Travel Permit
There are two kinds of permits for traveling in Tibet. The
entry permit (TTB permit) and the Alien's travel
permit (PSB permit).
Himalayan Respo Trek and its Tibet representative
arrange all the necessary permits for your tour.
TTB Permit - Tibet Entry Permit When you fly from
any city to Lhasa you will need to show this permit when
you check in at the airport. Furthermore, whenever you
buy a flight to Lhasa you need to show this permit. TTB
permits are also needed by groups traveling by Land
Cruiser but this will be arranged by the travel agency
organizing the trip.
PSB Permit - Alien's Travel Permit
If you want to go further to the "unopened" areas, you
need an Alien's travel permit issued by PSB of Tibet. It
is called "Alien's Travel Permit" or "PSB permit".
Other Permit - Sensitive border areas such as Mt.
Kailash and eastern Tibet also require a military permit
and a foreign-affairs permit .
For Tholing and Tsaparang in western Tibet your may also
need a permit from the local Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Dungkar in western Tibet requires a permit from the
Zanda Cultural Affairs Bereau.
For remote places such as the Yarlung Tsangpo gorges or the
Bonri Kora in eastern Tibet, or for any border area, you
will need special permits. For this you will need an
agency that has military connections. All these will be
arranged by Himalayan Respo Trek and its Tibet agent.
How to get the travel permits?
Because we are a LOCAL travel agency, it's quite easy
for you to get a travel permit with our help. Simply
send us your
1) full name;
2) gender;
3) date of birth;
4) passport number;
5) nationality
- all exactly the same as on your passport. And you need
to tell us your occupation because journalists and
people that could be involved in political matters could
be revoked (they need more complicated procedure to get
a permit).
You need to apply for the travel permit at least 10 days
prior to your entry date.
Please note that if you do not book any tour from us, we
can not help you get the permits. No travel agency can
provide "permit-only" service. Here is a note from
Lonely Planet:
"Lhasa PSB will not issue
travel permits to individuals and will direct you to a
travel agency. Agencies can arrange a travel permit to
almost anywhere but only if you book a Land Cruiser,
driver and a guide."
Important Issues about Tibet Travel Permit
1. All kinds of people can get Tibet permit through a
travel agency except diplomats, journalists, and
government officials who should travel to Tibet under
the arrangement by the Foreign Affairs Office of Tibet
Government.
2. After having a permit, a travel agency could buy you
the air tickets, and you can pass the check-in at the
airport and the check point reroute with the permit.
3. Only the guide could hold the permit after you
establish yourself on Tibet land. You are not allowed to
bring with it and travel to anywhere you want because
except Lhasa you need another permit named as "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.
Therefore seriously not any legitimate travel agency
could sell you the Tibet permit if you do not book a
tour with them. We don't think you would like to be in
trouble due to a "sold" Tibet permit after you pay a lot
of money for the tour.
4. There is a service charge (by the government) to get
the Tibet permit which is 7 US dollars per person.
Question: How much is Tibet permit?
Answer: as mentioned above, it is only 7 US
dollars if you book a tour with a travel agency. But if
you come to Tibet from Kathmandu of Nepal, you have to
obtain the China Visa no matter if you have already had
it or not. In this case, the permit will be 20 US
dollars including insurance and Travel Alien’s permit.
Usually it is included in our tour cost. Please note
that the above is the service charge, not a selling
price.
Question: How long can I get Tibet Permit?
Answer: Generally it needs three days to get the Tibet
permit if you could supply the full necessary documents.
But if it needs another 3 days (or more) to Express
Deliver the permit.
There is a trick that when you apply for China visa,
please do not mention Tibet. After you get China visa
you can easily get Tibet permit. Otherwise you have to
wait for Tibet permit and then you can get China visa.
Of course you will face the risk of that you might be
refused to come to Tibet even if you get China visa but
your destination is Tibet. In our experience seldom does
TTB refuse tourists if they are not of those three kinds
of people mentioned above: diplomat, journalist,
government officials.
Other documents:
Other documents are the same as you travel to other
places of China - you need hold a valid passport with
valid visa (issued by Chinese Embassy).
If you are coming to Lhasa from Kathmandu, you'd better
get China visa from Kathmandu because no matter you've
already got the visa in your country or not, you must
get a visa in Kathmandu, which is regulated in an
official memo between China and Nepal.
For the clothing, we suggest casual attire style and
layered clothing. In day time you may need only a
T-shirt or at most a jacket, but at night you may need a
coat. Down coat is necessary if you go beyond Lhasa and
Shigatse to remote areas, the Everest Camp or further to
Mount. Karlash. Sun glasses, sun blocking cream,
moisture scream are very necessary to be in your packing
list. |
