From Student to (Other) Visa

[chinabro]

Hi,
I'm just about to finish a semester of Chinese Language at a University and am in the middle of making the decision of whether to continue or not.
I can see the advantages of staying with the uni, but I'd also really like to be able to travel around the country as another way of improving my language. Uni life is pretty flexible but doesn't really allow for too much long term travel which I'd really like to do before returning to my country.

So, if I decide not to continue with the uni, I think this means my Student Visa would become invalid and I would have to switch to a Tourist visa(?).

It's hard to find a lot of solid information on this.
Is Travel Visa the best option to switch to?
Is it possible to switch from Student Visa to Tourist Visa from WITHIN China? <--- this would be ideal (if not, can I do it from Japan or HongKong? (I'm an Australian Citizen))
How long is the maximum length Tourist Visa? What other durations are available? How easy are they to obtain?
(I'd like to be able to spend at least 2 months travelling here.)

If i get tourist visa it sounds like I have to show my itineray. This sounds like a bit much if my itinerary is 3 months long/unplanned. Or are they just wanting to know Where you will enter, what hotel you will stay for on first night etc?

 

If I did have to return to Australia to get a Tourist Visa, (worst case) how long could that visa duration be?  (i've heard it can be longer duration if you apply from your home country)

Thanks for any information

(I have some other threads on this site which I now have information to add to, but will do so when I can focus more clearly)

[ChTTay]

If you haven't already transferred your visa (e.g. You arrived on an L originally, then the school changed that to an X) then you should be able to transfer it to another type of visa once you have finished studying.

Recommend searching this site for a lot of what you have asked too, if you haven't already!! Many of you questions can be answered with "it depends"

Good luck!

[chinabro]

thanks for your response

The other posts here are helpful but some are a little outdated as the visa rules seem to have changed.

I read through your Hong Kong visa topic which was very helpful but kind of left me very uncertain about whether I should leave China to attempt to apply for a travel visa. It seems like people get rejected so easily from Hong Kong and for no sure reason. I'd also like to avoid returning to Australia as the cost is so high.

I arrived to china on a Student X visa and then got my residency permit with documents from the university. So in this case, since I have not changed my visa since coming to China, then I would be able to successfully apply at the PSB for a switch from X to L visa? Have you had experience with this? Is the L visa more than 30 days? (I've heard you can extend a student visa for 30 days after its expiry but I'd prefer to be on an L visa for 60 days.

Thanks again

[ChTTay]

When I studied at Tsinghua in Beijing, towards the end of the last semester, you could just go to Tsinghua's VISA office and they could give you an L tourist visa.

 

Why not just ask your school is they can do the same thing for you? I doubt its the first time they have had a student want to stay for a bit after studying.

 

I switched from L tourist to Z work visa back in 2011. After that, I went to HK to apply for an X visa to study (I had already switched/transferred so had to leave). Then, I had to go to HK again to change from X to a Z. Apparently you can go from Z to X but not from X to Z.

 

Anyway, as a lot of this visa stuff really depends on your own circumstances. I'd ask the school or go to a visa agency where you live.

[roddy]

Chinabro, how has this worked out?

[chinabro]

*ALMOST A YEAR LATER*

Since my last post, I decided to stay in China. Since it was a year ago I am not too clear about the process I went through,

I ended up paying for another semester at university which allowed me to extend my Student Visa for another 6 months.
I think I came to this decision after I was told by my university that it was very unlikely that I would be able to apply for a travel visa.
If I decided NOT to extend my stay at university, they would AT MOST allow me an extra 30 days of stay - using my Student visa (I guess some kind of extension), and even this was uncertain. After this period my visa would be expired and I'd have to leave the country.

It sounded like I would've had to return to Australia (home country) to reapply for a travel visa. (This may not be correct, but I was pretty desperate at the time and did quite a bit of reasearch, it all seemed pretty hopeless/uncertain so I decided to just continue studying and extend my Student Visa)

I'm not very clear on the whole HongKong situation and changing visa there. But it sounded like the people who were successful with that, had paid some extra fee (maybe a bribe), this put me off, as I didn't want to cause myself any concern.

Always remember you can go to your Embassy, or give them a call from within China. They love to help.

[ChTTay]

 

But it sounded like the people who were successful with that, had paid some extra fee (maybe a bribe), this put me off, as I didn't want to cause myself any concern.

 

What makes you assume a bribe?

 

I would assume any fee was for the Visa agency they went through that helped them get the visa.

 

If you go through the official Visa section in Hong Kong for the PRC, everything is very transparent and efficient. I reckon if you tried to bribe one of the visa processing people they'd remove you from the premesis right away. Check out the Hong Kong Visa topic for more information if you want.

 

As for getting a toursit visa, your Uni's answer seems to fall in line with what people have been saying on here and other forums. The days of long tourist visas from HK and on the mainland are pretty much gone. You can still get longer tourist visas from your home country through, as can be backed up by a few forums members who have done so.

[chinabro]

I may be wrong to be suspicious that it's a bribe. But from what I read it sounded like the people who successfully got the visa ALL used visa agencies to get it, otherwise they would be rejected. So I felt like maybe the Visa Agency and the Visa Issuing Department had some kind of deal where the Visa Department would reject people, and suggest they go through an agency to help them (who happen to be downstairs in the same building) Then after paying Agency fees the visa would finally be accepted.

*NOTE --> I am totally speculating from a time where I was desperate to stay in the country and was very suspicious of anything that might jeopardize my ability to stay longer.
Please don't let this put you off trying this method. But I advise you do research since Visa laws/conditions are subject to change. Also I was constantly being told how corrupt beurocracy is in China so I'm sure this influenced my attitude.

And maybe I'm just being completely skeptical and don't understand how government works in HongKong.

In Australia, Visa Agencies exist and they cost money but they are only there to aid you. In HongKong it sounds like you HAVE to go through an agency. - Although I am a citizen of Australia so maybe that's the difference.

But you are right, definitely do not attempt to bribe anyone. I was merely (probably wrongly) equating a fee to a bribe.