Visa Changes - what you going to do?

[diff]

Hi,

I'm currently planning my next stay in China to visit my girlfriend and work on my thesis (meaning, I will neither enroll in any university/school nor work here). Upon applying for my last (L) visa, I was told by the consulate in Germany that they only issue 30 day visas. That was fine with me last time. However, I'm planning to stay at least 3 months this time.

Question: what is the best way to achieve this? I've read through this thread and I'm more confused now than I was before...

Could someone please be so kind to list the available options (e.g. invitation letters, etc.) and which steps should be followed (e.g. which visa to get in the first place in home country, what to change that visa to afterwards, etc.). I could then figure out myself which options are feasible in my situation,

I'm still in China now, on an L visa - if there's any way I could do this whole thing without actually leaving the country, any advice on this would be highly appreciated aswell, of course.

Many thanks in advance,

diff

[roddy]

For three months, you should be ok with an L visa and then the hassle of extending it twice at the PSB in (I assume) Beijing. If you explain what you need when applying they might give you a longer stay initially, and if you can come up with an invitation letter from a Chinese university or a letter of recommendation or something (basically something with a stamp on it) from your own university you might have better luck.

If you do get only a one month L visa extending it should be possible, but Beijing currently requires you to have (correct me if I'm wrong or this has changed) USD100 per day of extra stay in the bank in China. There's no need to show where that money has come from though, or how you've spent it, so it could be a quick loan from your girlfriend, etc.

[diff]

Roddy, thanks for the quick reply. However, as I understand it, this only helps if I can limit my stay to 90 days, right? Any day longer, and this plan doesn't work anymore.

If I could obtain an invitation letter from a Chinese company, would that help me getting an F visa which I then could have extended in BJ? What should such a letter state exactly? Any insights on how the extension is done when back in BJ (I'd rather not use an agency...)?

[roddy]

Emailed some agents a few days ago, asking about a new three / six month visa for a UK passport with an L visa expiring mid-May. Got told a) 3840 for three months, 4540 for six months; and B) 4700 to extend to Sept 15.

Sept 15 seems to be some kind of cut-off point for business visas at the moment, due to nerviousness about celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the PRC on October 1. Agencies were posting about this on the Beijinger (thebeijinger.com) recently.

The prices above tally roughly with what I'm hearing elsewhere. Significant chunks of money, but I suspect this is due to the need to go L>F. I think F>F might be cheaper.

[Prodigal Son]

I was recently quoted 2,000 for an F visa until September 15th, F>F visa. German passport

[roddy]

Visa run to Qingdao, might be of interest.

[tortue]

Hi,

is there some kind of visa FAQ for beginners?

like what are F,Z etc., what kinds of "agents" do you mean, can't you just go to immigration for any visa issues, is it correct that in general you have to plan with a visa budget of about 500-1000RMB per month, how can you get "quoted" for a visa...

Concerning my case, I am a german national living in France, currently planning to go to china for a period of 3 to 6 months later this year, with one trip to Thailand, re-entry by Laos. This trip could possibly take place before the stay in China, which gives the option to apply for the visa in Thailand rather than in Europe - maybe not a bad choice from what I understand from previous posts in this thread.

I want to go there mainly to attend language courses, but not have planned the whole stay in the first place. However, it is not impossible that a part of the courses could be kind of co-sponsored by my employer.

So my current (naive) vision of this project is to have initially a period of several weeks of planned, pre-booked language course in the context of a kind of professional education program (a good reason to issue a visa I hope : ), but to apply for a multiple entry visa exceeding that period by a couple of months. In that time I'd choose the kind of course and school or teacher that fits my needs best.

Thanks for any hints you can give!

[PaulB]

After already booking my flight to Harbin, I discover now that I'll be paying more in visa fees and extensions per month than I will for schooling! (I'm a US citizen)

Tuition: 700 RMB per month

Visa fees: approx 1,277 RMB for the intial 30-day L visa, then 960 RMB for each 30 day extension!

Not to mention the hassle of applying for the extension at the PSB, and the risk of getting denied! It looks like my lack of foresight is going to cost me a bundle. Maybe I'd be better off canceling my flight and going to Taiwan to study...

