Quick and efficient process. Came here on a Thursday morning around 9:30am, and the whole process took around 20mins for two people (a couple). You take a ticket number and wait to be called. It took about 5mins to be called up. They check all your documents and application to make sure you have everything. If someone else booked the hotel for you, there's a spot to note the name of the person and relation to you. They point that out for you. We got our fingers prints scanned and they took a picture of us. And that was it! They told us we can pick up our passports about 3 days later 9am-4pm. Just make sure there isn't a Chinese holiday when you go. Alternatively, you can pay just over $30 to pay for them to ship. The price is per person, even if more than one passport will be mailed together. The site is pretty confusing, but you pretty much just need the following for tourism, multiple entry application: - passport photo in the measurements on the site (48mm x 33mm). We got both printed and digital in case the digital upload wasn't accepted - original passport and photocopy of passport data page - completed application form and sign/date where applicable - flight confirmation - hotel confirmation (just need one) - Copy of old visa/passport associated with visa, if applicable. If you don't have, they said it's okay but double check by emailing them. It cost $137.15/pp to process the application, which you can pay by debit or e-transfer. Limited street parking is available in front of the building for about $6.75/hr. Any questions about the application, better to email as no one answers the phone. They're pretty quick to respond to email. The visa will only be valid until the expiry of your passport. read more

- If you need anything photocopied , do it before hand unless you want to pay 50 cents per page, it adds up. I'd recommend photocopying your passport, any documents , invitation letter for Chinese visa - plan ahead ( time and parking wise) Your appointment just means your ticket into the place, doesn't necessarily mean you'll be finished within the hour of your appt. I was there for 3 hours - I wouldn't bother coming here at all, lack of mannerism and lack of clarity on their website to get things right on the first time GO TO A CHINESE TRAVEL AGENCY to do your Chinese visa . You are not saving much if you count the parking plus time you spend at this place , also Chinese travel agency does it much quicker and less hassle - cash and debit only read more

I will be heading for my third visit, and hopefully i can finally get this done. It would be so great if there was a simple list of requirements instead of having requirements scattered on the website. Even WITH reading people's reviews, i met the average 3 trip visit to this visa center. So much wasted time. =P 1. Make an appointment. 2. Have photocopies of everything. One set for each applicant. So if you have a family of 4, have 4 sets of everything. Including copies of your passports, flight itineraries, hotel bookings/letter of invitation with resident ID. 3. If you're travelling with kids, you need copies of their LONG birth certificates, as well as a photocopy of both parent's passports (on one page). The staff are fine and their system is pretty efficient. It's just the requirements that are not clear. read more

Thankfully my experience wasn't as horrifying for me as it was compared to others. We weren't greeted by the rude receptionist guy that everyone complained about - instead, we were greeted by a stern female receptionist. She definitely wasn't very happy with her job but she was pretty helpful when we had to fix the first page of our application. Like others before, we had to fix some minor errors on their computers (which aren't the best by the way. Printing took a while too.) We ended up missing our appointment as a result of making minor errors in the first page and waiting for the applications to print. Tbh I don't think booking an appointment does much at all - it's just your ticket into the centre, not your actual service time. By the time we've made it through Round 2 (getting your photo taken), we had to wait for Round 3. Round 3 was a complete letdown - we were told that the invitation letter from my aunt was "too simple"...they could've told us that back when they first checked our application to avoid all of that waiting time!! We wasted 2 hours being here... We came back a week later - new *detailed* invitation and everything. Finally dropped off our applications in 30 min this time. There were minor errors but they were on the latter parts of application. We were able to override those mistakes via pen and initials. We were given confirmation receipts for pick ups for the following week. We picked up our visas the week after. Pick up was easy - you simply line up, show them your confirmation receipts and that's it. My advice is to make sure that your first page is correct to the T and to make sure that whoever is writing your invitation letter adds enough detail to their letters (like duration of stay, passport numbers, birth dates, etc.). You can end up here for hours and they'll tell you that you're missing something and you'll have to do the applications all over again. They should seriously just check the first page, passport, backup documents and invitation letters in one go first, then the rest of the process later on so that people won't have to waste their time here. read more

I hope their phone service get better in the future. Maybe hire more people to work. Let customers wait on the line for an hour is not a good experience. read more

Chinese Visa Application Service - I have been on hold for over 50 min on the phone. :( - Embassy Near Me - Toronto, Ontario

