Help with a Visa Issue

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  • #45671
    Avatar photoAmorto
    Participant

    Hi all,

    Hoping that i can draw on your collective brains and general knowledge of China. I have a visa issue that is starting to stress me out slightly :S

    Current Situation:
    – I am currently on a 90 day tourist visa, which expires on April 31st. I have not made any previous extensions on this.
    – I have applied to a number of postgraduate courses in China to begin September, however results are released late July.
    – I need to do something to bridge this gap. Flying home and then back to China is far to expensive for my budget.
    – Open to ideas of work and study to make this happen (anything really). No current commitments.
    – I have already applied for a number of full time teaching positions, however they have all suggested that a minimum one year commitment is required to move to a working visa. Is this correct?
    – I am starting to think that a Mandarin course (which comes with admission notice) would be a great way to move to a student. However so far have not found any that satisfy the time frame. Do any of you know of one?

    All comments and ideas welcome!

    Thankssss
    Andrew

    #45673
    Avatar photoj.slemmer
    Participant

    It’s unlikely that you’ll find an employer willing to go through all the trouble to get you a proper work-visa for such a short time. As it will take them 3-4 months (or more) to get it done in my experience.

    But finding work and getting them to arrange a business or other visa for you would be an option.

    As a backup plan, you can always travel to other countries around China (Thailand, Vietnam) and come back once your postgraduate application has been approved or try to extend your visa here or in Hong Kong.

    #45680
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Hi Andrew,

    The first thing I would do is check if you can renew your tourist visa in Chengdu. In the past, you could renew tourist visas twice before you had to leave the country. You may be able to renew for another 90 days but I think an additional 30 days is more likely. If you can’t renew inside China to get you through July, you might want to plan to leave the country to do a visa run. Either go to Hong Kong or another nearby place and return to China on a new 90-day tourist visa.

    #45681
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    Charlie’s right – you can do 2 extensions @ 30 days (although not 90 days, I did a tourist extension like 1.5 months ago before switching to a long-term visa, while waiting on paperwork, they said explicitly can only extend it 30 days). Standard HK visa run is verifying processing time, probably paying an extra fee for 1 day processing if it’s available to save on hotel/HK expense, fly to Shenzhen on the earliest flight of the day that’s reasonably priced (usually super early flights are cheap) and bus from the SZ Airport to Wanchai.. submit application immediately, stay appropriate time, reverse course back to CD. 😀

    #45684
    Avatar photoAmorto
    Participant

    Ah awesome. Thanks all for the information!

    Update
    – I went to the Chengdu Visa office this morning. They told me that i could extend my tourist visa once for a period of 30 days for 116RMB. (maybe miscommunication, are you sure twice is possible Rick?)
    – Still looking for appropriate Mandarin courses in Chengdu that suit the timeframe.
    – Now also considering an extension and then a HK Visa run.

    Regarding the HK run. Is this still possible though? I was under the impression that they started stricter regulation of this mid last year?

    Furthermore, if i did go, do you think they would be okay issuing me a new 90 day tourist back to back? Surely they would know i am not just a tourist when i originally had 90 days, got a 30 day extension and then was asking for a further 90 days??

    #45693
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    Ah awesome. Thanks all for the information! Update – I went to the Chengdu Visa office this morning. They told me that i could extend my tourist visa once for a period of 30 days for 116RMB. (maybe miscommunication, are you sure twice is possible Rick?)

    That’s a really cheap price. You should be able to extend your tourist visa. I thought the price would be higher, but the price will also depend on your nationality.

    Regarding the HK run. Is this still possible though? I was under the impression that they started stricter regulation of this mid last year? Furthermore, if i did go, do you think they would be okay issuing me a new 90 day tourist back to back? Surely they would know i am not just a tourist when i originally had 90 days, got a 30 day extension and then was asking for a further 90 days??

    I don’t think you will have a problem, but there is a judgement process. They can deny you. As long as you don’t look suspicious in some way I really doubt you’ll have a problem.

    What they really cracked down on were expats living on “F” business visas. For years people would buy one-year duration F visas and live off of those, returning to Hong Kong once a year. I did that and thousands of other expats did that for years. They have since replace the F with the M business visa, but it’s not nearly as lax as it used to be. With a tourist visa I don’t think you’ll have a problem (I have at least 6+ of those in my passport still, from years ago).

    #45697
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    (maybe miscommunication, are you sure twice is possible Rick?)

    Nope, not sure at all – if they told you once, then go with once. 😉

    #45750
    Avatar photoAmorto
    Participant

    Thanks guys for the China pro-tips over the past few days.

    From your ideas i have decided that i will

    – Skirt tourist viasa’s to last me until student acceptance noticed are sent out.
    – Work privately/informally teaching English. As working for a company comes not only with contract time frame issues, visa legality, and a less flexible lifestyle.

    I do have one more question now though. I am planning on renting a house direct from a landlord. When i go down to the local police station to inform them where i am living, will i have issues RE renting an apartment on a tourist visa? Should i just pretend i’m staying with a friend or…..?

    Cheers,
    Andy

    #45756
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    @Amorto

    You will not have any registration issues at the police station on a tourist visa. They don’t give a shit about that, at all, whatsoever. 😀

    #45757
    Avatar photoCharlie
    Keymaster

    When i go down to the local police station to inform them where i am living, will i have issues RE renting an apartment on a tourist visa? Should i just pretend i’m staying with a friend or…..? Cheers, Andy

    They won’t care, they just want to know that you’re in China legally

    #45787
    Avatar photoinwestend
    Participant

    I’m surprised that people are talking about TWO extensions to a tourist visa.  The rules changed a couple of years ago, at the same time they clamped down on F-Visas.  Unless there has been a subsequent change that I’m not aware of – it is only one extension now.  (And I thought it was 160RMB, not 116).

    I have a question though…. People used to go to Leshan to do these.  Less questions asked, more certainty of it being granted.  Is that still the case?  Are people still extending visas in Leshan?, or have the Chengdu office got more relaxed?

    #45907
    Avatar photoinwestend
    Participant

    @Amorto – When you’ve done this extension, can you report back?  Let us know how it went.  I also need to extend a visa – soon after yours.

    Let us know about the documentation you needed – and any problems.

    The biggest stumbling block is proof of funds.  I have a Beijing account – but no way of getting a paper balance summary.  I managed to persuade them to accept evidence from an outside-China account last time (in Suzhou).

    Also, if anyone knows if Leshan is a still a better place to do Visa Extensions? – please speak up.

    #45934
    Avatar photoRick in China
    Participant

    Eh.

    I just got an update from my Dad whose visiting soon – he was issued a 10 year visa. (Canadian passport holder)

    It seems it’s 60days per stay, though. The good thing is that if you do an exit/entry, though, you don’t need to spend any time outside of country…so you could do a day trip to Shenzhen -> pop over to HK, gobble up some wontons -> head back for an evening flight home.

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