Source of Visa info

[Mcnubn]

Hello there

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can actually find updated legal info regarding the visa situation here in China -.- keep hearing rumours about such and such, but can never find the hard info. China's UK embassy website is pretty lacklustre, and multiple web searches have just brought up other forum posts. Doesn't matter if the page is in English or Chinese, I just want to understand my options -.-

I assume that student visa's cannot be changed into z-visa's inside China, and that I have to return to UK to get it done?

Also assume that a tourist visa cannot be turned into a work visa inside China, correct?

Any information will be hugely appreciated

thank you

[zhouhaochen]

There two parts to this, one good one bad. For the bad, the reason why you cant find any "hard" info on the internet is because there isn't any. What truly happens will depend on your nationality, the place you apply for it, the person who happens to work the day you are applying it for and a number of other random factors. In addition rules are changed with quite some regularity and changes are not published. There is no way to be "certain about your options" because there are no clear rules. China is very flexible in anything it does and it expects others to be the same way. You can reduce uncertainty by using professional visa services, as they will have dealt with a lot of visas and with their experience of the current situation can give you more reliable advice than any website can give you - however, an element of uncertainty remains.

For the good part, there is always a way to sort things out with a Chinese visa. You might have to do a trip to HK, pay an agent or do something else, but people always manage to stay if they want to.

For comparison, I have quite a few Chinese friends applying for UK/Schengen/USA visas and while they state their rules on their websites a bit more clearly their decision making process is just as impossible to understand, much slower, and not explained by anyone. Very different to the Chinese approach however, once something is decided there is almost no way to get around it or change it, even if you are willing to spend some money - even if it means breaking up a family or destroying someone's university career.

Sometimes I think the Chinese just try to get back at all the foreigners for the treatment they receive when applying for visas abroad. We have it much better coming to China than they have it to go to almost any other country.

Anyways, that does not really matter to you, just rambling.....