What can I say? They get it done. My advice? Prepare all your documents in advance (they need to know where EXACTLY you are going, where EXACTLY you are staying, and how you are getting there.) Make an appointment. Tell them you made an appointment. (When I went there they didn't ask and put me in the non-appointment line up which took much longer.) Give yourself enough time. You're handing over your passport for a week. Don't push your luck with your timelines. Then, get your passport back, and head over to China! read more

Smooth sailing all the way. Found the staff to be professional and was done in less than 20 minutes. A word of caution from what I noticed with regard to a few customers; if you haven't got the documents they need, its probably going to delay your visit as they follow the rules down to the letter. Document checklist http://toronto.china-consulate.org/eng/vp/VISA/t1071041.htm read more

I don't get why they constantly change the application form without updating the version they post online for general public. Although you get the chance to retype the form at one of their service computers, it's still wasting everyone's time having to redo it once you are there. In general, the lineup is a lot shorter. This place is more spacious and comfortable. Please be more diligent in updating the consulate website with the address change for visa application and having the correct form for download. read more

Compared to the old way of having to go to the Consulate and waiting in line for hours, standing room only no less, the Chinese Visa Application Centre offers a more efficient and comfortable experience. As soon as you enter the suite, the person at the "reception desk" gives you a number based on whether you'd made an appointment online in advance or not, and briefly reviews your documents. Then you sit in the waiting area until your number is called up. Just allow yourself enough time for the trip, sit back and relax. The counter person who handled my application was friendly and efficient, no complaint. Compared to my experiences of getting visas for other countries, this is fairly painless. read more

it is hard to make a appointment from its website in Toronto office, it has 5 different locations in Canada, and when I check other 4 different locations like Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver and even Montreal , they all have lots of vacancies from April to June, I wonder why people living in Ontario can only choose Toronto office but not in other offices, this is really making lots of people unable to make an appointment read more

I recommend having a photocopy of all your documents just in case ... went in with all the documents they listed on their website, paid for parking and then to have the lady tell me I'm missing some other irrelevant documents that they just want a copy of .. I asked her why does she need it if the websites checklist did not mention it at all. She goes yup the website is wrong (great to know) and pulls out another checklist that u can only get from the front desk. read more

Navigating the website is somewhat difficult and as others have said their documentation requirements are not all in one place or clear. Yes there is one page that lists several documents that you need but peppered throughout the site are other requirements and then there are some items they never mention at all until you get here. For items not listed but sometimes requested: Airline ticket itinerary (not asked for by 1st person but requested by 2nd), Hotel reservation (not asked for by either of the people working with me but asked for of the person who was sitting beside me for quite a while), Original long form of work visa (asked for by first person but not the 2nd). Original long form birth certificates for minor children (as noted in other reviews some people were asked for this while others were not). You will also probably have no idea how much this process will cost you until your paperwork gets accepted and NOTE ... this is VERY IMPORTANT... they only take CASH or DEBIT CARDS. Wait, wait,wait. The site says you have to have an appointment but it seems if you want to pay for Express processing you can just walk in & jump the queue pushing back people who have appointments. I had an appointment but they say come in at least 20min before that time...that is so you can wait in line to see the receptionist who checks your documents & gives you a number that they will eventually call sometime AFTER your appointment time. Wait time to see the receptionist can vary. First time here I waited in line for 45min, second time only 15min but then there was a 2HOUR wait to see an actual application clerk (this may have been due to the fact that only 3 then 2 of the 16 desks were actually open). Come prepared with a laptop, book, a meal or two. I unfortunately thought the 1hr window they gave me meant I would be here for an hour. Also not really sure if you have to wait for your number to be called because people keep running up to the window after the current applicant left & a new number was called & they were all served. Copy EVERYTHING and have change. If you need to copy something they will charge you $0.50 per page and they dont have change. There is a place downstairs that will copy for you at more reasonable rates according to another person being held hostage in their waiting room. Pick up seems to go quickly with your being able to cut the receptionist line & they had 2 P/U windows open the whole 2hrs I had to wait there. All on all a painful process & I still have at least 1 visit to go read more

Don't go to the embassy at 240 St. George. 393 University is their new location. I learned that the hard way. I'm applying for a work visa in China. Have a copy of your invitation letter and work permit ready with original copies. Make an appointment before arriving. It will save you time. Don't just walk in. You'll be waiting a long time. read more

