Visa Renewal in Hong Kong

[skylee]

The address in #20 is not quite right (there are many wrong characters) ->

九葩 should be 九龍

籀敦 should be 彌敦

搋臭仕 is not right at all. I guess it is 良士 according to the HKCTS website.

樱 should be 樓

There is not a street number and Nathan Road is a very long road. The HKCTS website lists a similar address for its Tsimshatsui Branch but it is on the first floor of the building, not the 11th floor. http://www.ctshk.com/english/aboutus/branch_hkgmac.htm

[flippant]

(it was pasted directly from the mail I got). Odd that they got it wrong.

[yialanliu]

Wanted to clarify the risks and options of Chinese banks:

You can only access your account from the city (I've been told the exact branch by some friends, although I've never had that problem) you opened it in. I've also heard of people being charged for withdrawing money in different provinces to the one in which their account is held.

It depends on the level of money you deposit. For 20k, your out of luck, but like all hassles, the more money you deposit the less you have to worry about.

This is similar to the US where in a big bank like Bank of America, having like 10k+ savings entitles you to perks such as withdrawals from all ATMS in the US without fees. And more recently, how certain accoutns only allow online banking unless you pay a fee.

In China, it's the same concept however, you are even more limited. For the lowest level, you are typically feeless ATM of same bank name within the same city. Higher levels, you might get nationwide ATM feeless withdrawals and at the highest level, you could get VIP status and get feeless withdrawals in all Unionpay ATMs.

I currently have a BOC and a Bank of Jiangsu account. The reason for the Bank of Jiangsu account is due to the VIP status being much lower, a magnitude of 10. I believe it's either 50kRMB or 50kUS in a CD to get the gold vip that opens up all perks(no daily limit on spending or withdrawals, highest tier interest on CD which is like 6% annually which is pretty good and coupled with a possible rise in CNY, and a few others) which is cheap when compared to BOC. Just rememebr out of Jiangsu, there are no branches but I get ATM feeless withdrawals which greatly helps.

I personally see banks in China similar to banks in the US where they are all considered too big to fail due to the economic stress it would cause. Thus, a major regional bank in my opinion is just as safe.

On an aside, my friends produce a bank statement of their local bank(local foreign bank at their respective homes) and that works as long as it proves you have money. See if that works for visa issues for you if you ever encounter this problem.