Buried in the Chinese Embassy's visa notices is one of the best visa deals available to any American right now — if you qualify. Under the Young Envoys Scholarship (YES) Program, young Americans traveling to China for study and exchange can receive a five-year, multiple-entry visa with every processing fee waived — including express fees. That's a visa that normally costs $140, free, with a validity most applicants would love. Here's what the program actually is, who qualifies, and the catch nobody explains clearly: you can't apply for it yourself.
Not part of an exchange program? The regular route still works fine — our China visa service handles the standard application start to finish.
What the YES Program is
In November 2023, China's president announced an initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study over five years. The YES Program is the vehicle: it's run by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), and it covers school and university exchanges, study tours, and youth delegations. Participants get an official YES invitation letter — and that letter is the golden ticket for the visa benefit below.
The visa benefit, in plain terms
Per the embassy's official notice, applicants holding an exclusive YES invitation issued by CEAIE receive:
A five-year F (exchange) visa with multiple entries — most first-time applicants in a category like this would otherwise receive far shorter validity.
All visa processing fees waived — including express-service fees. The normal government fee is a flat $140.
Five years of re-entry matters more than it sounds: a student who does one summer exchange can go back — for tourism-adjacent exchange visits, follow-up programs, research trips — on the same visa until it expires.
The catch: you don't apply — your host institution does
This is the part that trips people up. There is no individual application form for YES. Per CEAIE's program documents, the invitation flows the other way:
Step 1 — your program needs a Chinese host educational institution (the school, university, or organization receiving your group in China).
Step 2 — that host institution registers on the YES platform and requests invitation letters for the American participants.
Step 3 — with the YES invitation in hand, each participant applies for the F visa at their assigned consulate — and the fee waiver applies.
Practical translation: if you're a student, the path runs through your school's study-abroad or exchange office, or through a program that already partners with a Chinese institution. If you run such a program — a school district, university department, youth orchestra, sports club — CEAIE is the contact: yes@ceaie.edu.cn.
The visa still gets applied for normally
A YES invitation waives the fee — it doesn't skip the process. Each participant still completes the COVA online application, and the physical passport still has to be submitted in person at the consulate assigned to your state (check yours here). For a school group, that's a stack of applications, a pile of passports, and an in-person submission trip — which is exactly the coordination work we do every day.
No YES invitation? Your normal options
Studying in China over 180 days — the X1 visa (JW201/JW202 form + admission letter). Under 180 days — the X2. Student visa guide here.
Short exchanges and study tours — the F visa with a regular invitation letter from the hosting organization.
Plain tourism — the L visa, which since 2024 needs no invitation at all. L visa guide.
Where we fit in
We don't issue YES invitations — only CEAIE does, through Chinese host institutions. What we handle is everything after: completing COVA applications, coordinating the in-person consulate submission, and shipping passports back tracked — for individual students and for whole exchange groups at once. If your group is holding YES invitations and dreading the paperwork stage, that's our lane.
Get My Passports is a private company that provides passport and visa application assistance and courier coordination services where available. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency, CEAIE, or the YES Program. Government authorities make all approval and invitation decisions and control official processing times. Program details above reflect the embassy's and CEAIE's published notices and can change — confirm current terms with CEAIE (yes@ceaie.edu.cn) or your consulate. Our service fees are separate from government fees.
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