I have been advised to contact the Chinese Embassy and ask them to refer me to a hospital to get my physical exam for my Visa application.

Do I really need to go to all that hassle, or can I just jump down to my local doc and let him do it for me? What did others do?

Any help appreciated.

Hi

I just went to my local GP for the initial physical to get my Visa which was just as well because when I got to China I had to go through it all again!! Once in-country we were advised that we had to go to one of the "their" authorised clinics in order to get our residents permit..... and also I needed the results for my foreign experts certificate....

Hope this helps, Katie.

I asked about having a physical in my Skype interview and they said that you didn't have to have one. Yikes! Is that not right?

I went to my doc and he said you can't do a physical in 10 minutes and if I wanted everything on the form I was given done, it would cost me quite a lot of money (all sorts of blood tests, x-ray, etc). I asked my agent if it was necessary as i'm a 23 year old healthy guy, and he said just fill out whatever you can and give it to him, and then do the actual physical in China.

I also got an email back from the chinese embassy in London saying I didn't need a physical on this end in order to gain a visa, although they didn't know the exact circumstances (I assume it would be different with an older or more frail person).

Either way the bottom line seems to be this - no need for a physical on this end, but there will need to be one in China (but at a much lower cost). Pretty much what I figured all along.

Does anyone know if they need a shot record upon arrival, or will that be done with the physical in China? 

Hi,

I'm new here and joined because i should be off to China soon as I have been offered a job. I'm applying for visa right now and need this medical/physical exam form to be completed as part of the paperwork so I can apply.

Basically I handed the medical form in at my docs a week ago and the receptionist said that it would cost £25, and to come and collect it within a few days. A few days later I received a call from one of the docs saying actually the tests on the medical such as HIV, syphilis and Chest X-Ray would cost somewhere between £200 - 300 or more. Obviously being so used to the free healthcare we take for granted in the UK I was like WHATTTTT?????

So I get back in touch with my agent from china and she says that the HIV, syphilis and xrays are not necessary because they will get done once you arrive in china anyway (like the post from katie said), but she says the medical is still very important and that they need your medical history and other basic examinations done.

Ok so im happy with that reply and confidently contact my doctors again to explain that I don’t need the super expensive tests right now seeing as I have no history of any problems in that area anyway.

However, the doctors are still adamant that the other tests basic medical and physical exam tests will cost £100 pound minimum now they have had a look at this.

I told them the receptionist had first quoted £25 pounds and tried to get them to explain in more detail why it is now £100 for the same thing... a basic sheet that she can just tick boxes from my medical history and measure my height. The doctor repeated again this will cost £100 and that  its standard. I said ok I would get back to you and book an appointment after I query this again.

Basically I want advice from people who are in china right now who are from the UK who have already been through the same process as me with the physical exam.

I would like to know... Just how much did the docs charge you (in the UK)?

Is it normal that the docs request you pay £100 for such a basic exam that I could fill out myself?

I can afford the £100 pounds yes, but as a matter of principle with the doctors constantly changing their estimation, I'm left feeling rather suspicious of them or if they actually understand exactly what I want from them.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the quick reply. You said exactly what I thought, the problem is... just who am I supposed to see if I believe my local GP's are being unreasonable? The original quote of £25 was kind of expected but to then say £100 minimum is outrageous. I'm just left trying to find out exactly who to contact when I believe my local GP is being dishonest, without dragging things on getting my visa documents ready.

Im tempted to pay the £100 and get it over and done with but I know I will regret it and getting charged 4-5 times what I should will leave a sour taste in my mouth for a long time, so I'm going to try and query and investigate this a little further today.

Hello again... so I booked an appointment at the docs without saying anything about a medical/physical and then sprung the three page physical exam sheet upon the doc as I was explaining about traveling to china.

Luckily the doctor was happy to fill it out for free (obviously minus the ecg, chest xray, hiv tests which I had marked as N/A) and seemed to be in a good mood as she told me about her brother’s travels in the Far East.

She explained that I need to get some vaccines though which I knew about from reading Living and working in China, I know that one of the hepatitis ones is mandatory but free.... yellow fever is also mandatory but has a charge along with a few others. I’m booked in next week to see the nurse to start my course anyway, she will explain the details in full I suppose.

Just wondering what everyone else had to have in regards to vaccines and how much they cost?

Also, do I have to worry about any mega needles like the dreaded TB jab in school (LOL)?

Don't be too concerned about this piece of bureaucratic nonsense, when you get here you will soon find out how this crap works. After getting a load of grief from my Doc, I filled the form in myself, either by writing normal or not applicable, signed it myself and stamped it in red ink with a rubber stamp bought from a stationers. You will also find out about Chinese bureaucrats love of red ink. I scanned it and sent it along. Job done.

You have to have a full examination anyway upon arrival, and no-one here is going to call your GP in your hometown to verify their report.

Some Docs will be happy to fill it in, recognising it for the rubbish that it is, others can be quite arsey about it, mine certainly was. Anyway, up to you.

Steve was right again, I was given a Typhoid and Hep A jab and these were free. The Hep A was given in the same jab as a Hep B and is the first of a course of three that i will be recieving in the next month or so. I wont diverge further as obviously the topic is the physical exam. Thanks everyone for your help and advice though and i should be active in some of the other topics over the next few months!