H.E. Mr. Lin Songtian, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, visited the Chinese Visa Service Center in Johannesburg accompanied by Ni Lingling, Counsellor and Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, and Qu Boxun, Acting Consul General of the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg on May 16, 2019. He was briefed about the operation of the visa service center and visa processing protocol, made a video call with the staff of Durban and Cape Town Satellite Offices, and talked to the visa applicants for comments.

Ambassador Lin said to the staff that China has adopted opening-up policy to the outside world and welcomes overseas friends to China. The Visa Service Center plays an important role since it is the first place to show the image of China, whereas the Service Center should provide convenient, professional, efficient and high-quality services to all applicants. He also stressed that the Visa Service Center itself is very new and needs to summarize experiences, use modern scientific and technological means, strengthen internal management, and improve service quality. Its purpose is to pay more contributions to promote people exchange and cooperation between China and South Africa as well as develop good bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Chinese Visa Service Center in Johannesburg opened in March 2015. It is the first one set up in Africa with two satellite offices in Cape Town and Durban. It handles information requiring, receiving visa applications from all over South Africa. The annual visa processing volume is close to 50,000.