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Great thread. Makes me wonder why I’m going through the hassle of getting a Z visa at the moment.
Had to fill out 5 different forms in Chinese (on my company’s behalf)
Original Diploma
Photocopy of Diploma
Translation of Diploma
Photocopy of Health Inspection forms
CV/employment/academic history since age 18
Invitation letter
other misc company documents
everything stamped.
Will have to go to 2 offices in China, and then leave the country and go to the consulate/embassy, come back and apply for residence permit.
Ideally there are enough minions at your workplace to do most of this for you.
So, I went to Hong Kong. The visa process was quite fast. There was a little trouble just in my case but i got the visa at the end.
Although the website says foreigners need to go to their home country to get the Z-Visa, it’s not true. FOREIGNERS CAN GET THE ZVISA IN HONG KONG AND IT WAS A PIECE OF CAKE.
You go there an hour before they open and when u to inside it will take not more than 30-40 minutes. You will be asked to come next day if u chose to and you will have to pay when you collect the visa. In my case the processing fee for a ZVISA is 500 HongKong dollars.
I have a question again 🙂
The ZVisa is valid only for a month from the day of arrival, and then I have to apply for the residence permit which can be given for a period of 6-12 months. Is it like this for everyone who get the ZVISA? Or you get the ZVisa straight away for certain period of time?
You got a one month Z-visa? I’ve never heard of that, normally they’re for one year. Are you going to have to go back to Hong Kong? That sounds strange.
Another question – to get your Z-visa, you brought paperwork from your employer right?
Yeah. One month valid ZVisa. I was shocked at first, but browsed the net and found people saying similar things. With that visa one will have to process the work permit which is a process of 2-3 weeks. I wonder if its a new regulation? I don’t have to go back to hongkong again. This should be done in mainland china.
Yes. All the paper work was done by my employer. It was a huge pain and almost took our life to get those. I was kicked out twice until we reached there.
This is standard as far as I know now, since I’m going through the same process. The Z Visa is 1 month, then you apply for a residence permit which is for 6-12 months.
Quote:Yes. All the paper work was done by my employer. It was a huge pain and almost took our life to get those. I was kicked out twice until we reached there.Yeah I feel ya. I did this with one of my interns. I had to visit the foreign affairs bureau (or something like that) 4 times before they would even accept all my documents.
To get a 1 year Z visa you need to first have a valid work permit. Once you get your work permit (1 year), and renew next year, you wont have to do anything special or go anywhere particular – and the paperwork is far far easier to renew than to get the initial work permit. The reason they give you a 1 month initial visa would likely be they want to give you a limit to get your residential registration and work permit authorization complete within a reasonable time, rather than let it slide since you’ve already got your visa – in this way they guarantee you’re going through a legitimate workplace where they’ll have to end up paying social benefits/tax/etc to the government. Maybe there used to be some “scam” companies that would set people up with a visa but not actually employ them, charging them for the service, and this relatively new process helps kill that loophole.
Quote:The ZVisa is valid only for a month from the day of arrival, and then I have to apply for the residence permit which can be given for a period of 6-12 months. Is it like this for everyone who get the ZVISA? Or you get the ZVisa straight away for certain period of time?It’s been like this for a longtime. Your employer should be doing all the leg work. If you renew you should only need updated police registration and insurance..
How long do you need from landing in Shenzhen to arriving at the Chinese embassy in HK? I’ve never done this before so I wouldn’t really know where to go etc for the shuttle and stuff.
It seems kind of impossible to do it in 1 day considering I need to apply and hand in my passport before 1PM (using a company like Ray described). I would pick it back up at 6PM and go back to Chengdu. Doable if flying from/to Shenzhen?
FYI The earliest plane lands at 9.15AM in Shenzhen…
yeah. almost impossible to do it in a day from Shenzhen. You need to allow at least 2-3 hours, as the immigration line can be very long sometimes. You can also take one of the slightly more expensive vans from the Shenzhen airport. I did this last time and its faster: you dont line up with everyone else, the van goes thru the gates, you sit there, the driver hands in your passport for you. But we still waited in line for at least 45 mins.
@Vincent: how about flying direct into HK? I know Brendan always flies direct. I think he found good deals. Is it really so much more expensive? Last time from HK to here was about the same cost, when i factored in the cost of getting to Shenzhen airport. And also much easier.
Last time in HK i got the hell out as soon as my visa arrived (even tho i’d paid for another night in the “hotel” (a guy’s converted office). Is it just me, or is HK much more expensive than a few years ago?
I’m not sure whether it’s because of the date (end of this year) but the cheapest I can find for HK is over 2000RMB one way. On Ctrip the lowest one is even 2750 ONE WAY.
Shenzhen is 740RMB one way. Sounds like it’s worth the extra hassle…
(FWIW in April I flew directly to HK for 1100 one way, but that doesn’t seem to be an option anymore)
Last month when I was doing the visa, I saw a notice in the embassy which said same day processing has been stopped. I don’t know if its temporary or permanent. So you will need 2 days for the visa. If u submit in the morning, you can pick it in the next morning.
No, if he’s getting a business visa thru an agency you absolutely can pick it up same day (6 pm) if you apply in the morning (9 AM).
You could fly into Shenzhen in the evening and book a hotel on the Shenzhen side, which cost me around 150 yuan last time on a tuan gou (groupon) for a decent business hotel close to the border crossing. Then you can get up early, make it across the border to an agency in the morning, chill for a half a day in HK, pick up your visa in the afternoon, and get an evening flight back to Chengdu. I also skip the bus in Shenzhen for the subway, which goes right from the airport to both Lowu and Futian border crossings for a handful of yuan. I think it’s a bit slower than the bus though.
Just wanna throw another link into this thread: Forever Bright Trading Limited
Other than having an awesome website they also provide people with China visas. I use to get 6 months F visa through them. Same deal – 2000 HKD. Leave passport in the morning, pick up in the afternoon.
Quote:I’m not sure whether it’s because of the date (end of this year) but the cheapest I can find for HK is over 2000RMB one way.You can sometimes find cheap flights to HK direct, but you can almost always find cheap flights to Shenzhen. If you can find a cheap flight, awesome, if not, Shenzhen is not that much of a hassle. Or, what I do sometimes is fly to Zhuhai and take the hydrofoil to HK.
Just spiked a ticket for 690 to Shenzhen on the 27th. Get out of the airport and look for a bus queue to the border? Easy as that?
Quote:Just spiked a ticket for 690 to Shenzhen on the 27th. Get out of the airport and look for a bus queue to the border? Easy as that?Yup, it’s really easy. You will see signs for the bus to the border when you exit the airport.
I used to go for a visa run from Yangshuo (Guilin). If you arrive in Shenzhen early morning it’s deffinately possible to do in a day.
Just arrive at the visa agency (I went to Forever Bright too) before 9am. Then the same afternoon you can pick it up around 2-3pm. The bus back to Yangshuo from Shenzhen was around 7-8pm, so enough time to get there.
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