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The whole journey, step by step

Eight stages, in the order they actually happen. Who does what at each one, how long it tends to take, and where it most often goes wrong. You can stop at any point, and most people stop at stage two.

A flip-board style departure display in an airport terminal7stages,
end to end

The shape of it

  • Two to three months from a standing start is realistic for anything requiring a visa.
  • The two slow stages are your own hospital's records department and the institution's assessment. Neither can be bought faster.
  • Nothing downstream can begin until the records exist: which is why stage one is stage one.
STAGE 01

You ask a question

Write in any of our languages. We answer questions about process, documents and how costs are structured. Free, and there is no follow-up sales sequence.

YouSame or next business dayNo charge
STAGE 02

You gather your records

From your own hospital, in your own country. In most jurisdictions you have a legal right to a copy and need not justify the request. This is the longest stage nobody plans for.

Where it goes wrong: imaging supplied as pictures rather than DICOM; missing reference ranges; only the most recent admission rather than the history.

You1–3 weeksHow to do this →
STAGE 03

Records translated

Into standard Chinese medical documentation, reviewed by someone with a pharmaceutical background. Units beside originals, dates unambiguous, staging editions named, ambiguities footnoted, unfavourable findings included.

Us3–7 working daysQuoted before we start
STAGE 04

The institution assesses

It reads the file and decides whether it can take the case. It may decline, and declining is a normal outcome rather than a failure of the process. You keep the translated file either way.

Where it goes wrong: an incomplete file goes in, and the assessment stalls waiting for what was missing at stage two.

The institution1–3 weeksAcceptance not guaranteed
STAGE 05

Paperwork for travel

If the institution accepts, it issues the supporting documents, the invitation or acceptance letter, and an accompany certificate where relevant. We translate what you need to submit. The application is yours to make, and we charge nothing for visa work.

The institution, then youDays to weeksWhat the visa involves →
STAGE 06

Money and insurance settled

If an insurer is involved, pre-authorisation and a guarantee of payment are arranged now, not after arrival. If you are self-paying, the deposit needs to be accessible before admission, not after.

Where it goes wrong: assuming a policy covers planned treatment abroad without having read the exclusion.

You and your insurerDays to weeksThe insurance questions →
STAGE 07

You travel, and we interpret

Consultations, consent forms, admission paperwork, ward rounds. We arrange the transport and the accommodation around your appointments. Your treatment agreement is signed with the hospital, never through us.

You, the hospital, usPer your treatmentInterpretation billed per day
STAGE 08

Discharge, and what you take home

Before you leave: the official invoice, the itemised breakdown, the discharge summary, and copies of all reports. Translated while you are still here, because obtaining them afterwards from abroad is slow and sometimes impossible.

Where it goes wrong: leaving with a total-only invoice, which insurers routinely reject.

The hospital, then usBefore departureWhich documents →

The stage that decides the rest

Stages two and four together account for most of the calendar, and neither responds to money or urgency. Everything after them is administration.

Which means the single most useful thing anyone in this process can do today is write to their own hospital's medical records department. Not to us, and not to a Chinese institution, to their own records office.

What this page does not cover

  • Whether to make the journey at all. That follows from a clinical opinion, not from a process diagram.
  • Which institution to approach. That follows from the assessment.
  • Fees. Those are published on How it works.
Before you come

The two things people underestimate

Neither is medical. Both are where trips go wrong, and both are entirely fixable if you start early.

Documents and paperwork laid out on a desk

Your records, in a form a Chinese physician can use

A pile of PDFs in your own language is not a medical file. Getting this right is most of the work, and it's the part we actually do.

  • Discharge summaries, clinical notes, imaging in DICOM format, pathology and a current medication list
  • Dates rendered unambiguously, 03/04/2026 means different months in different countries
  • Units converted beside the original values, never in place of them
  • Genetic test results stay with you. If an institution needs them, it asks you directly.
Passports and travel tickets

Visas, invitations and who issues what

The invitation letter comes from the hospital, not from an agency. Knowing who issues what, and in which order, saves weeks.

  • The S2 visa is for visiting China for medical reasons; the hospital issues the supporting letter
  • Short stays may fall within visa-free or transit-free entry, worth checking before applying for anything
  • We translate your supporting documents. We are not a visa agency and do not charge for visa processing.

Most people never get past stage one

That is genuinely fine. Ask the question you actually have, and we will tell you honestly whether there is anything here for you.

Ask a question →