Changing F visa to X visa

[Huang Jialuo]

So, well.. a lot happened.. blah, blah, blah.... and I was admitted at Tsinghua for 6 months. Now I am in the US working, and my family says: hey, what the heck, stay for a year.

First of all, I haven't bought my plane ticket yet. If I have an F-Visa, can I buy a one-way ticket and be allowed to enter the country? Or do I need to have bought a roundtrip ticket for that?

Second, can I change my F-Visa to X-Visa anytime during the duration of my F-Visa? And if I attempt to change my F-Visa to X-Visa and it is rejected, do I lose my F-Visa?

Please help.

[cdn_in_bj]

If I have an F-Visa, can I buy a one-way ticket and be allowed to enter the country?

No one here cares about your ticket, however your travel agent/airline might give you a hard time about buying a one-way ticket. My travel agent at first wouldn't let me, but I told her I'd looked into it and it was ok and she went ahead and booked the ticket for me. I had made many trips to China prior to this, so that may have helped her to "trust" me. Anyways, this has been discussed previously - you can find them by doing a search.

Regarding your visa, you know that you can get an F visa for study purposes if it doesn't exceed 6 months? Past 6 months you need to apply for an X visa, but wouldn't your school help you with the application if it was necessary? Or do you already have an F visa from before?

[Xiao Kui]

I think you can change just abt anything to an X visa, as long as you're dealing with a legit school, and Tsinghua definitely is one even though the name has always reminded me of "qingwa" rrrbit . . .

I don't think people are usually rejected for X visas, if one school won't take you, another one will happily accept your tuition and provide the necessary papers. The tricky thing is changing an X visa to a different visa, which usually requires leaving the mainland and acquiring a travel or F visa in Hong Kong or elsewhere.

[magores]

When I first came to China a couple years ago I came on a F visa.

I came on a one way ticket. Nobody - from the travel agent, to the embassy, to my work - even asked.