Urgent Visa Help needed!

[grawrt]

Hi guys my Visa will be expiring on September 15th and I'm freaking out right now. I'm currently on an x-2 student visa (issued from a different school). I'm currently a CSC student and got my medical check up today but they said that I wont get the results until the 11th or 12th. Even so, the following days are weekends and I think I'm basically screwed. I'm not sure what to do at this point.

 

Is it possible for me to convert to a tourist visa temporarily while my school gets this settled out, or perhaps they can extend it temporarily before converting it to a X1 Visa.

 

I'm currently at BLCU and everyone I've talked to has been no help. I'll be going to the visa office tomorrow to ask them but wanted to ask you guys as well so I can have a backup plan.

 

Thanks!

[XuanWu]

go to the hospital to beg them to give you the results in the 11th so you will be able to make the extension the next day if not the same day.

Once i was in a hospital for an mri and first they told me to come tomorrow to get the results, but after i told them i am not from this town they gave them in the afternoon.

I am sure blcu will work this out.

[m000gle]

My initial reaction is that you should speak with your school's International Student Office (ISO), as I'm sure the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), with it's massive proportion of international students and well-established program, has encountered something like this umpteen times before.  Despite what it may seem, with the "DO NOT overstay your visa ... DO NOT do anything illegal" mantra being drilled into you from day one, as a foreign student in China, I doubt BLCU or it's affiliated PSB is chomping at the bit to deport scholarship students awaiting medical results; more likely is that the school can figure something out, either with the hospital (i.e. picking up results on the 11th/12th), the local PSB, or both.

 

Your date of arrival also makes a huge difference, here: Will September 15th be your 30th or 31st day since arrival?

 

If its the 30th, you're fine; if it's the 31st, you should really push all parties to allow you to submit/process your documents ASAP.

 

Please, keep us posted on any developments.

 

Good luck!

- - - - - - 

Note:  For any visitors, and especially prospective students, who will view this in future, this situation is precisely why all study in China and CSC related threads repeatedly suggest: 
 

1. Not arriving early, even if you really want to travel before school starts;

2. Performing your medical tests at home just before your departure, if at all possible, as it frequently replaces several days' wait for results with a mere several seconds wait for a rubber stamp, and even in a worst case scenario you'll just have to redo the tests in China; and finally

3. Process your Residence Permit application as soon as possible after arrival and registration, even if it means you can't travel right away.

[shuoshuo]

The x-2 visa is for those who will stay shorter than 6 months. You do not need to do your physical examination in order to convert that to a residence permit. The physical examination is only necessary for those who will stay for a year or more. Get all your documents in order and head down to the entry exit bureau to process your short term residence permit.

[mikeedward]

I wouldn't worry about it. Pick up your medical results on the 12th and apply for the residence permit in BLCU that afternoon, worst case Monday. No need to get a visa extension. When I went to BLCU this happened to a lot of people, including me, due to the long wait for the medical tests as they are processing so many. I got my passport with residence permit back about a week after my student visa had expired. Now it takes even longer to process the residence permit though, around 3 weeks.

 

Mike

[grawrt]

gah sorry, I re-did the math. My Visa expires on the 12th. Still loads of problems. Trying not to freak out. I went to the clinic again today and begged him to let me have the results earlier. He got pissed off at me a few times because he kept telling me I had until the 17th and I was trying politely to tell him that he's totally wrong. He finally said he would help me get the results in by the 10th in the afternoon (at 2), and this was the "earliest" he said that was possible, I gave him another twenty kuai then went to my schools visa office to discuss with them. Honestly nobody seems to be helping much at the school. They kept telling ,me like, oh maybe it'll almost be in time. But you also need to take this physical evaluation form elsewhere, also our offices close at 4 so you wont have enough time. Plus we don't work on Saturday so if you don't get it done by the 12th then oh well. sigh. Also that guy kept insisting that visa offices were open on Saturday (the one from the hospital, even though I told him they weren't...)

 

shuoshuo, my visa right now is an x2, It needs to be converted to an x1  because I'll be studying here for a year.

 

I kind of.. have a backup plan that my teacher offered, which is to fly to Harbin, get a tourist visa so it'll give me 30 more days to deal with this physical evaluation stuff.. I'm just worried I might lose my place at the school. I didn't obtain this one form that I keep seeing everyone get, even though I submitted everything else. I forgot what the form was called but they took 5 of my photos and gave me nothing else back. D: Do you guys think it'll be a problem? Or should I tell my school first what I'll be doing?

