A new two-year visit visa for Chinese nationals will be launched on Monday, 11 January.

The new visa will cost £85, the same as our existing 6 month visitor visa, and will enable visitors to make multiple trips to the United Kingdom for a longer period.

The government of China will make the same offer available to British citizens.

The new arrangement provides eligible Chinese customers with a better deal than the standard Schengen visitor visa, which is limited to a maximum 90 days.

Next week's launch follows the Prime Minister's announcement of the pilot, during the state visit of President Xi to the UK in October 2015.

The two-year visitor visa will be available for the purposes of tourism, business, to attend conferences or to investigate setting up a business.

Applicants will still need to undergo the same robust checks before a visa is granted, with Chinese visitors required to submit an online application and biometrics.

The new visa arrangements will be more convenient as there is also a plan to extend the UK's mobile fingerprinting service, which captures the biometrics needed for applications, from nine to 50 Chinese cities.

Chinese tourists currently contribute £500m annually to the UK economy with record numbers visiting the UK to make the most of all the retail opportunities and visitor attractions on offer. The extension of the visitor visa will enable them to maximize their spending power even further.

Increasing numbers of British citizens are visiting China and will now benefit from these same arrangements, with the Chinese reducing their two-year visitor visa fee to the equivalent of £85 (an additional service fee will still be charged) and, for the first time, matching the UK's offer of a 10-year visitor visa.

In the year ending September 2015, the UK issued 484,065 visas in China, a 20% increase on the previous year, of which 404,084 were visit visas - a 22% increase.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said:

"The launch of this new visa enhances our excellent visa service by offering better value for money and more flexible travel for Chinese visitors, while ensuring that the UK border is protected.

"The number of Chinese visitors to the UK is rising year on year and this visa will allow Chinese visitors to further take advantage of the opportunities the UK has to offer for both tourism and business purposes."

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