Quandary regarding renewing my visa as an F type or X type?

[Preet]

Hello all,

I have a query I hoped you might be able to help me with. Back in April of this year I applied for an X type study Visa to study Zhineng Qigong in China for 6 months between the beginning of May to the end of October. However instead of issuing me a X type study visa I was given a 6 month F type Business visa instead - I read in the small print that F type visas include short term study which is probably why it was issued to me - however my course finishes in October, and I shall be continuing with my studies. I wish to renew the visa for a further year.

My question is whether I renew this F type Business visa or apply for an X type Study visa which I understand is usually for students studying one year or more? If I renew the current F visa I hold it might be useful as I could also have the flexibility to work whilst I study I take it?

Many thanks for your words of wisdom,

Preet

[Kanjiology]

I was in a similar situation as you. I came to China and studied Chinese for six months and was issued an F visa for short-term study, I then recieved the CSC Scholarship for the next 4 years and was issued a Residence Permit for study. If you stay in China for more than six months, you will more than likely be issued a residence permit for one year. You won't get an X visa if you're already in China, an X visa is just issued for people to enter China from abroad to sort out their things for it later to be converted to a Residence Permit. From my understanding the visa types are also changing after September 1st, there will be an X1 visa for long-term study and X2 visa for short-term study, but I am not really sure everyone knows what is going on at the moment.

Also, you can't really work on an F visa. According to the new visa laws, students are now allowed to work part-time with the permission of their school and PSB, but I don't know any finer details.

Lastly, a Residence Permit is much more convenient than an F visa, you can freely come and go if you ever need to leave China without the need to worry about how many entries your F visa has.

Your school should take care of most of the paper work for you. Good luck!

[Preet]

Hi Kanjiology, thanks for all the useful information. I talked to my teacher about it and he said that the organisation is not registered as a school technically speaking. It's a company that offers short term courses and workshops in Qigong, I might return to the UK to visit my family and apply for a renewal of my visa there as opposed to re-applying here. Hopefully I'll be issued a multiple entry visa, fingers crossed.

[roddy]

If it's not an official school it won't be able to get you an X visa.