Registering with the Mongolian Office of Immigration

Those holding US passports are allowed to stay visa-free in the country for 90 days.  However, if you want to stay past 30 days, as we did, you have to register with the Mongolian Office of Immigration within 7 days of entering Mongolia.  If you stay past 30 days and DON’T register, then they’ll be happy to take your money in the form of fines. 

The lady in charge of our guesthouse was super helpful, showing us how to get to the office by bus (only 400 MNT per person, compared to the 25,000 MNT charged by the taxi for the same distance). We made our way to the bus stop armed with everything we needed to register: passports, money, extra passport photos (why it’s so important to bring some along), and the address & phone number of our guesthouse.  We peeled our eyes waiting for Bus 11 to show up.  This seems like a simple task, but it truly isn’t.  Mongolian busses are an impatient bunch.  They pull up to the stop, disgorging a load of people from the front, and letting in a crowd of people from the back door.  Then, they take off, no waiting.  If there’s already a bus at the stop, they park behind or pull up in front, so we end up running back and forth about a half block trying to see the numbers displayed on the front or side before they take off again.  Once we managed to get on the right bus, we hand our money to a uniformed woman who gives us any change we need plus ripped paper tickets.  We also showed her the address, written for us in Mongolian by our guesthouse host for the stop right before the airport (I’ll update with it when I locate it in the detritus of my luggage), and she nodded, indicating she would let us know when we were near.  If you want a seat on the bus, your butt has to have lightning-fast speed, aiming straight for any openings.  If you’re too slow, like Rick was, an old lady will just push you out of the way. 

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China: Going 72-hour Visa-Free

We added China to our itinerary at the spur of the moment when I stumbled upon an opportunity that had become available starting January 2013.  According to the new regulations, people holding certain country passports (the US being one of them) could enter Beijing, China visa-free as long as the following rules were followed:

1. You must hold the right country’s passport
2. You must FLY into and out of the main airport in Beijing, China.  No trains.  No other airports.  Though, I believe you can also fly into and out of Shanghai (but double-check for yourself). 
3. You must stay ONLY in the Beijing city limits for the entirety of your trip to China.
4. You must have an onward flight ticket out of China before you even board your flight to China that takes off in 72 hours or less from the minute you arrive. 
5. You must already have an address you’re staying at in China. 

A lot of tour companies have 72-hours or less itineraries, which I recommend researching because, from experience, it’s tough to navigate around China in such a short window of time and still be able to see the major sights.  We booked a private tour through Tour-Beijing which was convenient for us.  Keep in mind, though, that if you book a tour, expect to be taken to many "educational" factories in which the guides expect you to purchase something at the end (they receive commission) and to pay both the driver & guide a tip at the end. 

When we checked into our flight to China in Thailand, we made sure to tell the girl at the counter that this is for a 72-hour visa.  She made sure all our information was correct and in order, and transmitted the information to China immigration.  When we arrived in China, we’re supposed to go to a special 72-hour visa-free line.  However, we were the last people off of a flight that arrived at 11pm, so, instead, we were met by a very confused Passport Control official.  When he finally understood that we were here using the 72-hour visa-free opportunity, he double-checked all our information again.  However, everything checked out, and we were soon on our way. 

If you take advantage of this, let me know and we’ll compare experiences. 

You can find more information here or just by Googling.