In recent years,biometric visas have rapidly gained popularity throughout the world, and more and more countries have successively developed and implemented biometric visas. With reference to international practices and proven experience, according to the notification from the Consulate-General of the P. R. China, starting from December 4, 2017, the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Gothenburg (hereinafter referred to as “Visa Application Center”) will collect fingerprints from all Chinese visa applicants in the consular districts on behalf of the Chinese Consulate. Applicants must attend the Visa Application Center in person to lodge their applications and provide fingerprints.The collected fingerprints data will be directly submitted by the Visa Application Center to the Chinese Consulate. Exemptions from the obligation of fingerprinting are provided for the following categories of applicants only:

1, Children under the age of 14 or applicant above 70 years old.

2, Diplomatic passports, Heads of state and their delegations in certain circumstances.

3, The applicant applying for a Chinese visa once again within the next 5 years will not need to be collected the fingerprints again.（It must be collected by the same Application Center with the same passport）

4, Persons for whom the collection of fingerprints is physically impossible.

Meanwhile, the way of charging fees will be changed to the pre-paid mode. That is the applicants need to make the payments of the visa fees and service fees on site right after they lodge their applications. Then the visa applications will be able to enter into the subsequent visa assessment procedures.

To provide more quality services to applicants and facilitate the submission of visa applications, starting from November 28，2017, Visa Application Center will launch the new version of the website and add online form filling services.

All applicants who lodge their visa applications to the Visa Application Center must complete the visa application forms online through the "Online Form Filling" module of the new website in advance. After completing the online application form, the applicant should print out the visa application form from the website and sign it bringing together with other related visa application materials to the Visa Application Center to lodge the application.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Gothenburg

November 27, 2017