F-Visa extension change Host?

[FengBowle]

Hey Folks!

I have a question and would be glad if anyone could help.

I am German, holding an F-Visa, living in Beijing. I am student at a University and also doing an unpaid internship at a small company (only 7 people working there). My Visa ends 22nd of July. My Father wants to visit me from July 17th till 31st.

I thought I could just extend my F-Visa or Convert it into an L-Visa, but there was a very unfriendly and quite determined "延不了" by the visa official. All I can do is do get my F-Visa extended.

But who could give me the nessecary papers? Of course, my 单位, but the semester ends in July, and I am not sure if they just say "okay, sure, we will state that you study here in August". Now the question: Can I say that I want to do an HSK in August? Would the University accept such as a necessary condition to grand me an extension? Or can I go to the company and ask my boss if he could give me those papers?

Of course, as you might all know, I don't want to do Visa-runs or pay 7000RMB+ for some Visa-Agencies. Could anyone help me out? I'm quite desperate...

谢谢你们的合作

冯伯乐

[Matty]

Well, if you're not paying for further study, usually they wont extend your student visa. If your unpaid internship is organized through the university then they should extend it for you. Otherwise your workplace may be able to.

Really you need to ask both of them.

Also usually an F-Visa will not be extended beyond 1 year from your entrance of China.

Getting a new visa however, may not be as expensive as you think. A port visa in Shenzhen usually costs 400元 + 40元 for a blue background passport photo, however I don't know about Germans, many other countries can. I don't think Africans or Philippines peoples can.

To get there you could take a train from BJ to SZ anywhere from (one way prices) 254元 for a 23 hour hard seat, /// 450元 for a 23 hour bed /// 936元 for a 10 hour very nice soft seat. So you could potentially get a 3 month tourist new visa for 1000元 and a rather sore butt or 1,500 and a not so sore butt.

But remember these prices are based on the assumptions that Germans can freely travel to HK without preparing a Visa, that Germans can get a 3 month port visa at the 罗湖 station for 440元。

Once you enter HK you just need to take the subway 1 station, switch to the other side of the track, return to 罗湖 (be careful, there are 2 trains, only 1 of which goes to 罗湖), hand in your ticket to the ticket booth and get it exchanged for an exit ticket - this saves you paying for 2 tickets - and once you're past the bridge between HK and SZ areas keep going straight and watch for a sign above some stairs saying port visa.

I think they're open 9am-11(12?)am and 1pm-4pm. So don't be late. It usually takes an hour to get a visa, but times can vary.

You will also need a rental contract or a hotel booking for the mainland when applying.

Remember to have your money prepare before going in or... I don't remember seeing an ATM inside =]

http://train.qunar.c...date=2013-07-27 <== Train prices