x2 visa issues

[kirsten86]

Hi everyone

 

I'm so sorry if this has been posted about a million times but I am new to this forum and posting in a bit of a panic!

 

My boyfriend and I are booked to fly to China on the 17th Feb and start studying Chinese at Southwest University for Nationalities on the 2nd March.

 

I went to the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre today to apply our X2 visas and was informed our paperwork wasn't suitable.  As the admissions letter that SWUN sent us states that we need a JW202 form, they won't let us apply without one.  Problem is, as we are applying for an X2 visa we shouldn't need this so SWUN haven't sent one...it remains unclear why they mention it in the admissions letter.

 

I am trying to contact them to urgently request that they send us the correct documents but they don't seem to turn these things around very quickly so I am worried that we won't receive it in time/the embassy still won't be happy with whatever turns up.

 

I am now thinking we should just apply for L visas and covert to X2 visas when we are out there.  The admissions agency we used did originally suggest this but I am  reading conflicting things about whether it will be possible and don't want to get all the way out there only to have to come home!  Does anyone have any advice?

 

Similarly, we only have single tickets as we were planning on possibly staying out for another semester and doing a visa run to HK.  Is the best course of action to book hotels to build an itinerary which we can then cancel and just book a cheap flight out of the country.  I am worried that not having a flight going back to the UK will raise questions.  I also ideally want to get a 3 month tourist visa but will then need to show 3 months accommodation bookings which could be tricky....

 

Any help or general calming words much appreciated :-)

 

Thanks

 

K

[Claudio]

I see that non one has replied to this slightly old message. I hope you got all sorted out in the end!

 

I write just to report a similar story about getting a X2 (short time study) visa in London.

 

A while ago, after an extremely useful exchange on these very forums (http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/47504-make-the-most-of-a-short-course-in-china/) I decided to go for two weeks of study in Harbin (http://www.1to1mandarinworkshop.com/, will go at the end of April!). The school there provides the accomodation as well.

 

Last week I applied for an X2 visa using the invitation letter sent by the school. As I don't live in London I applied thorugh a third party agency (http://www.chinesevisadirect.co.uk/).

The school says that their invitation letter is appropriate for X2 visa and has been used by previous students.

However the agency called straight away as soon as they received my documentation, saying that the invitation letter was not good enough; to get an X2 visa an official form was required (I don't really remember the number they mentioned but I guess must have been JW202 or JW201). They suggested that I better request a tourist L visa.

For that purpose, they said that the best thing was for me to book an hotel in Harbin for the period I will be there, they will pass the booking to the embassy and after getting the visa I can cancel the booking.

 

I have done as they say and tomorrow I should get my visa...

[Claudio]

I also see that there is another older thread (http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/45529-x2-visa-requirements/) reporting a similar story (i.e. "invitation letter" or "admission notice" from school is not good enough to get an X2 visa, at least in London)

[YCCShanghai]

For X2 visa, yes you still need Admission letter and JW202 form in most of the countries. 

 

And applying JW202 Will take some time, that is true. Even at our school, it will take 3-5 days to get jw202 form. 

 

You can apply a L visa, and transfer to X2, but it is not guarantee that you can transfer successfully in China, it really depends on exit and entry bureau. 

 

Good luck for you. 

[XuanWu]

 

and doing a visa run to HK

 

that doesnt work, no more. Confirmed from a friend of mine who went to the chinese embassy in HK and he had to go back in his country.

 

About converting L visa to X1/X2 better ask the admission office of the university. But in China you must know, you dont take anything for granted.

[roddy]

XuanWu, it'd be great if you could invite your friend to post here - would be useful info. 

[XuanWu]

roddy he is not a member but i will inform him. I saw the thread.

[nb1980]

I stumbled across this thread when applying for my visa so would like to add my recent experience.

 

I'm spending about 3 months at a private language school due to a slack period with my work, in Shanghai, requiring 95 day X2 visa.

 

I was advised by the school to apply for my visa in Manchester and not London (and I did so by post as it was cheaper than travelling there) as there are less problems there. They asked for a scan of my passport and the flight ticket.

 

They sent an admissions letter by courier, including on the letter all the information I eventually wrote on the visa form including my name, address, passport details; the name of the person who would pay for my time in China (as written on the application) and their contact details; the address of the provided accomodation in Shanghai; the dates I would be arriving and departing.

 

I was advised to use a different person other than myself for the person responsible for the fees (even though I had already paid myself).

 

In addition to the letter I was told to send in a confirmed flight ticket (I had booked a completely refundable ticket, ie with Virgin who do not charge admin fees on the flexible tickets, the idea being that I could change this to a cheaper flight or cancel if there was a problem with the visa) and a copy of the school's license (all in Chinese). I also enclosed a copy of my 30 day L visa from 2012 as required.

 

I posted it all during the Spring New Year holiday, it was received on the Monday at the VAC in Manchester and I had the envelope complete with visa in my hands on the Friday morning. Even better they gave me 120 days so first thing I did was change my flights

 

I am not sure what combination of my circumstances made the issue relatively easy but I thought it worthwhile to share before I fly in 10 days