X Visa Question

[gubokai]

Hello all,

I'll be applying for and entering China with an X Visa as I plan to study at Beijing Normal University for one year starting in September.

However, i plan to arrive August 8 to settle in, see friends, and travel a bit before school starts. the school registration period isn't until Sept. 9-11. This poses a visa issue because without proof of registration from the school, i won't be able to apply for the residence permit within 30 days.

In this case do you think the school would allow me to register earlier in august, so i could apply for my residence permit in time?

Does anyone have a similar experience? I will be contacting the school about this but i wanted to check in here first.

[joshuawbb]

As you mentioned, you should contact the school and confirm with them - I think it would be okay - surely the university would take into account your situation and allow you to register early, though keep in mind that August 8th would be summer vacation too.

I have a similar situation - I'll be arriving in Xiamen in less than two weeks, and my registration would usually be just before August 28th. The university are allowing me to register early since I will arrive before the summer vacation, so they can still process my registration. I should register before summer vacation though, as I'm unsure whether they could easily process it after that.

I'm planning to travel around a little bit too before my term, hopefully with my girlfriend. I hope you have a great time.

[gubokai]

joshua,

Well, i contacted the school and they say the registration date is not flexible -- except, there may be an exception to this if i can provide them with a local beijing resident guarantor who is legally employeed in Beijing. I do have a friend there, so that may be one option.

As a backup, I applied for a multiple entry X visa at the New York consulate through an agency service with good connections. If i'm able to secure a multiple entry X visa, if the Beijing guarantor does not work, I can always go to Hong Kong or Taiwan, re-enter and get another 30 days to secure the residence permit.

Worst case scenario, if they only issue me a single entry visa, I'll have to confirm that the guarantor option will work, otherwise, i'm going to have to change my flight to arrive later, hopefully that won't happen.

I'll keep you posted. Good luck with your program!

[imron]

Are you planning to live on or off campus? If you'll be living off campus I don't see any reason why you can't just go through all the residence permit formalities yourself. It'll be more hassle than if the school did it for you but it will also be a learning experience

If you're living on campus it might be a different issue, as you need to show proof of your accommodation in the form of the piece of paper you get when you register with the PSB that has your local address on it. If you are staying in a hotel until you can move into school dorms, I'm not sure how possible this will be.

[joshuawbb]

Ah, sorry to hear that the date isn't flexible - though hopefully that second option should work out for you. I don't think it should be to hard to get someone to do that, especially if you already have a friend there.

I hope too that you don't have to change your flight - though it sounds like you have two possible backups should they work out though, so you've at least got some good potential insurance plans. No need to worry yet then until your visa is confirmed as either single or double entry. I'm probably lucky myself that Xiamen University are allowing me to register early.

Thank you - good luck with your program too!

Imron - does that mean that if one is living off-campus, registration with the university is not required for the residence permit as long as I have my apartment? Sorry if that's a rather stupid question. Just that from what I presumed before, I should have already registered with the university (i.e. declared my residence, address to them, etc). I was originally planning this order of events:

Health check --> Apartment --> Uni registration --> Residence permit

Just wondering, as I'm living off-campus, is the uni registration optional here?

Sorry, I didn't mean to go off topic. Just thought it would be better than making an antirely new topic.

[gubokai]

Yes, i was under the impression also that uni registration was required and that you needed to show proof of registration to be able to apply for your residence permit at the PSB.

Otherwise, i would be happy to show up on my own and apply for the permit. The issue here was that I am scheduled to arrive on Aug. 8 but the university will not allow me to register before Sept. 9, which is beyond the 30 day limit.

As I mentioned, i'm hoping that with a Beijing guarantor I could be able to register early OR i can secure a double (or multiple) entry visa and be able to go to HK or TW around Aug. 20 and re-enter and have another 30 days.

I'm pretty sure this is the case, otherwise, I'd have no issue. I'm not planning to live on campus.

[imron]

Although the situation may be different at your university, in my experience (several years ago now) university registration was really just to get you registered as a student and for your classes. As a convenience for students staying in the dorms the university also handled all the paperwork necessary for getting your residence permit to avoid the hassle of several hundred students having to do it all themselves (and more than likely have a significant portion screw it up or encounter other difficulties). It was however entirely possible for people to go through the residence permit formalities themselves (which I had to do as I was living off campus). From memory, what you needed was:

*Application form (you get these from the PSB in your city that deals with residence permits)

*Passport

*Health Certificate issued by an authorized institution

*Accommodation registration form

*JW201/202 (not sure if a photocopy was ok or if you needed the original)

*passport-sized photo

Then you front up at the relevant PSB office with all the forms. If you're missing anything they'll let you know and you then go away and get that and come back. Once everything is ok, you hand everything over and then come back a week later, pay the fee and collect your passport with the new residence permit attached.

