THE queue at the gate of the Chinese embassy at Tanglin Road stretched some 100m at times. Hundreds were in line, red passport in hand, to get a visa to visit China.

Mr Goh Yew Seng, 51, was at the gate at 9am on Monday.

He had planned to set off for Shanghai last Friday but had to postpone the trip when he found out the day before that he needed a visa. His travel agent in China who sold him the ticket did not tell him of the new requirement.

'My friend asked me last Thursday over lunch if I had applied for a visa. I was suprised that I needed a visa as I had been travelling to China frequently over the last few years without one,' he said.

Like Mr Goh, many in the queue said the new requirement caught them by surprise; they did not know of the announcement by Singapore authorities two months ago that visas for travel to China are a must from July 1.

Travel agencies told The Straits Times that officials from the Chinese embassies had informed them to submit the visa applications for their customers two to three weeks in advance as they predicted a large number of applications.

China's visa restrictions are expected to be lifted after the Beijing Olympic Games is over at the end of August.

Polytechnic students Vinoth Kanna, 20, and Augustine Yam, 21, learnt last Friday from their tour agent that they will need visas for their visit to Shenzhen.

Mr Yam said: 'The application process is quite troublesome. We had to skip one class in the morning to do this. But we decided to go ahead with the trip this weekend as we are not free on other days.'

The visas - for one entry or twice - are valid for a month. Visa applications must be accompanied with a copy of the airline ticket both in and out of the country and a hotel voucher.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.