Hey!!!

Yep same think for me, before going to China I went to Bern to pick up the visa, it can be made in few hours and you are paying an extra fee otherwise you go and apply and then they send it to you via post if i remember well.

I don't any agencies but you can just take a day off and go there and get it immediately, the problem in solved in one day, up to u..

idk about an agency but just want to warn you that i had to book an accommodation in order to get the visa last year, which i wasn't the case the previous time i went there in 2006. i was also able to get my passport back by post in 2006 but in 2010 they told me the service was not available anymore. too many lost passports apparently...

anyway the best way is to go there early (before 11am), pay the extra fee (50chf or something) and get it on the same day before noon. takes you 1/2 day... do NOT forget your residence permit if you apply with a foreign passport

In Switzerland, there is only a Chinese consulate in Zurich and a Chinese embassy in Bern. Both locations can issue visas,

I was able to perform a same day service (2 hour wait) with the Zurich consulate office - so perhaps you can take the morning off and get to the consulate first thing in the morning and then wait 1-2 hours (maybe shorter if you tell them you are actually waiting!). The Bern consulate wasn't willing to issue me one same day but only next day. My thoughts are that if you pay someone to do this service, it would definitely take more than 1-2 days and you will pay a lot more than taking a day off.

You should make sure you have the visa form filled out (download from the internet), the exact payment in cash for the fees, passport photo and your itinerary with flights booked. Call the Chinese consultate ahead of time, they have a 1-2 narrow window for you to call them during the day but it is worth confirming that they will do whatever you need for them to do.

Also, it is the same price to get the visa with 1x, multi or unlimited entrance over a year. However, they never/rarely give anything in excess of 1x out esp to first timers. US citizens will have to pay a lot higher for the fee (pollitics - USA spiked up their visa fees to the Chinese, so they returned the 'favor').

I've picked one up there two months ago from Zurich without any problem at all. Good luck!

http://zurich.chineseconsulate.org/

Thanks a lot for the replies!. It seems like the situation changes a bit from time to time, so I'll post when I'm successful just in case is useful for someone else