We are planning a trip to China in Sep and will be visiting Beijing/Xian/Lhasa/Guilin/Shanghai. We will be on a tour and they are arranging for the Tibet travel permit but I have a couple questions on the China Visa application...

1. As a result of going to Tibet, do we require a Double Entry Visa or just Single?

2. I have seen that you should normally apply for the Visa 30-90 days prior to your trip. We normally like to get all of those types of things taken care of well before that and need to know if we applied for the Visa now if it can be valid for the dates we are going to China rather than from the date it is issued. *I believe the Single entry Visa is only valid for three months and is the reason for this question.

Thanks...