Going AWOL on a student visa

[Linklatter]

Just wondering, hypothetically of course, how viable it is to sign up to a school in China, getting the student visa/residence permit, going to a few weeks of class, and then travelling around China/going to live in a different city (i.e. cut classes for the remaining six months or so of your residence permit).

Anyone (hypothetically) done this?

[taylor04]

I had a really bad teacher one semester and skipped a month worth of classes and did self-study and work. The way I see it, if they get their money, most of them won't care.

[taebin]

After you register (登记) and pay for the classes, most schools and teachers won't care.

You can travel to most of the big cities without any issues, although you will need a separate visa to visit Tibet.

If you decide to move to another city, you need to show your previous registration forms (登记) if you want to move there and obtain housing and whatnot.

Good luck!

Tae

[abcdefg]

I'm pretty sure that I remember seeing accounts on this forum of students who have gotten crosswise with their schools and skipped out to do their own thing elsewhere. My recollection of those posts is that sometimes the school will then notify the PSB and have them void the study visa. No personal experience however, and I could be remembering it wrong.

[Linklatter]

Thanks for the responses - Taebin, surely if you try and get a residency permit in a city/province that is different to that on your student visa, you'll run into some kind of problem? I guess the solution would be....to not do the transfer.

[roddy]

It's perfectly feasible. You MAY run into problems, and it would make a lot of sense to be in the city you are meant to be in and make sure the school has a phone number or some other way of contacting you in case they suddenly decide to check up on people.

If you move city you have to register with the local police station for where you live. You may raise eyebrows if you have a residence permit for BLCU and you're living in Shanghai, but police stations vary so much the only way you'll know what they'll do is to try it.

[Xiwang]

In my classes last semester at Fudan University in Shanghai, we started out with 18 people. By the time the semester ended, we were down to five regular students. As far as I know, the other students were still around town somewhere but had just stopped coming to class.

[taylor04]

The problem with this question is it just depends. You never know what kind of people you will run into, but I even remember hearing about some lower quality schools literally selling student visas for the tuition money.

[taebin]

@Linklatter, good luck and happy traveling!

[Brian US]

At BLCU it didn't seem to be a problem to travel for a month. One friend transferred to a private school and was able to get a refund for the second semester at BLCU. BLCU then had his visa revoked and was notified he had to leave the country in 1-2 weeks. What made matters worse is that his visa application with the new school was denied. He was told to go back home and apply for a tourist visa to get back and take care of things. It seems you run into problems when you are not paying for the schools services.

[eatfastnoodle]

You can certainly do it. What's the worst that can happen? You get caught and expelled, big deal.

[natra]

You can certainly do it. What's the worst that can happen? You get caught and expelled, big deal.

Well, if you do get told to leave the country, I hear that it could affect future visa applications to China. Don't want that happening.

[imron]

You get caught and expelled, big deal.

And will have great difficulty getting a visa to return to China anytime in the future (which may or may not be a problem, depending on the OPs goals), but it can also affect your ability to get visas for other countries too. Having a big "DEPORTED" stamp in your passport generally isn't a good thing.

[eatfastnoodle]

the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward...

Joke aside. Why can't the OP just do his job as an student and use regular summer and winter break, as well as all the other holidays, national day, labor day, etc. to travel? I think the regular breaks are more than enough for anybody to travel around. If you only wanna travel, why bother with an student visa? You can just get a tourist visa and go where you want to go without all the though remote but still very real risk of getting caught?

[Brian US]

If you only wanna travel, why bother with an student visa?

Aren't 12 month student visas (after resident status) easier to obtain than 12 month multi entry tourist visas? I'm no visa expert, but I've heard from several friends about "visa mills" that pump out student visas for inflated prices. I've also heard work visas are harder to obtain, especially for younger folk (under 25?). I'm sure many people who would be interested in skipping class to work.

[liuzhou]

Having a big "DEPORTED" stamp in your passport generally isn't a good thing.

So you lose that passport and get another one.

I've been deported from countries that don't even exist any more!

But yes, you don't want to get deported from China unless you are pretty sure you never want to come back.

[eatfastnoodle]

But, do you really need 12 months to travel China? I mean, China is big, China is not that big, not unless if you wanna go to the relatively authentic parts of China. Still, you don't have to allocate 12 months exclusively to travel, regardless how many worth-going places China have, it's gonna seriously tax you physically and mentally to devote to traveling for such a long time.

I'm just suggesting, but I know Americans who take up a job in China or got enrolled as an student who traveled across China on breaks and weekends (who traveled more extensively and got to see more China than I did.). There are a lot of wiggle room in China regarding all kinds of legal matters, but considering the consequences and rewards, I still think going awol just for travel is simply not worth it.

It's not like it's your only chance to visit China. (I'm sure there are tons of interesting places you have never set your feet on in the US. There are plenty of time to revisit, why burn the bridge?)

[yialanliu]

Aren't 12 month student visas (after resident status) easier to obtain than 12 month multi entry tourist visas? I'm no visa expert, but I've heard from several friends about "visa mills" that pump out student visas for inflated prices. I've also heard work visas are harder to obtain, especially for younger folk (under 25?). I'm sure many people who would be interested in skipping class to work.

I might not be the best example, but 12 month multi-entry tourist visa is very easy to get if you have been to China.

After my first 3 month tourist visa, I was able to get 12 months multi-entry on all my subsequent visas. The only problem is I can't get 24 months yet.

BUT the caveat is that I was born in China as a chinese citizen with a Chinese passport and didn't become a US citizen till I am 14.

However, my other friends who go back pretty often ALWAYS get multi-entry tourist visas as long as it's not their first trip.

But, do you really need 12 months to travel China? I mean, China is big, China is not that big, not unless if you wanna go to the relatively authentic parts of China. Still, you don't have to allocate 12 months exclusively to travel, regardless how many worth-going places China have, it's gonna seriously tax you physically and mentally to devote to traveling for such a long time.

A 12 month multi entry is not 12 months consecutive. I always get 90 days per entry 12 months is the duration of the visa. The reason for this is to save money, each visa runs me 160 dollars and I'd rather not get 3 seperate single use visa to goto China when this way is cheaper.

[Meng Lelan]

There was a classmate of mine who signed up for summer class at my school in Beijing and she never came to class the entire two months. I knew she was partying all through Beijing and I thought it was a poor choice on her part to do that. If you really aren't thinking you want to like your school then don't sign up for the school. Just travel if you're wanting to travel not study.

[cm202bc]

At this point in time, BLCU at least seems to be hard @sses about this.

I was extremely disappointed with the quality of the teaching there, so began attending a variety of private schools looking for an acceptable one. Everyone I asked for advice said it would be no problem, they had all heard of someone who dropped out and had no issues. Got a call on Friday a few weeks back that they would cancel my visa the following Monday. So I hightailed it to HK, switched to a tourist visa, and then came back. Now getting an X through a private school that could give a fudge what I do in Beijing.

So I would say, dont try it a university, the government affiliation likely has them keeping closer tabs on folks these days.