Travel before studying?

[elranchero41]

Hello,

I am going to be studying at 华中科技大学 starting next year,so i will apply for a student visa once my admission documents arrive.And as i remember from last time i got a student visa in china,it only allows you to enter just few days before the universities registration date.(Do i remember this wrong?)

Thing is,this time i would like to go like 10 days earlier and travel a bit.So,how do i overcome this problem?

Thank you

[Matty]

The visa should allow you to enter earlier, based one when you apply, that's why we can't apply for visas too early. (If I recall correctly)

You should have no problem with 10 days, it just means you'll lose 10 days at the end of your semester (when you could switch to a tourist visa to travel more - if you're only studying 1 semester).

In my experience, you should have no trouble, but when applying for the visa just ask to confirm, my first time I stayed in Beijing for a week before heading to Harbin for class no problems.

[elranchero41]

I see.I must be the one who remembered wrong then.

Thank you

[m000gle]

The answer varies depending on whether you're studying using an F-Visa or X-visa.

F-Visa -

Duration under six months - With this type, you can enter as early as you want, as long as you don't exceed the duration... e.g. If your final exam and return flight is six months minus a day from when you arrive, you cannot enter early as you will exceed your duration; if your return flight is within the six month limit, it shouldn't matter how early you enter. Be sure to check your own duration, as I have heard of the occasional 3 month, 9 month or 12 month F-Visa being issued.

X-Visa -

Duration 000 days - The duration written on the visa is misleading. You actually have

30 days

before you must have commenced your application for a Residence Permit... So, as long as you are registered a) at your school; B) at your place of residence and c) submit the Residence Permit application within the 30-day window, coming a week or three early won't matter. Don't worry if you haven't received your passport/permit back within 30 days, as long as you have submitted it for processing you should be fine.

* In both cases, as with any Chinese, you still need to register at the local PSB within 24-hours wherever you stay. Staying at a hotel during your travels avoids this hassle, since they do it for you.

** Both are also single-entry visas. However, the Residence Permit acts as a multiple-entry visa for its duration, once you have it in hand.

It never hurts to contact your consulate or school early to ask them about pre-studies travel. It may be possible to process your registration at the school early, or something. However, you should be fine as long as you don't exceed your visa's duration.

[Matty]

I've gotten away with not registering within the 24 hours quite a number of weeks by mentioning I had been travelling, or stayed in a friends house in Beijing on my way to the school. But every police station is different. The one where I live now... well, they don't really care when you register, oh, come back in a couple of weeks -.-

But remember if you stay in a hotel ask them for the deng ji form they do, it will go down better with the police if your lot are strict.

Also, if on the F-Visa, at the end in theory you can still switch to a 30 day tourist visa. Note, you'll need that deng ji form again, the government loves them.

[m000gle]

I was under the impression that switching your visa type generally required exiting and reentering China on the new one. This is why runs to Hong Kong are so common. I could be wrong though.

You're bang on with the registering, though. I visited in 2007 and didn't even find out until after having left China that I was supposed to register... Nothing happened then, nor has it affected subsequent visa applications. If there's one thing which sums up most of this bureaucratic stuff, and especially enforcement, it's: your milage may vary =P

[elranchero41]

Thanks m000gle,mine is going to be X type.This means i should start planning my itinerary

[Matty]

Visa runs are done for 2 main reasons:

• You can't change to a Z-Visa (work) in the main land

• You can only extend your L-Visa (tourist) once or twice?

But I'm pretty sure you can change from any other type of visa to a tourist visa.

Since you're on an X-Visa I don't think you need to worry so much about the expirey as you'll be switching to a residence permit anyway. Just make sure you don't go so early that the school wont have time to get your residence permit done. One week really shouldn't make a difference with any organised institution.

Then again, I had a friend who didn't know they needed to switch to a residence permit and had been living illegally until she got caught by a hotel when touring. Luckily the PSB there was quite happy to help her out. The school told her everything was done and never mentioned she needed to get one...