I was lucky. The LA Consulate procedure wasn't too bad and I managed to get mine in a day. They accepted MC & Visa. Get there on time. Of course there was that bit about driving 2.5 hours each way in LA traffic and a cost of 170 USD. On Mar 25, 2013, at 9:58 AM, "Chris Chaplow" <chris@andalucia.com<mailto:chris@andalucia.com>> wrote: Dear Members, After a delay in getting a host letter I could not rely on post and went to the Chinese Embassy in Madrid (Spain) last week in person. Despite the information on the website. The ‘urgent’ one or two day special service has been discontinued. The fastest turn round route available was one week. So I need to send somebody to collect mine tomorrow. (1,200 km round trip) I assume every by now has their visa for Beijing, but if not - don’t rely on the ‘urgent’ service. Best, Chris Chaplow Managing Director Andalucia.com<http://Andalucia.com> S.L. Avenida del Carmen 9 Ed. Puertosol, Puerto Deportivo 1ª Planta, Oficina 30 Estepona, 29680 Malaga, Spain Tel: + (34) 952 897 865 Fax: + (34) 952 897 874 E-mail: chris@andalucia.com<mailto:chris@andalucia.com> Web: www.andalucia.com<http://www.andalucia.com/> Information about Andalucia, Spain.