Visa Changes - what you going to do?

[gougou]

I assume that's because roddy had a valid visa; in Germany, you didn't (and didn't need to).

I've had plans messed up by that stupid rule before as well. You'd think that 23 years after Schengen, somebody would have come up with a better one...

[roddy]

Hmmm, my visa now looks puny in comparison to all these one year monsters. But then again, I'd rather have the two 90 day stays than a year of 30 or 60 day stays.

As for being able to get a visa here rather than having to do it in the UK - I have no idea. It might be that they've stopped caring post-Olympics, it might be that they never cared, it might be that Chiang Mai is such a small consulate that the Foreign Ministry has forgotten it exists and they haven't got any memos lately. I wasn't about to tell them I'd heard it was necessary to provide flight tickets, an itinerary, and to go to London, in case they said 'Yes, it is.' All I provided by way of 'evidence' was a long and largely hypothetical list of Chinese cities I plan to visit. The section on the back about your contacts in China I just left blank.

For reference, I do have a Thai tourist visa, as opposed to having come in on the visa waiver scheme. I have no idea whether that made any difference, but I doubt it.

[heifeng]

talk about monsters, there seems to be a 2 yr visa too, but my consulate said they don't issue them...even though this other website has been pretty recently updated: 2008年9月19日

[BrandeX]

There is also a 5 year, but is seems no one gets that one either.

[Josu-]

Hi,

I have one question,

Right now I'm taking a 3 months course at the BLCU and I have an F visa por 120 days. My visa ends in january 3rd, but I'd like to spend a two or three months more in Beijing (but not studying in the university). Is possible and easy to change from a F visa to a tourist visa here in Beijing?

thanks

[roddy]

All you can really do is go along to the PSB and ask them. If they say no, it may still be possible via an agency. I'd wait till December though - if you ask now, everything may have changed by January.

[cui ruide]

Anyone know anything about a 2 year post-degree work experience requirement for business visas dependent on location? Is this a English teacher thing specifically? Any ways around it? (i.e. previous visits to the country?)

[roddy]

What would an English teacher be doing with a business visa? I've heard of experience requirements for work visas, could well be an effort to keep out some English teachers, I don't know. Unless the school is willing to argue your case, or you want to lie I'm not sure there's much you can do.

[cui ruide]

Sorry, a work/employment visa is indeed what I meant. I just wanted to know if it was on the radar or I might be getting thrown for a loop in hope I would instead take an offer to go teach in some low-tier city instead. I was also hoping to find out whether or not it's specific to company, city, profession, or what... Just so I know what my options are.

[pazu]

Just called the JTA and FBT, http://www.jta.biz/chinavisa and http://www.fbt-chinavisa.com.hk

Both said that 6-month visa are available for HKID-card holders.

And LEEO in Beijing (http://www.cn-visa.com/) said they could extend most types of visa (e.g. 1-month L visa) to 6-month visa for most western nationalities for Y2800.

The JTA and FBT said they were optimistic that the situation would be better in the near future, but they aren't sure about the time....

[westmeadboy]

@roddy - how much was your flight from Chiang Mai to Kunming? I've done some searching online and it looks quite pricey at 350EUR one-way...

Thats the price direct from Thai Airways website. When I use the flight search engines I can't seem to find the flight at all...

[roddy]

I can't remember off hand what it was, but I bought it direct at the Thai Airways office in Chiang Mai, and got a cheaper price than their website was listing. I seem to recall it being in the region of 8,000 THB though. That was buying a couple of days in advance. Plane was very quiet, only about a third full, would have been mid-November.

[westmeadboy]

Cheers for that. I'll be flying late July. I suppose if its really expensive then I could always go overland. Did you look into going overland?

I found these links:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID=15266722

http://teakdoor.com/thai-visas-and-visa-runs/4060-thailands-border-crossing-points.html

I guess one problem is that Thai immigration wants to see your onward ticket out of Thailand.

[roddy]

No, there's no land border, you'd need to go through Laos or Burma. Unless you actually want to do that you're probably better off seeing what cheaper options there are from Bangkok - Air Asia into Hong Kong or China proper, Thai or China Air into Beijing or wherever. You can get between Chiang Mai and Bangkok cheaply enough - I took the train on my way up, which was fine.

If you're looking at late July dates now, it's possibly that they just haven't decided what the discounted prices will be, so they're only showing the full prices.

[abcdefg]

Last year I flew from Kunming to Chiang Mai on Thai Air to get a new 90-day visa stamp. When I looked into it again earlier this month, I found they now first fly you to Bangkok and then back up to Chiang Mai at considerably more expenditure of money and time. So instead I flew to Shenzhen and just walked across to Hong Kong for a new visa stamp. It was quicker, easier, and cheaper than the Thailand options. Of course that wouldn't help you much if you live in Beijing.

[westmeadboy]

Well, I'll be travelling from Nepal - which is a huge pain because all flights from Nepal to anywhere (other than India) are expensive. Also, you cannot get chinese visas there. Also, its not an option for me to get a chinese visa before going to Nepal.

My ultimate destination is Dalian where I want to stay as long as possible (I mean at least 6 months, preferably one year or more).

I must admit, if the visa form (in Chiang Mai) really does make it possible to get a one year multi-entry visa, then that would be better than any option in Hong Kong, as far as I understand.

@roddy - those links I posted suggest there is a way to get from Thailand to China directly. The second link talks about taking a barge for about 2000THB from Chiang Saen:

However you can approach the captain of the chinese barges and take a ride up into laos or china. I think the going rate was 2000 baht per person. It is all quite legal, you just stamp out of thailand at Chiang Saen immigration and stamp into Laos or China when you get off the boat.

Edited February 20, 2009 at 03:16 PM by westmeadboy

[roddy]

I think one year is unlikely without some kind of invitation letter, or a 30 / 60 / 90 day stay requirement - will be interested to hear how you get on though. And maybe I'm soft, but taking a barge ain't direct in my book (sh)

What are you aiming to do in Dalian? Nepal's certainly an awkward place to start from. The best I can think of would be to fly to HK (assuming that's even possible), pick up a tourist visa, then to Shanghai or Beijing to get an agency F visa (I think I posted some names / links earlier) and then on to Dalian.

[westmeadboy]

I actually want to do "nothing" in Dalian. I just work on my own software project on my laptop. Just need somewhere cheap to stay and code Also somewhere to practice my chinese.

I used an invitation letter (from a private school) last spring to get a 3-month chinese business visa in india.

Do you mean I might be able to get a one year (L or F?) visa with invitation letter.

[roddy]

*might*, and I don't know who's allowed to hand out invitation letters at the moment. There's a private school in Dalian called Ruiwen （瑞文？） that told me they could sort out visas for students, might be worth a look. Dalianxpat.com and Daliandalian.com might list others.

[Hedge]

The private school I attend in Shanghai is arranging a 1 year multiple entry visa with unlimited stay per visit for me right now, so it should be possible. Though I don't know all the details of how they are getting it for me. Had to pay a lot though..