In accordance with the latest COVID-19 prevention and control arrangements in China, the entry requirements for persons holdingvalid APEC business travel cards and students who study or will study in Chinaare now updated as follows:

1.Starting from August 24, 2022, persons who hold valid APEC business travel cards and students that hold validresidence permit for study can enter China without visas.

2.Starting from today, the Embassy resumes accepting X1 visa applications from students who are going to study in China, and allow family members of students studying in China to go to China. Short-term study X2 visa applications are not accepted currently. For those who are applying for X1 visas, please refer to the Visa Application Guide as follows:

2.1 Application procedure:

(1) Fill out the visa application form online (https://cova.cs.mfa.gov.cn), print out the confirmation page and application form, and sign the confirmation page and item 9;

(2) Make an appointment online to submit the application and print out the visa appointment confirmation form;

(3)After making an appointment, applicants shallsubmit the confirmation letterwith signature, the print-out application form, passport andother supporting documents at the visa section of Chinese Embassy (118 Merrion Road, Dublin 4)in person on the date of appointment.

2.2 Application documents:

(1) Application form completed online (print-out of the entire form);

(2) Passport and a photocopy of the information page, observations page, and the latest China visa page or the latest foreigner’s residence permit page;

(3) COVID-19 Vaccination Certificationand a photocopy of it;

(4) Two recently-taken color passport photos (size: 48mm×33mm) against a white background of 2 inches without a crown;

(5) Additional documents for different visas are as follows: