Tibet Travel Permit and Visa

Visa & Permits for traveling Tibet/ Kailash 

Enter Tibet from Mainland China: - Foreign travelers, who want to visit Tibet through China, need a Chinese visa in their passport and a Tibet traveler permit. To enter Tibet from any part of mainland China except Hong Kong and Macao, a Chinese visa is necessary. Your Chinese visa should be in your passport while applying for a Tibetan permit. Touch Kailash Travels and tour need scan passport copy and a Chinese visa scan copy for processing. Chinese visa is best to obtain in your home country. Entering Tibet from Nepal is a different process.

Please note: While entering China it is best to have a visa covering the expected duration of stay. Getting extensions inside China can involve delays and other difficulties. You need to apply for a double- or multiple-entry visa when you need to leave and re-enter mainland China. Please note that, even when you leave for Hong Kong or Macao from mainland China, you still need to have double or multiple entry visas.

Travel to Tibet through Nepal: - If you make entry into Tibet from Kathmandu, Nepal, you do not need any Chinese visa but you need a Tibetan permit which will be issued by the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. The Tibetan visa you get in Kathmandu is a "group visa". A "group visa" is not entered in travelers passports but is a separate sheet of paper issued in duplicate by the Chinese consulate in Kathmandu, listing all members of the group. It usually allows a stay up to your package days or depends on the situation of the Chinese immigration policy. A "group" may be any number of travelers, and maybe just one traveler. One or more travelers entering Tibet together with others may wish to have their own separate group visa so they are able to separate from the others. Obtaining a group visa requires at least two days in Kathmandu and all the procedure is by Touch Kailash Travels and Tours which is included in your Tibet Tour package.

Tibet Permit / Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB) Permit

Tibet Tourism Bureau (TTB) Permits are necessary to make entry to Lhasa or any other part of the Tibetan Autonomous Region and are obtainable through Touch Kailash Travels & Tours as part of the arrangement for secure travel. You just need to send your passport copy by scan.

Who can get Tibet Travel Permit and who can’t

Everyone can get Tibet Permit through a travel agency except diplomats, journalists, and government (who are holding official passports) officials who should travel to Tibet under the arrangement by the Foreign Affairs Office of the Tibet Government. Travelers are also allowed to enter Mainland China with a Tibet permit but immediately have to apply for a Chinese new visa from Chinese immigration.

These are required to visit closed areas - much of the Tibetan Autonomous Region outside the Lhasa prefecture-level district, and scattered counties elsewhere. They are usually only obtainable through tour operators, for tours by four-wheel-drive cars. Permits to visit places that are not declared open are known as Aliens Travel Permits, or PSBs. They are issued by the police (Public Security Bureau, "PSB"). A single permit is normally issued to all the people who are traveling together, the permit naming just one of them and stating how many others are accompanying him; the passports, or at least photocopies of passports and visas, of all persons traveling, must be presented in order to obtain a permit.

Note:

Generally, it takes 1 week to get the Tibet permit after you supply the full necessary documents. After having a permit from TTB, Touch Kailash Travel could buy you air tickets and manage package tours to Tibet.

The following details of the travelers are required for the Permit:

Name, Nationality, Passport number, Sex, Date of Birth, and Occupation details for the Indian passport holder 
Passport scan copy for other than Indian passport holder

Only the guide could hold the permit after you arrive in Tibet. You are not allowed to bring with it you and travel to anywhere you want because except Lhasa you need another permit named an "Aliens Permit". Otherwise, if you are stopped by the police you will be sent out of Tibet or have trouble politically and economically. Furthermore, the travel agency which helped to get you the permit will also be in trouble.