HELP! Conversion from SPOUSE visa to FOREIGN EXPERT

[LDELORESMOORE]

My husband and I live in Shanghai. He is on a Foreign Expert Visa/Work Permit, and I am on a Spouse Visa.

I have been offered a job by an English School. I have already signed my contract. As a part of the contract, the school will help me obtain my Foreign Expert Visa/Work Permit.

However....

The HR Liaison at the school is now telling me that I must cancel my spouse visa, convert it to a tourist visa, and THEN she can do the rest. She assures me that all of this can be done in Shanghai, but she has failed for 3 days now to email me the list of documents I need and where I need to go to get all of this done.

Can anybody help? We have been here only 10 months, so we are still quite inexperienced in how things work.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[kdavid]

Things may have changed since I last looked into this, but I believe a spouse visa *is* a tourist visa. The only difference is that a spouse visa has a longer duration, and can be renewed more times.

It's also possible, however, that your spouse visa is an extension of your husband's Z visa and subsequent resident permit.

Regardless, the local PSB should be able to help. Ask your school where they get visas processed for their teachers, and then go there.

[Tianjin42]

Hi LDELORESMOORE

Can’t give you a definitive answer here but can tell you that in almost all cases you can’t work on the spousal visa – so that is correct.

It seems the aim is to obtain a tourist visa and then change to a Z-visa? Officially, to obtain a Z-visa you should be required to return to your home country though this is flouted by employers who seem to have guanxi with the PSB and I would guess that there may be a clause for spouses of permanent residents already on a Z-visa though I am not sure.

I would want to double check with the school that they can obtain the Z-visa without requiring you to go home/ to Hong Kong. Have you met other teachers at the school – is it all legit?

I would guess that they are able to sort a Z-visa for you or they will try to secure an F-visa in lieu of the Z-visa.

[LDELORESMOORE]

Thanks, all, for the input. New development today -- the HR Liaison at the school is now telling me that I must have the HR Liaison for my HUSBAND'S company return me to a Tourist Visa. She said this is because my Spouse Visa is through my husband's company. But she is still certain that this can all be done in Shanghai. Then, once I am back on a Tourist Visa, then the school can convert me to Foreign Expert/Work Permit. As far as Z or F, I am not sure how all that works. I only know the terminology I have shown. I'm a nervous wreck over all of this. I wish there was just something definitive in black and white, but that appears to be very much NOT the Chinese way. Ugh.

Any thoughts on today's new development?

[gato]

What letter is on your visa? L is for tourist (Lv you）, Z is for work (gong Zuo) , and F is for business (Fang wen).

There is no separate letter for spouse.

[roddy]

It might actually be worth going into the PSB and asking their advice.

[LDELORESMOORE]

On the Tourist Visa I started out with, it shows a Category (in English) space with an L in it, which matches with what Gato said about tourist designation.

On the Visa that replaced it -- what I have been told by Chinese is my "spouse" Visa -- there is a different format, no category, and nothing in English. Chinese people who look at it tell me that I can not work with this Visa. That it is only to show I am married to my husband and that I am allowed to stay because he had the job.

The whole thing is in Chinese, so I can't read.

Roddy -- What is PSB? Where is it?

Thanks, everybody, for your kindness and help.

[gato]

If you take a picture of your "spouse visa" and black out all ID info with a paint program, someone here can at least help you figure out what it is.

[msittig]

The PSB probably can't tell you, they're just the police. If you're in Shanghai the place to go is the Immigration/Border Control center in Pudong. That's 300 Minsheng Rd, about a 10 minute walk from the Science and Technology metro station on Line 2, Exit 3. You can Google Map that, or Google Search for more info (hours, etc). The third floor is for foreigners and their visas, and the officer on the desk at the far left is available for consultation most of the time.