Well I went to the Chinese embassy this morning and the girl flat out AGAIN refused me a year visa, she insisted they are only for business visitors not for tourists.
Whats worse is this time is a single entry only visa..so as i've planned on going to Hong Kong, i'm going to have to apply for another visa to get back into China, its totally exasperating.
Its the same girl as last time that wouldn't give me any longer than one a three month one but at least then it was a two entry one so II could go visit Hong kong and go back again without problems, it seems she is on a crusade to make Irish visits to China as difficult as possible!
I dunno , maybe it will work to my benefit, I'm going to ask for a multiple entry one in Hong Kong, maybe they will be more reasonable there.
Which brings me to the next question, how long does it take to process a visa request in HK for the mainland???