A group of French tourists arriving at Pudong International Airport on Monday narrowly escaped being sent back home after immigration police discovered their visas were 9,000 kilometers away - and locked in a safe.

 

The 34 tourists, all aged over 60, including one in a wheelchair, were looking forward to a tour of China organized by a French travel agency.

 

However, when the group reached immigration they were denied entry because they held only photocopies of their group visa.

 

The tourists were traveling without a representative of their travel agency, so immigration authorities phoned it up only to find that the original group visa was still sitting in a safe in France.

 

It had been mistakenly left there by the assistant in charge of the tourists' travel plans.

 

"According to immigration law, the seniors should have been told to fly back home because they lacked the legal visa documents," said Lin Heping, an immigration police officer.

 

However, after an investigation to confirm details of the China tour, immigration authorities issued all group members with landing visas and they were allowed to leave the airport five hours after touching down.

 

"Many of the seniors told us that it was their first trip to China and they had waited a long time to make the journey," said Liu.

 

Liu, however, warned other travelers that this was a special case.

 

"Visitors must have an invitation from a limited number of authorized high-level local government authorities or entities to apply for landing visas according to law."

 

Liu reminded foreign travelers to bring original copies of their visas to China to avoid problems.

 

The group of elderly French tourists were due to start their China tour in Suzhou, a popular travel destination in Jiangsu Province.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 28, 2007)