Visa Extension Turnaround Beijing: Two Weeks??

[faine]

Beijing Visa Extension: 2 weeks turnaround?!

(I posted this on the Lonely Planet forum too.)

Hi, I'm a 19 year old USA student in Beijing right now, studying at the SprachenCaffe. The San Francisco embassy, despite applying for a 60 day visa, gave me a 30 day visa anyway. Now, my visa expires on August 8th and I am leaving on August 10th, so I only need a couple of extra days.

I anticipated having to extend it in Beijing. My language school helped me fill out the form, and yesterday (the 25th) , I went to the Yalun Gong PSB office with the school's representative to drop off the passport and the application. The school has a special contact at the PSB, which allowed me to jump the line and get in and out - which was all fine and dandy, except I was told my visa extension would take "about two weeks" to process!

Now, I can hack exactly two weeks from the 25th - that's about two days before I leave - but it's the "about" that's concerning me. I've had enough experience with California government workings to be deeply suspicious of the word "about." To complicate things, my hotel only booked me until the 8th due to my visa, which means that if I don't get my passport back before the 7th, my butt is out on the Beijing streets. (They won't extend my stay until they see my extended visa.)

I did some research and the max turnaround I've ever heard of was a week. So..two weeks? Huh?

I do have a photocopy of my passport and my California state ID.

So - is two weeks ridiculous/did they overstate things? Should I worry? Should I call the office/get my school to call, explain the situation, and ask if the process can be expedited? Will that do any good or will they just laugh at me? Or should I relax and try not to be paranoid?

Thanks!

Faine

[cdn_in_bj]

I anticipated having to extend it in Beijing. My language school helped me fill out the form, and yesterday (the 25th) , I went to the Yalun Gong PSB office with the school's representative to drop off the passport and the application. The school has a special contact at the PSB, which allowed me to jump the line and get in and out - which was all fine and dandy, except I was told my visa extension would take "about two weeks" to process!

I take you are here on an L-visa?

When I went to extend my F-visa, I can't remember if they told me it would take 8 or 10 working days, but it was ready within 10 working days because I was in a similar situation as yourself and I did not want to make a special trip to HK. If we count 10 working days from 7/25, that brings us to 8/8. So you should be ok from an immigration point of view. However, given your housing situation I'd give them a call and see if it can be ready earlier. Overseas, we can get a Chinese visa the same day (if you pay a rush fee), so I don't see why it would take so long over here.

Also, did you ask for your passport to be delivered or will you be picking it up in person? If you opted for pick up, there should be a pickup date stated on the receipt they gave you.

Even if it takes the full 10 days, that means you could pick up your visa the morning of 8/8, and then check back into your hotel that afternoon. But it is cutting it a bit close.

[gougou]

cdn_in_bj, do you have an American passport?

When I extended my L-visa beginning of this year, it took only 5 business days. Does anybody know whether that's due to the difference in visas or in nationalities?

[cdn_in_bj]

cdn_in_bj, do you have an American passport?

No, I have a Canadian passport.

Also, when I went to "extend" my visa here, from the wording on the form and the documentation that was required, it was as if I was applying for a new visa. They cancelled my old visa (which was issued in Canada) and stuck a new one in my passport.

The thing I find strange is that I got a 6-month multiple entry visa, and was also given the option of getting 12-month but opted not to, whereas on the following website it states that extensions should be limited to 3 months each time:

http://www.bjgaj.gov.cn/epolice/qianzheng.htm

Have I assumed incorrectly and what I did is in fact different from a visa extension? Or have the rules changed since a year ago?

[gougou]

No, same happened for me, they pasted a new visa valid for one month in my passport (for an L-visa, the maximum extension you can get is two months in form two separate extensions of a month each).

[mandarina]

Hey everybody!

I also have a situation concerning extension of the Visa in Beijing and I was wondering if you guys have any idea.

So, I received a one month scollarship for studying at the Beijing BLCU and then another one for studying in Dalian for one year. But the problem is that my language course in Beijing is from July 25th to the August 22th (i got a one month x visa) and I need to be in Dalian from August 28th to 31th (in this time they promised to make me a one year x visa). Now, the real problem is that my one month visa lasts only to August 23th while I don't get my one year visa until August 28th. You can see that there is at least 5 days gap without visa.

I contacted DTU in Dalian and they suggested to me that I extend my visa here in Beijing, othervise I am to come to Dalian on August 20th. Thus, I asked the university office here in Beijing and they told that the best thing for me to do is to go to Dalian one of these days (Dalian is 1000km away from Beijing!), otherwise they do not have the form that I need (JW201) and that they really don't know what to do with me.

Any suggestion?

[Senzhi]

Gougou,

I don't think the difference of application speediness lies in the kind of visa or nationality, but more in local bureaucracy differences, particularly the staff in person.

In addition, one must consider that there are some periods of the year when more applications are made than other periods.

I think we can see differences in local government speediness in any city in the world

[faine]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm here on a L visa.

I got my school to call the office today - they said there's no way to expedite it and said "call back in 10 days." I'm probably going to call this Wednesday too just in case. Being without my passport for this long and this close to my date of departure makes me a little squirrely.

If worst comes to worst and they try to hold on to it past the 10th, can I get the US Embassy to help? What would be my worst case scenario options?

Thanks

Faine

[Qcash3]

The PSB in Beijing are not the most helpful of people from my past experience, the PSB in Chengde however is very friendly and helpful. It might have been worthwhile to hop on a train and and head to Chengde for a weekend and explore the sights and get a visa extension, but it seems that ship has sailed. If they hold onto your passport past the date you are scheduled to leave, then you will have to reschedule. Obviously you can't leave the country without a passport. Unfortunately I am not quite sure what you will be able to do about lodging, perhaps you could negotiate with your hotel?