You might want to confirm with your university whether or not this is the case. However if the university will do it for you it's probably easier to let them handle it and save yourself the hassle. They will probably be able to organise the health-check for you too.

So my advice would be to go and speak to your university first thing and see what they say about the whole process. They will know better than anyone else what the local situation is like and should be able to direct you regarding the most efficient way to sort everything out.

[imron]

Actually, looking at the requirements for Beijing, it would seem you need: (emphasis added)

1. Passport with current visa

2. Registration Form of Temporary Residence in Beijing

3. Visa or Residence Permit application form with hosting school’s seal

4. A recent 2-inch photo with white or light blue background

5. Original Health Certificate from the Chinese Quarantine Office for foreign citizens 18 and over, needed only for first-time application as foreign student for Resident Permit

6. “Admission Confirmation” by the enrolling school together with JW201 or JW202 form for foreign citizens who have entered China on an L or F visa.

So it seems that registration at the school will be necessary.

[roddy]

I can't remember (and might never have actually seen it) but don't you need something from the university to say you've actually turned up there and paid fees for X months? You'd have the JW201/202, but is that enough?

Otherwise you could pay the application fee for the JW202, go through the process yourself, and never go near the university.

Edit: Answered already in Imron's second post.

[gubokai]

ah, but i'm not entering on an L or F visa, i'm entering on an X visa. Does that mean i don't need the registration confirmation?

Is this a potential loophole?

If so, this would save me a lot of time and hassle.

Typical Chinese website....the English instructions are incredibly vague and misleading...

Thanks for your help!

[imron]

Probably it's a mistake or a misunderstanding. L and F visas normally do not need to worry about residence permits. It's only X and Z visas that this is required for.

Try contacting the school and ask if it is possible for them to help you apply for a residence permit without doing the full registration process. The full registration process might not be possible during the summer vacation, but you might find that it's still possible to get the things you need to apply for the residence permit.

[gubokai]

All,

I was able to get a multiple entry visa from the new york consulate.

so, if i can't register early, at least i can go to HK or TW and come back and have an additional 30 days to process with no penalty.

Hopefully, assuming i am willing to apply for the residence permit on my own and not living on campus, the school will allow me to register early.

if not, i'll be on my way to HK or TW after Aug 20 or so, so i can be clear for registration on Sept. 9.

cheers and thanks for your replies

Corey

[barronrandall]

Hi,

I was wandering if anybody would know how long it takes to get an X Visa converted into a residence permit. I have heard that BLCU are very slow at this and it would be better to pay extra to get it done quicker. Is this correct?

The reason being is because I need to travel during the weekend of 24th September. However I arrive on 28th August.

Does this give me sufficient time for me to convert the visa x to residence permit?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[joshuawbb]

Hi there,

I'll write my knowledge from my experience - you didn't describe your situation overly clearly, so what I say here could either be accurate or not very relevant to your situation.

Firstly, on which day are you registering with BLCU? From the beginning of our story, you have 30 days to convert your X visa into a residence permit from the day you arrive, which would be August 28th. Are you in a position to register immediately? If I am seeing correctly, I'd be very surprised if you didn't have your permit by September 24th's weekend since it is 4 days before your visa expires.

There is a fairly long tally of items you need for the permit application, so let's start from the beginning. Are you living in an apartment/accommodation independently, or in BLCU dorms? I'm going to presume you will register with the university at your arrival time.

Note: All people arriving in China must register with the PSB within 24 hours regarding where they are staying. I guess BLCU will handle all that for you if you are staying in a dormitory, but I am not sure so I can't really answer that. In Xiamen I am living in an apartment, so I needed to register myself in person, and received a Temporary Residence Report/Permit, which just shows where you are living, etc.

