Travel Before Studying

[ruich]

Hi everybody,

this visa stuff will drive me crazy one day.. I already couldn't get a proper visa during the Olympic Games due to the annoying regulations.

Anyway, I will study two semesters in Beijing, this autumn and next spring. So I will get a student visa. But I intend to travel a bit before university starts. Therefore I plan to enter China 20 days before the semester actually starts. And not in Beijing but I'd like to fly to Guangzhou.

Does anyone know if this is possible with the student visa I get in Europe? Or do I absolutely have to enter China with a tourist visa and change it to a student visa after I've arrived in Beijing?

Hope someone can help me. It seems most people in this forum that travel before studying enter with an L visa and change it later. But since I just want to visit some friends in the south for a short time I hope I can avoid this.

ruich

[m000gle]

I'm actually curious about this as well, since I'll be studying in Beijing starting this September and I hope to visit Shanghai before hand to see the Expo, and maybe Hangzhou to visit a friend. I would only be entering the country a week or so before registration at the university, so I'm not predicting a major hassle, but any advice would be great.

My first reaction upon reading your post, ruich, is that if you are studying on a typical X-Visa (student), its generally only good for 30 days, by which point you will have had to register at the university and have it upgraded to a Residence Permit. I don't know if this means you have to have applied within 30 days, or if you need to have it processed and in hand. If its the former, I would guess you're fine but if its the latter you would be cutting it very close. There's also the risk of losing your passport/visa while travelling, which would make it quite difficult to not only register at the university, but also a hasslee to apply for a new passport, new X-Visa and then a Residence Permit... a daunting task even in the most efficient bureaucracy, something which (if stereotypes are to be believed) China is not.

[ruich]

m000gle, I basically thought the same. It *shouldn't* be a problem, as long as I make sure that I get this Residence Permit within 30 days. But still, my experience with Chinese bureaucracy isn't the best and I desperately want to avoid any situation that has a high potential of leading to problems. Not that I arrive in Guangzhou and the policeman (or whoever) at the airport says "hey.. you study in Beijing, you can't enter China in Guangzhou" :rolleyes:

[m000gle]

I emailed my consulate today and they said that it's ok to travel as long as I apply for a Residence Permit within a month of arriving. Beijing Normal University recommended not arriving in the country any earlier than two weeks before registration, though, so you may want to contact your university and/or local consulate, just to be safe.