Andrew’s Travel Blog - China 2008

Before we went to Tibet i did a huge amount of research, talking to people, reading the web, calling agencies etc… And seeing as im already getting hits to the blog from people googling “Tibet Permit” I thought I’d write a quick rundown for anyone thinking of going. Bear in mind that things could have changed since I wrote this!

1) All over the place you hear people saying “since they introduced the new rules for Tibet…”. There are actually no new rules. The whole permit procedure, rules and restrictions apply now as they ALWAYS have. All they are changing is how strongly they enforce them.

2) A permit is issued to a group, not a single person. You will hear people mentioning a “group of one person”. This was possible when the rules were more relaxed, but no more.

3) The rules state that your group must take an arranged tour with a licensed official tour agency and have a guide dedicated to your tour for the duration of your stay in the region.

4) The rules state that a permit is issued on condition of a specific itinerary, which must be produced and finalised by your TOUR AGENCY before the permit is even applied for. You must then stick to this. Changes can be made through the agency, who will then get the changes approved and your permit amended.

5) You cannot leave Lhasa without your guide, and when you do leave Lhasa you can only go to places approved and on your permit.

6) The rules state you must always have your permit available for inspection, and your permit must always be carried by your guide… So you have to always be with your guide in public.

7) Agencies will often tell you that foreigners can only stay in certain Hotels. This is NOT TRUE. We unfortunately didn’t discover this until we were in Tibet, and after we had paid the agency for these unnecessary expensive hotels.

So if the rules have always been the same, how did people swing it back in the day? The agency you use, say in Chengdu, would draw up a believable simple itinerary for the number of days you want to stay in the region. This would be sent with your permit application. When the permit is issued you can go to Tibet. Your given the phone number of your “guide”. You go to Tibet and do as you wish. Whenever you check into a hotel they will need to see your permit which they will expect to be handed to them by your guide. So you call your “guide” and he pops along, produces your permit, then goes home again. When you leave Lhasa you take a photocopy of your permit, any authorities you run into simply want to check you have been issued a permit, they turn a blind eye to the missing guide and that your itinerary more than likely doesn’t match what you’re doing.

So what do I recommend?

If you just want to see Lhasa, try and find an agency that will still do the old trick. Foreigners can wander round Lhasa trouble free. You can enter all the Temples, even the Palace, no one checks any permits. You can even find hotels that “forget” to check your permit. The only time you are likely to need the permit is at the airport on the way to Lhasa, and your agency should give you that. Anyone can fly out of Lhasa without a single document checked, so no worries about leaving.

If you want to see anything outside Lhasa, you will HAVE TO go down the official route with a guide. You will have to arrange this before you go, and unfortunately have to have the guide all through Lhasa as well.

Another option, which i don’t recommend because if it goes wrong, you potentially could never be let into China again. We actually met a French girl in Lhasa who didn’t have a permit. She had somehow managed to slip through security at Kunming airport. This amazes me, our permit was checked more than our passports at Chengdu. Once in Tibet she of course had no problem seeing everything round Lhasa. She found the hotel next to the Tashi 2 cafe (found in Lonely Planet) didn’t check permits. She said she was planning to try and go to Shigatse, I have no idea if she made it, but it’s very unlikely.

I could write a lot more detail and provide pdfs etc that ive gathered in research but im not going to post it all up here. If anyone wants more info please comment on here, email me or whatever. Bear in mind things could have changed since we went in August 2008.

Good Luck!