There are two major Gateways for an international visitor to get to Tibet. One is by coming to Tibet from Nepal and coming to Tibet from other parts of China. In these two situations, the Tibet Travel Permit situation and Chinese Visa situation are completely different. Please read this post well before making your plan to travel to Tibet.

The following details are from my decades of experience in organizing tours for International Visitors. The tourism Rules and regulation could change and if it does I will update this post as soon as possible. If you are planning your trip to Tibet. You can contact me on woaber@nomadictibet.com for regular updates and Tibet travel consultation. I don’t charge the consultation fees.

Getting to Tibet from China is more convenient and easier as compared to coming to Tibet from Nepal. You will have more options on the mode of transportation; Flights, trains and Overland Drive to Lhasa. It’s hence more convenient and economical for the budget travellers.

But here you will have to keep in Mind of the few things, which is very important.

Chinese Visa If you are coming to Tibet from the Other parts of China. You will have to get the Chinese Visa from the Chinese Embassy in our country. Sometimes it might prove to be hard to get Chinese Visa. The Embassy would require your hotel booking and flights details to issue your Chinese Visa. In this case, any travel agent in Lhasa can send you a visa invitation from Tibet tourism administration. For a group with the Visa invitation from Tibet, They will issue you a group Visa on two paper. It contains the name list of Travelers in the Group. All the group members have to enter and leave China at the same time from the same location. If your plan is to leave or enter differently, Visa invitation has to be separated. One copy will be taken at the entrance and others will be taken upon your depart from China. Please be extremely careful about your paper Visa while in Tibet or China. For Individual Travelers Chinese Visa will be issued in your passport. Yet Visa invitation can be sent from Tibet. Generally, Chinese Visa from Tourist is L category Visa. So if your Visa is not the L category, You will have to submit a supporting document from your host in China. This supporting document must state your propose of visit, your name, and passport number. If you are visiting your Chinese spouse, you will have to submit their ID card and your marriage certificate.

Travel Permit For all the travellers visiting Tibet from other parts of China. You will have to submit your valid passport and Chinese Visa for Tibet travel permit. All the travel agency in Lhasa can start making your permit only with your passport. But will need your Visa to complete the permit process. Your Passport must be the Passport on which you will apply for the Chinese Visa. If you already have your Visa on old passport, you will have to submit both passports. Remember you will also have to bring the passport to China. Generally, It will have about 15 to 20 days from the Permit to be completed. With New online permit application system, it will take a shorter time to complete your permit. Yet some window period is always great to complete it at the right time. Permit situation for Flights to Lhasa If you are coming to Tibet on a flight from other cities in China. You will need the original Tibet travel permit in hand to board the flight to Tibet. We can send it to your Hotel in China or deliver it at the airport while transiting your flight. It is best to transit your Lhasa flight in Chengdu. As it is more convenient for all the travel agency in Lhasa to send and arrange some on to deliver the permit at the airport. Permit situation for Train to Lhasa If you are coming to train to Tibet. You will need the copy of the Permit at the train station. Travel agencies can send the scanned copy in your email. But please make sure your email works in China, Gmail doesn’t work in China. Give your alternative emails address to your travel agency to send you a copy. Yet if you are taking the train from Chongqing to Lhasa, you will need the original Tibet travel permit in your hand at the Chongqing train station hance permit has to be sent to your hotel. Permit situation for Overland Drive to Lhasa f you are coming to Tibet by driving overland from other provinces of China. You will have to have a Tibet tour guide and the original permit on hand while entering into Tibet. Besides these two you will need to make lots of other documents in China for your vehicle, and your driving license in China. We will make a post about it in the future.