I sort of expected this to be about as fun as a tooth extraction but it was relatively painless. The most painful part was the online application process. Staff was efficient and the visa officer was quite nice speaking frankly about the issues with my application to give me a reasonable idea of the likelihood of success. The lady at the front desk does her best to triage the situation of all these ppl with different situations and requests. There is a bit of queue jumping, some of it seemingly legitimate some less so. You'd better get used to it if you're going to China in any case ! Make sure your hotel and flight bookings clearly state your name ( if they are in the name of your travel companion they will just ask you to write an explanation on the form and initial it). Also make sure that your passport is in good condition, I.e. No water marks or creases from that time you were inner-tubing in Laos with p-port in back pocket ! The morning I went it was relatively empty. Once ducks were lined up, I waited no longer than 2 mins to see the visa officer. TIPS: Once you have all your docs: hotel, flight info, passport and a PDF of your form which you fill out online, go straight to the staples on the street level of the same complex : pop your credit card in one of the computer terminals print it off and get your p-port photo done all in one go! Now that's truly painless. read more

Man at the front desk is quiet rude and frustrating . Not too helpful and yells for no reason. Talks like he's shouting at you in front of everyone . Had all my documents but my photo was too small. Instead of kindly telling me there is a photobooth inside the same room we are in for 10$. The man has to shout at me in front of the whole line and say "no no pictures too small. They won't accept this." Only when I get to the counter the nice lady says just retake the picture there for 10$ or go downstairs to staples. Other than that all was fine. Only waited 10 mins with the appt. Other than front desk guy, all was ok. Like how dumb and rude can some people be ??? "Power trip" and when I asked him if I can come at any time to collect my passport he has to shout and sound frustrated like that's the dumbest thing he's ever been asked . Can collect it any time during their opening hours 9-4. What a douche Parking on university st for 4$/hr. I was in and out in half hour read more

I would give this place no stars if that was an option. The previous reviews are really out dated because the service just keeps going down hill year after year. I visit China almost every year and never had a near positive experience at this place. To sum it up, the people who work here do not care at all about you and your precious time and will not give you consistent information on what exactly they need. You either come prepared to the teeth, or chances are you're going to have to make multiple trips. Originally you could fill forms out by hand, however, they decided to change that on Jan, 2014, except they did not put a notice up on their website. You show up with a hand filled form, you have to redo everything on the computers provided and pay to print the forms out. Finally after all that's sorted, you're looking at about a 2-4 hour wait to actually get called up to the counter. Now my recent experience here was even more frustrating. Due to the large volume of people, they will no longer take walk ins, and you have to book an appointment online to drop your forms in. That's seems reasonable however, there was no option to book an appointment if you needed urgent service. Appointments were filled two weeks into the next month and my ticket was way before that. I called in and they said if Im paying for the express or urgent service, I don't need an appointment, and could just walk-in so that's what I did. I arrived at 9:30 am (30min after they open) and got a number, what they didn't tell me was that they'd have to service every single person with an appointment first, and maybe if a spot opened, they would squeeze me in for the urgent service I paid extra for. Instead of telling me to just come at the end of the day, I ended up waiting there from 9:30 am - 4:30pm. In addition to the long wait for a rushed service, the person at front desk gave us complete different information than the person at the counter, and messed up the type of visa I requested. My forms were filled correctly, I wanted a visa with multiple entries and told them just that. They asked me to change a few things on my form and I did what they had asked and didn't think twice about it. When I came back to pick up my passport, they gave me the wrong type of visa. Instead of multiple entries, it was a single entry... After investigating, the information they made me change affected the type of visa I wanted. I made it clear to them I wanted multiple entries and after their instructions, I ended up paying 200 bucks for the wrong type of visa. It sucks that there's no way around this wretched place if you need a visa to China but here's a few tips after multiple horrible encounters: 1. Plan ahead! Book an appointment way before you need the actual visa. If it's an emergency get there before the doors open, you have a way better chance to squeeze in and get everything done before anyone shows up for their appointments. 2. Read absolutely everything on the documents they require. They're very picky about them and will give you shit for the tiniest details and won't think twice about sending you back. 3. Confirm with them after submitting your forms on the type of visa you want to get. Three important things to double check with them: How long you plan on staying, how many entries, and the length of which the visa is effective. Hope all that helps and may the odds be ever in your favour. read more