You probably know all this already, but when you register with BLCU you should have these items:

-Your passport

-Admission notice

-JW202 form

-As many passport-style photos as they need

-Health examination results (only perhaps if you have already done it. If not, I presume you will do it after the registration or later. This should not be required for registration so ignore it if it's not relevant)

After you register I presume the formalities will be sorted out. I don't know how fast or slow they might be as I have no idea about BLCU, but for me in Xiamen University things were done immediately, whenever I had the needed info and items to hand. I presume after your registration is finished, you'll have done your health check if you haven't already done it.

Getting back to the residence permit, BLCU don't get it physically - they sort out the application from what I know. I would presume they should do it as quickly as possible since you have a 30 day time limit. When you have all the needed items/info, they should fill out a Residence Permit Application Form for you and you should give that to the PSB, Entry and Exit Administration or equivalent. The university will tell you exactly where.

Getting the Residence Permit Application Form

When you go to get the application form from BLCU, you should have these items, but I don't know if you will need all of them - I'm saying from my experience and yours may be different.

-Your passport

-Your health examination results/certificate.

-A yellow version of your JW202 - the university should give this to you after your registration. It's the copy the PSB need for your residence permit. The white copy you have should not be required after you get this (but obviously, never lose it anyway).

-Your admission notice or equivalent, plus a copy or two if needed.

-Your proof of accomodation/dormitory registration information or equivalent. If you are living outside campus then you may need your contract or copies, plus maybe copies of the landlord/lady's papers and ID.

-As many passport-style photos as they need, I was asked for 2.

Give all that to wherever or whoever BLCU designates to create the Residence Permit Application form for you. From my experience the information should be used for making the form, which will then be printed. They should then give you the permit application form, along with all the items back listed above except for the photos (stuck on the application) and any copies they want, if any.

Getting the Residence Permit

By now you should have a ton of forms/formalities. You need to take everything to the PSB or wherever the university designates to you - it should always be some department of the PSB - to get your residence permit. Just to clarify, and I know you probably know this anyway, but to get your permit this is what you need now:

-Your passport, plus a photocopy of it and a photocopy of your visa just in case (I needed one)

-Your residence permit application form, as created by the university

-Your health examination results/certificate

-Your JW202 yellow version, plus a photocopy

-A photocopy of your admission notice, but bring the original too just in case

-Passport-style photos, usually two

-Your proof of accomodation/dormitory registration or equivalent, or contract if you are leasing an apartment off-campus. If you are off-campus you will need your contract, possibly copies of the landlord/lady's ID, or you might need him/her there in person. I just needed my contract.

-As mentioned in the beginning, if you are living in your own apartment then you will have a Temporary Residence Report/Permit, which you would receive from the PSB after registering. If you have this, you need to bring it too when applying for your residence permit.

From my experience, all of the above should not take long if you do everything immediately and you should ask the university exactly how long registration would be. As long as you have the documents you need everything should just flow through. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of documents you need, just like me, then get everything and just bring absolutely everything that might be relevant to your application and the person doing it for you will give back to you whatever isn't needed.

Once you have given them everything, they will start processing your residence permit. My residence permit took 5 working days not including weekends and I actually picked up mine today (I gave my application last Friday, and received it this Friday). Yours may or may not be different and I did not pay any extra fee for any speedy service - the 5 days (realistically, 7 since a weekend will probably be included) was just standard.

After your application has been checked and confirmed, you will receive a receipt - this contains all details including the price of your permit, the date you should collect it, and your personal details. It is your ticket for collection so do not lose it! You may either pay your permit fee on that day, or pay on the collection day. I paid on the collection day.

On the designated collection day which should be 5 or 7 days later, come to the same office and collect your residence permit and passport. It is a label stuck in your passport just like your visa, containing your personal details and validity time. You will not get back the yellow JW202 or any other forms you gave in when you applied.

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So in short:

-Your residence permit application is handled by BLCU. Everything should be immediate but you should get further details from them.

-Processing your residence permit is handled by the PSB or equivalent and you go there yourself, and should take 7 days (5 days plus weekend), if my experience is the same as yours.

-I think you should be fine to travel on those days if you are arriving on August 28th. You should absolutely have your residence permit by those dates and if you didn't I'd be quite worried.

-An important note is that the PSB will keep your passport during the permit processing time. I presume that showing the receipt of your application would suffice to anyone who for some reason might want to see your passport.

Once again, you probably know most if not all of this, but for relevance I wrote it anyway. It is also entirely according to my experience, so this might be helpful or irrelevant to you. Either way, I hope I have done something to help