?t=17725

At the last end, it appears that it is the chinese governement that is picky for allowing its citizens to travel. The chinese government pushes its citizens to invent stories for visiting some countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approved_D ... ion_Status
--> but Finland refuses visitors that have invented stories for visiting the country

Why wouldn't you start a revolution in China, in order to get a more liberal government?

/Paul

[sy]

Oh, tell your friend to check the following web site (in Chinese):

http://www.go2eu.com/