Invitation for Hong Kong visa run

[zhouhana]

I'm planning to quit my Mandarin studies and leave China in late June or early July. My residence permit that I got for attending a university last semester is expiring at the end of this month, and since I'm going on a trip to Shenzhen in a few days I'm thinking I can just as well continue on to Hong Kong and apply there for a new visa for the remaining four months I want to stay in China. I'm not working or anything, just studying Chinese at a private school, and applying for the university again is out of the question (it's too expensive, and I really need private lessons).

If I were back home I'd have just applied for a tourist visa, but it's still hard to get a tourist visa for more than a month in Hong Kong, right? What if my boyfriend who has a residence permit invites me?

I guess my other option is to try to get a business visa by invitation from my private language school. They invited me for six months last year, but I only got a three month visa since the embassy back home didn't think the invitation was clear enough on why I needed to stay such a long time. Now my private school is asking me to make a draft of the invitation myself to see it that works better, but I really don't know how to change it. This is the one that worked so-so, now with dates updated:

"[Private language School] is pleased to invite [student], with passport number [xxxxxxxxx] to our school for the purpose of experiencing Chinese culture from March 15th 2012 until July 14th 2012.

[student] should obtain a F-visa from her local Chinese consulate and will be responsible for all costs of travel once in China.

Yours sincerely,

[school owner]

[school name and adress]

[stamp]"

What I'm really asking here is 1) what do you think about the possibilities of getting a four month tourist visa in HK with/without boyfriend's invitation, and 2) how should I change the school's invitation to have a better chance of getting a four month business visa? (If I get a visa that makes me have to reenter China every 30 days, that's okay -- I'm just a ferry-ride away from Taiwan-owned Jinmen island.)

[roddy]

Someone reported recently getting a one year F visa in Hong Kong, I can't see any reason you couldn't look into getting for a six month one. Basically you go via an agent, pay a bit of a fee and they take your passport to the border to get the visa, then bring it back. It's a bit dodgy as people often do this to work illegally, but if you're studying and your boyfriend is there, I can't see how it would cause you any problems.

*cough cough section on signatures cough cough*

[anonymoose]

Or just try to get a 90-day tourist visa, and then you only need to go to Kinmen once.

[zhouhana]

Okay, thanks, I'll try to go for the 6-month business visa then. The 90 day tourist visa isn't enough I'm afraid; I can go to Jinmen to get an already existing visa stamped for a new period, but I can't get a new visa that way. Sorry for being unclear.

While in Hong Kong (I'm going there anyhow now), is it better to go via an agent (people keep mentioning CTS) than going straight to the Commissioner's Office? If so, why?

Sorry about the signature. Hope it's alright now.

[roddy]

If you go to the official Hong Kong visa place you'll only get the visa you show documentation for. If you go via the agency there's a bit of a dodgy deal happening somewhere and you get the visa you want, rather than the one you're strictly speaking entitled to. They seem to be pretty strict in Hong Kong these days, and I doubt an invitation letter from a private school and a note from your boyfriend will do much. They may be good for an extension locally though - have you asked your PSB folk what they think?

Re the invitation letter - if it's to do any good make sure it specifies Hong Kong, and that you've paid fees already. But to carry real weight you'd want one of the official JW202 / JW201 forms that universities hand out.

Might be worth having a scout around the travel and English teacher forums online - there's usually a 'what visas can you get in Hong Kong' discussion going on.

[zhouhana]

Thanks for your reply, roddy. Didn't ask PSB this time actually, had a lot of trouble extending my business visa through them last year. I might go straight to an agent in Hong Kong then, seems like the easiest way to go now that the plane ticket is already booked. I found this page with updated general visa info: http://blog.chinatravel.net/china-travel-tips-advice/new-china-visa-rules.html

[zhouhana]

I just came back from the Commissioner's Office. Got a tourist visa with two 30-day periods. It cost 500 HKD. They didn't care much for the invitation from my school. I went to CTS first, but they just told me they could only get me a 30-day tourist visa.

[roddy]

Thanks for the follow-up.

[chinadude2006]

You should have went to the CTS on Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Shui, they can get 6 month visas. Other CTS seem to only be abe to get 30 days.

[zhouhana]

Ouch! Would have saved me a lot of time and money.