Visa

[Dan Bang]

Hi.

I have tried to call the Chinese Embassy in my country, but nobody is answering the phone. So, I turn to you with my questions about the visa application process.

­- When I send the visa application form can I then enclose copies of the admission notice and the JW202-form - or must it be the original documents? It is namely important that I have these documents with me to China - so, it would be quite a problem if they were lost in the process.

­- In box number 13 - on the application form - which says “purpose of journey and place to visit in China” is it then acceptable if I write “to study at BLCU and travel in China afterwards”? (Can I combine study and travel when I apply for a visa?)

­- And what about box number 14 which says “company or person to visit in China” - can I leave this one untouched?

­- And what is meant by “duration of each stay” in box number 15 - is that how long I intend to stay in China? If yes, how long can I then apply for? Can I apply for longer time than the admission notice “allows”? As said, I wish to travel afterwards.

I’m hoping to hear from you as soon as possible.

[Jizzosh]

Welcome to the Chinese process.

Calling the embassy is hard. If you get the right phone number, reaching a person is still nearly impossible. I ended up just buying a plane ticket and going there in person, but I was on a severe time crunch. To answer your questions to the best of my ability through my experience:

You should be able to send copies. As I brought originals, the lady at the counter just sent me to make copies anyways, which were $.25 at the machine in the office. Because she didn't seem to even look at my original, I would assume a copy is the only thing necessary. They keep the copy.

For box 13, I simply put "study in China" You can try adding "visit," but I don't know what they'll think of that. Because visas are categorized into student, business, travel, etc. They might just ignore the travel portion. I don't think it matters, because if you get a 1 year visa to study, or an X visa, the visa is not as important as the green card you'll get when you arrive. My visa is valid to get me here, but since I'm now here, I have to register with the Police, and it is them that decide when it will expire. I think you'll just want to have someone help you when you register with the police, so they can explain that you'll want to travel afterward. I don't know if that's possible, as I haven't registered yet. I myself am hoping to get an exit so that I can return home in the Summer to visit family and friends. We'll see what the process entails. Anyone else here that can tell a little more about that step?

Box 14, "company or person to visit.." Either put BLCU or leave it blank. You're not applying for a business visa, so they know that you are coming for school, so it doesn't apply.

Box 15, "Duration of each stay," applies to visitor visas that have multiple entries. Again, because you'll likely have a single entry student visa, it's another box you can leave blank, or simply write the dates you intend to be in China for study. In my case, 2005年2月4日 - 2006年1月15日. Basically, the visa says valid for 000 days and there's a note that says you have to register with the police. I think they have the final say on the dates you can be here. I would just get the advice of, or have someone who speaks better Chinese help you go to the station. I don't know what they'll say. I know from reading this board that some people have been able to stay for some time afterwards, and some have had to leave the day after the term ends.

Anyhow, good luck on the visa experience. When will you be attending BLCU? I'll be there from 2月28日- 12月？日. Maybe we'll run into each other...

[Dan Bang]

Thank you for your reply. I'm planning - as a starting point - to attend BLCU from March 31st to June 22nd. Am I right when I believe that you are going to attend a programme for 1 year? Any previous experiences in Chinese?

[Jizzosh]

Yes, I will be taking courses for 1 year... I don't know if I'll do 2 semesters, or 2 semesters and some extra summer courses, or whatever but I will be here until the end of the year. I hope that I can get an exit though so that I can go home to visit in a few months. It would be nice to be able to get back to the west for a few weeks. I studied Chinese in college, though our program was a bit of a joke (2 - 1.5 hour classes a week) You just can't learn a language effectively in 3 hours a week, so I elected to move out here and go to language school every day for 4-6 hours, plus I get to bumble around and appear retarded to the local people. There's just nothing quite like trying to pick out the 600 words I know from a vocabulary of 60,000.