I wish I could give this place negative stars. Staff are extremely unhelpful and unfriendly, the printer and photo booth are almost always faulty. I tried to print a form from my USB and put in $1 into the machine but it did not work. I went over to ask the staff for assistance and they told me to 'go downstairs to Staples' to print it. Nobody here cares!!! read more

Honestly, I'd like to think of myself as the well prepared type, especially when it comes to dealing with government related processes/applications. I went over all that I needed to bring, made sure photo is the right size (china visas require an odd size that places like costco no longer take), followed instructions on their website line by line. Booked my appointment around 2 weeks in advance, walk in with everything and was immediately rudely greeted by the guy at the front desk. Of course, Chinese places in general usually don't give a crap about customer service, which is whatever because I'm used to all that as long as I get what I need. The guy gives me a number and I wait. Side story, while I wait, all I hear are customers at the counter trying desperately to explain their situations and clerks telling them sorry you need to go home and bring back this and that. And I noticed that, and I hope I am just over thinking it, but the foreigners who apply have a much more difficult time. The clerks ask a lot of specific questions about why they're going and why they need to stay so long and extra documentation. I actually heard quite a lot of yelling during my 2 trips (yes 2...) down there. Anyway, let me just say, they make it incredibly difficult to get your visa on the first try. In fact, I feel like they find every reason to reject and send you home. I brought my passport, previous chinese passport, and all forms/scanned documents/invitation letter, etc. I did not read anywhere in the English website that I had to bring my citizenship card so I didn't. As expected, they called me out on it and was told to bring back original citizenship card, a copy, and to re-photocopy my passports so that both passports are on same page (super picky). Reason I gave 2 stars instead one 1 (which I kind of wanted to) is because for ppl like me who are just missing a single piece of documentation, they give you the opportunity to come back next day without having to rebook an appointment. But still, I work full time uptown and it is not fun to take 2 afternoons off to make two trips downtown. Their opening hours could definitely be more flexible, but I guess this is their way of controlling the amount of people entering China. Second day, brought everything I needed plus more ID's because I got paranoid. Rudely greeted by the same dumb guy. I walk in and he's the one that is in charge of checking over your docs before giving you a number so I walk up, took out all my papers and passports and he stares at me and says "what do you want" in Chinese, which has a ruder effect. Grabbed my number and waited 40minutes or so. Overheard more yelling and complaining from others and this time, I was successful. On my way out, really wanted to spit at the guy :( Moral of the story, bring everything you think you may possibly need so you do not give them any reason to send you home. read more

The staff there are very nice, if you have all the documents(list in their web site)they asked for, it's very quick, good experience.

I was at the visa office today with applications for my son and I. The person at the front counter was a bit abrupt but she was clear that I needed a photocopy of the front of my passport (which I did not read I had to bring) plus a second copy of the details of our tour as we had two visa applications. I brought the airline tickets for each of us and had everything else. I thought that since I was bringing in both visa application forms together that they would be processed together, so only one flyer of our trip would be necessary. Anyway, I went down to Staples and copied the documents needed (long wait there). When I returned, everything went smoothly and I was in and out within 15 minutes. Everything was easy once you have all the correct documents. read more

Have to wait a week for an appointment. Hard to read the verification letters and numbers. Was spoken to in a loud voice by a staff member, for asking questions. read more

If you make an appointment ahead of time and ensure you have all the documents they ask for, I find that the visa service is incredibly friendly and efficient. We were in and out in less than 20 minutes, and the visas were ready to pick up just a few days later like clockwork from a smiling clerk (that took all of 2 minutes). Everything was clearly explained, and the office is beautiful, spacious and well organized. read more

I read all the reviews on yelp was so nervous for my application. But I read EVERYTHING on their website, booked a time slot, typed up my tourist application form, brought itinerary and passport and didn't have a problem. I did have to wait little, but that is expected. It took 45 minutes in total. The one thing was that they did demand a photo copy of my passport front page, which I didn't read anywhere, but they have a photocopier there that takes coins.... doesn't say how many though; I put in a dollar. read more

It is Outragious for this place to require appointments and at the same time not to make them available. Since the earliest appointment available is at least 2 weeks away, and it takes another 4 business days to get the visa after the application submission, plus there are two or three weekends in between, you need about 25 days to get the regular service. The alternative is to pay for the expensive urgent service plus long waiting hours. What a sham! read more