I'm not married to a Chinese, but now you mention it, we did fly to HK both times and then took the train to Kunming the first time and flew from Shenzhen the second time, so entered PRC overland both times. But we applied for our visas in The Hague and Washington, respectively. Thanks.

I just got new 10 year L Visa from chicago embassy. I had invite letter from Kunming friend and all i needed was a airline itinerary that i printed myself. Asked for 90 day visit but got 60 which seems to be norm now.

Interesting. When you say you printed your itinerary, was it a genuine one? We're planning to teach English (as we've done the previous two times in Kunming) so we'll be getting Z visas once we're hired. That's why we don't want to pay for return tickets, although we'd prefer to fly to Kunming rather than travel overland this time. Maybe we should visit a travel agency in Seattle's Chinatown, haha!

I just bought a ticket from kunming to thailand, saved the email as a pdf, and then cancelled the ticket, no charge.

Cool.

@flyingeggplant I already had ticket coming to Kunming, i made reservation for round trip tickets on KoreanAir for dates of my visa, printed off itinerary and then cancelled reservation.

that's how most do it on an L visa they fly to china (legit) then book a ticket to thailand/HK/other close country and cancel it after they are issued the visa.(just in case they check which is like 0.01% of the time)

do it right and it might only cost you like 20 dollars for the cancellation

I'm on business visa myself got that 2 months ago and got 2years/60 day/multi entry. I got 2 years because my passport will expire if I had a fresh passport I would get 10, (USA,and Canada)

enjoy the psb interview changing from tourist visa.

@ Flyingeggplant. Who told you that you can convert a tourist visa to Z visa in China? It may have been possible years back but is no longer allowed. You are supposed to go back to your home country to apply for it. Though I've heard of some in Shenzhen getting it in Hong Kong if the invitation letter is written the right way.

You can buy just single way, but need to buy another single one from mainland or HK to another country. Check airasia. You might find cheaper just buy single one come here and another "out" ticket to Vietnam or Thailand (for 60-100$, which u probably can cancel afer and get some refund ).