Updating/renewing L-Visa

[pprendeville]

Need to update our 3 daughters L visas before 26 Feb. they were only given 180 days from date of entry from the Chinese embassy in Ireland. Will I have to bring them all to Beijing to the visa office near 雍和宫 or would I get away with going myself. They're staying with my wife near Shijiazhuang. Alternatively, could we get them updated there?

This website (http://www.bjgaj.gov.cn/eng/contentAction.do?methodname=getArticleContent&id=18139) is fairly comprehensive but just want to see if anyone has done it recently without having to go to Beijing?

[pprendeville]

My wife called the office in Shijiazhuang yesterday (石家庄市公安局出入境管理处外管科) and they said we have to bring along the girls original birth certificates and have them accompanied by a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Dublin to confirm their authenticity. A little bit awkward me thinks given we are in China and the Chinese Embassy in in Dublin It's one of those 没办法，我怎么办 situations.

Ok we could ask my parents to post the birth certs to a friend of mine in Dublin, he brings them to the embassy accompanied my an email in Chinese to clarify what we need and he posts them back to my family who then post them to me. All a bit convoluted however. The website above which is for Beijing says we only need to bring the passports, residence registration cert, completed application forms and passport photos. The only problem is they are not living here in Beijing with me. I suppose we could just elude the truth a little when trying to procure the residence reg cert. Any suggestions anyone?

[gato]

they said we have to bring along the girls original birth certificates and have them accompanied by a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Dublin to confirm their authenticity. A little bit awkward me thinks given we are in China and the Chinese Embassy in in Dublin   It's one of those 没办法，我怎么办 situations.

 

Is the purpose of the birth certificate authentication to prove that you are their parents?  How did you originally apply for their L visas with the Chinese embassy in Ireland?  Was the birth certificate required?  

[pprendeville]

As far as I remember we did need them when applying for the L visas in Ireland. Why it didn't occur to me to bring them over for the renewal is beyond me. Doh. I didn't ask my wife what the purpose of the birth certs was for. Will do that shortly.

[pprendeville]

Looks like we will be taking the convoluted route after all. Just got a call from my wife who said there were members of the local police station at her house looking for our daughters passports so they could be registered in the area. The office in Shijiazhaung must have contacted her local hometown office. No messing around there. Kinda scary.

[gato]

Did you not do the temporary residence registration for your daughters at the local PSB?  Since they entered China on Irish passports, they are supposed to do the registration.  Don't worry too much about the visit from the PSB, though.  They are just doing a job.   You just have to make up the registration.  Missing a registration is not huge violation -- in most cases -- unless you've upset the government in some other ways and they want to use this as an excuse to mess with you. 

[pprendeville]

Looks like we didn't. I thought my wife had done it. She is at the local police station now and I'm heading back tomorrow with their passports. I was holding onto them here in Beijing as I thought it was here that we would have to renew their visas but it is Shijiazhuang.

[pprendeville]

Turns out the bastards threatened to level a hefty fine on my wife's parents and she panicked and gave them 2000RMB. Some shower of wa***ers are the local police.

[pprendeville]

The friendly people at the visa office in Shijiazhuang are certainly making life difficult for us. Here's an update on where things stand at present.

I got original birth certs sent over from Ireland on 25 Jan and they arrived 11 Feb. Went straight to the Irish Embassy and got true copies which basically means an embassy representative writes a letter saying that the birth certs are genuine (it doesn't mean anymore or any less). One would need to go to their department of foreign affairs in their home country to get more legal proof that they are the children's parents.

Following this we had to get them translated into Chinese at a translation office in Shijiazhuang (which can be found at 石家庄中山东路85号天鸿大厦5楼501 for anyone who might be looking for it). However they also wanted proof that my wife was in Ireland when she gave birth to our 2 eldest children. Quite bizarre that they asked for this to be honest. I don't think they would ask for this in Beijing but we must comply. Ideally we would give them a copy of my wife's Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) card but we can't find a copy from 2009 pro 2010 unfortunately. Her card is renewed annually. So my sister located discharge letters from The Rotunda Hospital in Dublin where all our children were born and we are going to get them translated and hopefully they will do the job. We had to give them a tonne of other paperwork also. Who would have though renewing a visa would be so difficult? Other paperwork for each application included:

1 photocopy of my passport biopage

1 photocopy of my visa

1 copy of my entry date in China

1 photocopy of true birth certificate signed and stamped by Irish Embassy

1 photocopy of translated version of above

1 photocopy of wife's hukou

1 photocopy of another document related to hukou I think

1 photocopy of wife's Chinese ID card

1 copy of wife's GNIB card

1 photocopy of a stamp on my wife's passport saying she can reside in Ireland until 2014 (I think we forgot to get her a re-entry visa for Ireland - another headache to be sorted out before going home)

1 genuine copy of slip of paper from local police station saying where we resided

1 copy of child's passport bio page

1 copy of child's entry date into China

1 completed visa application form

1 passport size ID photo (we had colour photos with a white background which were accepted, they stuck them onto the application for us)

This list was for each child so multiply by 3, 45 pages in total if I'm right. Some headache photocopying it all. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Does anyone know the consequences for overstaying a visa? Fines or expulsion?

[pprendeville]

We finally managed to get this sorts out. Had to get my family to go to the Garda National Immigration Bureau office in Dublin to get a letter stating the dates my wife resided in Ireland. Then had to get this letter translated into Chinese. Visas are due on Monday.