Tourist-visa applicants using China’s COVA (China Online Visa Application) system reported on 30 July that their submissions returned a generic message—“Supplementary materials to be provided”—without specifying what was missing. The issue appears to affect multiple consular jurisdictions, including London and Los Angeles, based on user screenshots. Consular service hotlines are advising applicants to re-upload entire document sets or attend in-person appointments with printed originals, negating one of the efficiencies COVA was designed to deliver. The timing is critical: August is peak travel season for family visits ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival in September, and appointment slots at visa centres are already scarce. IT consultants familiar with Chinese e-government platforms suggest the error may stem from a recent security upgrade that tightened file-format validation, causing previously acceptable PDF scans to fail backend checks. Until an official fix is rolled out, agents recommend compressing files under 1 MB, naming them in English, and avoiding layered PDF formats that can trigger automated flags. For corporates organising group travel, the glitch introduces new administrative overhead and may require switching back to paper forms to keep itineraries on track. Mobility teams are advised to monitor application dashboards daily and budget extra lead time until the system stabilises. Chinese embassies have not issued formal notices but are reportedly escalating the bug to the foreign-ministry IT department.
Source: Reddit / r-Chinatravel
