Will my visa be tied up with my University?

[roddy]

Since this info is different than what people here say

I would ignore what people here say.

[panda23]

Where did you get the F visa from?

F visas are not tied to a school, city or province, so as long as it is valid, you could easily go and study in Harbin or Guangzhou on that F visa.

I got it from the embassy in my home country using the university's JW202 and admission letter

Also, is it easy to extend a six month F visa within China? My classes at the private language centre will run until September but my visa expires in August (since university semesters finish in July)

[panpan86]

Hi Estratos and others -

I've just been speaking to our student service department and managed to glean some information that might be of interest:

1. As previously mentioned, F and X visas are different. An X visa will automatically lapse if the student does not register at the school within 1 month of arriving in China. An F visa will not lapse automatically and the school does not have the direct authority to cancel an F visa BUT they can and might inform the entry and exit bureau of the PSB if you fail to turn up to the class you enrolled with them. So in summary, there is a danger in simply going to a different school without telling anyone.

2. The school (and agent or recommending agency) are held responsible for students that they sponsor. This is regardless of whether you have applied for an F or X visa. There have been cases where students who applied through CUCAS did not attend the school that they had applied for and carried out illegal or unauthorised activities in China - it caused us some 麻烦!

3. Not all nationalities are equal. While citizens of some countries (i.e. some developed countries) can apply for F-visas quite easily and without supporting documentation, citizens of certain other countries can only apply for them with an invitation or JW202 form.

So our advice is: Contact the school that originally issued the JW202 and the school that you want to switch to, and get both of them to agree. Once you have done this, you will be able to switch schools legally. Otherwise, perhaps apply for a tourist (L) visa and switch to F on arrival, but again you must obtain the school's permission prior approval, don't just turn up and expect them to sort it out!

Hope this helps!