The US visa call center reopened at 7 am Friday, and would be scheduling US visa interview appointments for the following week, the US Embassy said on its Web site.

Next month, the call center will introduce a new, budget pre-paid pin card. The new card will allow callers to purchase a shorter, cheaper block of call time (eight minutes) rather than the standard 12 minutes of time for the regular card.

The Chinese government shut down the call center April 27 because of complaints of overcharging. Callers were charged 54 yuan (US$7) for every 12 minutes.

The visa call center can be reached by dialing 4008-872-333 from anywhere in China.

(Shenzhen Daily June 4, 2004)