Two visas or one?

[fanglu]

So, I need advice. This is the situation:

I'm enrolled for the september-january 2007-2008 course at BLCU. I've got the form, taken it to the consulate in Sydney and got my 180 day F visa. Then, I get a letter saying I'm getting a CSC sholarship for March-July 2008 for jiaotong university in Xian. If possible, I'm hoping not to come back to Australia between January and March, as I already have plans for a trip to latin america and it would be annoying to cut it short to come back here for three days or whatever just to get a new visa.

So what can I do?

As I see it I have three options:

- try to get another six month visa in Sydney before I leave in August. You can apparently pay extra and get ones that give you up to a year to enter china. Only problem is will they like me having two visas at the same time? What if the second one gets stamped instead of the first one when I enter the first time?

- try to get another six month visa while I'm in latin america at a chinese consulate there somewhere (probably venezeula). Is this going to cause problems/be difficult?

- try to get a new year long multi-entry visa now. Only problem is each of the JW201/202 forms is only for one semester. Will they combine the two?

Any ideas?

[imron]

I'm pretty sure 1) won't work, because most visas have an "enter before this date" limit which is usually 3 months from the date of issue. Getting a visa 7-8 months early is probably not possible.

2) is certainly possible, but just remember that when your passport is with the consulate, you possibly won't be able to check into a hotel, so make sure you've got your accommodation sorted out for the duration of time it takes to process the visa.

3) Not sure.

A fourth option would be to fly to Latin America via Hong Kong, and sort out the visa there.

[gato]

You can apply for a multiple entry 6-month F visa when you are in China towards the end of your first semester. That should be the easiest option.

Getting a new visa means canceling your old, so, no, you can't have two visas at the same time.

[gougou]

I agree that the first option is not possible.

I'm not sure that the second option is possible, either, don't you need a residence permit to apply for a visa in a country other than your home country (or the country you're applying for)? I have two nationalities, French and German, but I can't get a visa on my French passport in Germany.

No idea about the third option, but it doesn't sound like something a consulate would do.

I would also recommend coming back in through Hong Kong. You get to see another great city, and you'll have your visa as fast as in a day.

[liuzhou]

I'm not sure that the second option is possible, either, don't you need a residence permit to apply for a visa in a country other than your home country (or the country you're applying for)? I have two nationalities, French and German, but I can't get a visa on my French passport in Germany.

Whyever not? I've often obtained visas in countries other than my own (UK), while not having a residence permit for the country I was in. A regulation like this would make travelling almost impossible.

[gougou]

That's what I told the clerk in the consulate, still I had to leave empty-handed...

[Senzhi]

Gougou,

I'm Belgian and got my first Chinese visa in Dublin, Ireland.

As a matter of fact, within EU borders, there's no longer a distinction of countries, and you can apply for anything anywhere now ... as long as there's an appropriate administration facility e.g. a consulate.

[gougou]

As a matter of fact, within EU borders, there's no longer a distinction of countries, and you can apply for anything anywhere now ... as long as there's an appropriate administration facility e.g. a consulate.

Like I said, precisely what I thought as well. But as I ended up not getting a visa (and having to apply for a German passport in a rush...) I thought it was worth pointing it out here.

[liuzhou]

Come to think of it, my wife got a Thai visa while in Germany on a Chinese passport and a tourist visa.

[gougou]

Guess it's only the Chinese consulate then... Or just the clerk that I had that day

Hope everything works out for you, fanglu!

[fanglu]

Thanks for the help. A couple of followup questions...

You can apply for a multiple entry 6-month F visa when you are in China towards the end of your first semester. That should be the easiest option.

So you can get a new visa in China? I couldn't work that out from the forums.

I'm Belgian and got my first Chinese visa in Dublin, Ireland.

Hmm well that sounds reasonable. But, the Chinese embassy website for Venezuela seems to be saying you have to apply in your place of residence:

去哪里申请中国签证？

...

申请人原则上应向居住地所属大使馆或领事馆申请签证。

http://ve.chineseembassy.org/chn/lsqz/qian903/t267954.htm

Any ideas?

[gato]

So you can get a new visa in China? I couldn't work that out from the forums.

Yes, it's done all the time.

You can either go to the Public Security Bureau to do it yourself or go through one of the services.

For example:

http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/listings/services/visa-service/has/china-visa-immigration-solutions-for-expats2/?most_viewed=1

http://www.cn-visa.com/

[Senzhi]

Fanglu,

To be honest with you, both Ireland and Belgium are EU members. I must assume all EU member countries are treated equally by China, as that is the whole concept of the EU.

In addition, at the time, I was residing (= working and living) in Ireland, fully registered with my embassy there (= my Belgian official address was also in Dublin).

Maybe African and South-American countries are 'a different cup of tea'? Visa regulations are more or less the same internationally, but may differ upon the relationships between the involved countries. So, it could be that if three countries are involved, and one is not the 'best of friends' with China, it might be requested from you to apply from your home country.

I'm only assuming with the last paragraph and I'm absolutely not certain this is the case here.

In general, if it's mentioned on an embassy's web site, you'd better take it for granted.

If it's, like probably in Gougou's case, an exclamation by an embassy staff member who fell out of the wrong side of bed that morning, you can try to follow your query up on a different date, in the hope you might get a different staff member who had a bit better breakfast that morning.

[fanglu]

OK thanks everyone.

I'll try for an extension to a multi-entry visa in China, and if that doesn't work I should be ok anyway as due to weird ticket situations I've now discovered its actually cheaper for me to come back to China from Venezuela via Australia anyway so I can just get a new Visa here.

[Roberto]

...you better hide your french passport and take the german passport.Two of my french friends are for more than 2 weeks now in HongKong and can not get a Visa.They are living in ShenZhen and thought it goes quick.The families are still in ShenZhen and the fathers can not get into China.I don't know what we french have done.I asked a Chinese Visa Renewal service for help and got from http://www.chinavisaextension.com the Information that they will not provide any longer any service for french citizens,it is simply too complecated.For french is now a fingerprint required,so they can not do that any longer just by mail.All other countries are no problem.

Regards Roberto

[jbradfor]

Maybe they're still pissed over that whole Olympic Torch thing?