Activist Chen Guangcheng says passport application done

The blind activist told the BBC officials had helped him fill in the forms on Wednesday at the Beijing hospital where he is staying.

Mr Chen spent six days in the US embassy last month after escaping house arrest.
He wants to leave China and has been offered a place at a US university.

Mr Chen left the US embassy after six days to seek medical treatment but then said that he wanted to go to the US because he feared for his safety.

Amid a diplomatic crisis between the US and China over his fate, Mr Chen was offered a place to study law at New York University after Beijing said he would be allowed to apply to study abroad.
The US says the visas for Mr Chen and his family are ready.

'Trumped up' charges

Mr Chen said government officials came to see him on Wednesday and completed passport applications for him, his wife and their two children.

He said the officials told him the passport would take 15 days to issue, without giving a definite date.
"People from the immigration administration department have been here. We had our pictures taken and forms filled out. (They said) within 15 days," Mr Chen said.

"They didn't promise when we'll get the passport. They didn't say anything like we will definitely get the passport on a certain day, etc. There was nothing like that told to us," he added. continue Reading