[hidden12345]

4700 RMB to extend until Sept 15 is at best opportunistic and at worst downright gangster. I got a 6mos F extension (US passport, multi-entry) in Jan09 for 1700, all without leaving Beijing. I think 3rd party agencies are just using 国庆 as an excuse to further 吭老外。

[Prodigal Son]

my friend in LA just got a 12 month L visa for US$130!

[chyilande]

PaulB, extending the visa for another 30 days is 160 yuan. And you can extend twice without leaving the country. I don't know where you got 900 something yuan!

There is some bad news though, for those interested in F visas: it seems it is no longer possible to change your L visa into F, as of May 15th. I planned to make one this week (I was quoted 3000 for six months) and the agency I was in contact with said they can't do it any more. They can issue an invitation letter, and you could go to HK to make the F visa, but they said there is no guarantee you will get it.

Does anyone know the situation with getting visas in Hong Kong nowadays? It seems to me, from previous experience, it is always possible to go there and get one, no matter what the official story is!

[PaulB]

PaulB, extending the visa for another 30 days is 160 yuan.

If this is true, then great. I read something about American citizens having to pay 960 RMB for visa extensions but I don't remember where. I can't find the source either so I guess I must have dreamt it.

Re: Hong Kong visa, I just applied for one today at Forever Bright and am picking it up tomorrow.

[chyilande]

Did you apply for F visa, PaulB?

And does anyone know what amendment page at codes in "at least one blank visa page amendment page at codes are not acceptable for visa stamping" means? I know every country's passport is different, but I am almost out of blank pages, and the only ones left are those where it doesn't specify "visa" on them (like it does on most of them), but it says "notes" or it doesn't say anything. Weird I know, to have "notes" page in the passport, since no one is going to write anything in it. I managed to get an extention in Beijing on such a page, so am wondering if it will be possible to get it in HK?

[flameproof]

and the only ones left are those where it doesn't specify "visa" on them

You will not get a visa then. They will not use that page! They only use pages marked "visa", and the page must be completely blank.

Better apply a new passport today!

[PaulB]

Did you apply for F visa, PaulB?

I applied for an L visa here in HK.

I read something about American citizens having to pay 960 RMB for visa extensions but I don't remember where.

http://www.tripintochina.com/visa/extensions - This is where I read that tourist visa extensions were 960 RMB (for US citizens). Is this not true?

the only ones left are those where it doesn't specify "visa" on them (like it does on most of them)

If you have a US passport, you will need to get additional passport pages. The process is easy and takes less than a day at any US embassy. P.S. it should be free.

[abcdefg]

Better apply a new passport today!

I don't know about other countries, but for US passports the consulate can add blank pages to your existing passport for a small fee.

[Madot]

I'm a little bit confused. I will be teaching at Henan Institute of Education in Zhengzhou, but they want me to get an F-Visa rather than a Z-Visa since it 'only for 3 months'. They have sent me the official invitation-visa-getting paper and it clearly states 3 months. Actually, I will be staying (and teaching) closer to 4 months. When I questioned them, they said that they can get a L-visa extension for the extra 3 weeks. Does this sound right?

Madot

PS

I'm not worried about payment or anything as it's an exchange kind of thing and I know the people involved. I'm only worried about finding myself with visa headaches.

[imron]

It's unlikely you'd be able to get a Z visa if you are going to be working for less than a year. F visas are normally used for short term study and work.

[imron]

More information from the chinese embassy visa page:

[The F visa is given to people who are] invited to China for a visit, an investigation, a lecture, to do business, scientific-technological and culture exchanges, short-term advanced studies or internship for a period of no more than six months.

[Madot]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I understand that the F-Visa is the correct visa for short-term work. What I'm worried about is that the official document which I need to submit states that I will be working for THREE MONTHS when, in fact, I will be there for almost 4 months. They said that they could extend the visa by getting an L-visa for the remaining few weeks. This is what I am questioning. Can they extend the F-visa (or get any other visa) without my leaving the country or going to Hong Kong or whatever? Remember it isn't Beijing. It's Zhengzhou.

Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

Mado