[shuoshuo]

I don't know if it will be a problem. As I've mentioned before, I had an issue whereby I wanted to extend a visa and the entry/exit bureau official told me that I cannot extend a visa nor change it to another visa type without exiting the country. I suppose perhaps it depends on certain factors (maybe your country allows you certain privileges). But then again, I don't need a tourist visa to enter China, yet if I wanted to enter as a tourist when I'm on a student visa I would have to exit and then re-enter (just to cancel my student visa). Again, I suppose our country of origin is a factor on how this whole thing plays out.

 

I will follow this thread though, because I was not aware that visas can be extended or the visa type changed, without exiting the country. I wish you luck, fingers crossed for you!

[Matty]

He got pissed off at me a few times because he kept telling me I had until the 17th and I was trying politely to tell him that he's totally wrong.

Never ever tell them they're wrong, it'll never go down the right way.

Example chat with police station:

Me: Last time I was here you entered the details of my old visa on this form. * You could see the fire brewing in her eyes

Me2: Perhaps I accidentally photocopied the wrong visa page (I really didn't!).

Her: No problem *she takes the new paperwork with a smile and fixes everything for me very pleasantly and politely.

I'd first go to the PSB and have a quick chat with them, they're best equipt to give you an answer, they could make it really easy for you.

You could go to the medical centre again and beg them in a more friendly way. Explaining that if you can't use it to apply for your new visa you'll have to leave the country and it will possibly cost you $x,xxx in plane tickets, etc. How it would be an amazing help if they could just help you. If the person really can't help you... "I'm sorry you can't help me, I still appreciate your help, could I speak to your manager please?" and start again.

There is another possible solution I've never heard of or tried. You could ask the PSB if they will accept a medical test from another city (in Guangxi, Nanning you can get the result back the same day). I don't know if anyone's ever tried, but it might be just possible?

I've found for almost every problem in China, if there's enough will and tactics, there's a way. Sadly sometimes it's just a little obscure.

[James3]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm assuming conversations with the PSB are in Chinese?

[Matty]

I tend to speak to them in Chinese, but I think many of them have limited English. If you can't speak fluent(ish) Chinese I'd bring someone with you who can.

[grawrt]

Yes I've been using Chinese to speak with them, I too have noticed that their english is limited and they don't help as much unless you use chinese.

 

I'll be returning to the medical lab next week and beg him again. He didn't seem like a bad person but it was really hard to try and stress that i had no time left to wait give the time he told me. I'll try and fluff my language more next time.

[Matty]

Explaining the $ cost of not getting it before that date might help.

Also explaining that you will be outside the country when the result is returned.

Don't forget, everyone has a manager. (Not for complaints, just for help since s/he may have more power to flex the rules)

What is the name of the medical institution used there in Beijing?

[grawrt]

There's only one that's used here by all the nearby universities. It's called Beijing International Travel Healthcare Center Haidian Clinic (北京国际旅行卫生保健中心海淀门诊部）

 

I'll try and do that when I get there. But it's packed there so that might be why they're just not listening to people's sob stories anymore.

[simplet]

Ha grawt once again I have the exact same problem as you. My (F) visa expires on the fourteenth and I need to go do my exams on tuesday at the same center as you. I was in BLCU on wednesday and everyone kept telling me how it might be really close but noone had any advice as to what I needed to do. I almost went to do the exam in Jinan (where I live at the moment) on my own to bring them the results, but they told me several times that I needed to do it in Beijing. I would have gone anyway but I actually had to work friday morning.

 

At least I still have my foreigner health examination from when I did the tests in France, and they're supposedly still valid until the 17th. I'm wondering if I couldn't send those papers with my visa application if worst come to worst. If they send it back saying they want papers from a hospital in Beijing maybe I'll have gained enough time to send the results from the BLCU hospital at that point? that seems really risky though...

[shuoshuo]

It's hard for me to believe you are talking to the right people. The first people you should be talking to are those at the PSB. If you have been in China and have been living there, the medical form is not necessary. So while you are waiting for it and avoiding talking to the PSB until you receive the medical results, you are wasting valuable time.

 

The approach should have been this, as soon as you realized you might have a problem:

 

1. Go to PSB

2. Ask them the documents you need to sort our your documents

3. Return ASAP with the necessary documents.

[grawrt]

Oh how stressful this was. But it's finally sorted out. My teacher helped me so much even though he's all the way in Harbin. BLCU staff didn't really know how to help but I met one very sweet lady who tried her best to help me get it sorted out, but I technically wasn't supposed to be in her department. She was part of the international students department which is in 403, but scholarship students get dealt with a different office (teaching building, room 107 I think). Still, she even came with me personally to the visa office to make sure that everything was in order.

 

I still haven't got my visa back but its in processing so I'm still okay. Wont get it back until after the holidays though so I can't go anywhere D: But as long as I can stay here it's fine.