how long does it take to process visa overstay

[jakets]

i overstayed my visa for about two months (by accident ) and went straight to the PSB/Exit entry bureau to resolve it after I realized.

 

It's already taken over three weeks for them to get back to me about paying the fine. I am in Guangzhou and I have been calling them everyday to ask them if I can go and pay the fine yet. They said they sent off the paperwork to some legal bureau but wouldn't tell me exactly which bureau this was. 

 

Does anyone have ANY suggestions on how I can make this go faster or does anyone know how long the process usually takes? 

 

I thought it would take at most a week but now it is almost a month without any results. They just keep telling me to wait for them to call me.

[roddy]

That's an odd one - what are you planning to do next? Are you just waiting to get your passport back so you can leave, or are you hoping to get a new visa? 

[jakets]

I want to leave ASAP. it seems counterintuitive to me that I have to wait so long to leave the country-- but i am not sure how to make this go any faster. they have my passport in possession and every call is just telling me to wait until i am processed...

 

any advice?!

[roddy]

What nationality are you? At this point I'd be giving my consulate a call - citizens separated from their passport SHOULD be something they take seriously. Maybe pay one more visit to the PSB calmly but persistently explaining you need to leave as soon as possible and see what happens, but then I'd be phoning the consulate asking them to either intervene, or issue emergency travel documents. Or actually, phone them first and see what they recommend. 

 

Any other ideas? 

[jakets]

I am an American.

 

the PSB gave me a piece of paper serving as my 'temporary' passport that says it is valid for 15 days. but the 15 days has already passed now. 

 

I have already called my consulate in guangzhou and they said i need to comply with the chinese rules for overstaying passport. the second time i called they just referred me to a list of lawyers (whom i've called and they all said i just need to wait).

 

i am really lost and unsure of how to get out of here as it seems the PSB is taking forever. i am unsure if it is becasue i wasn't registered at the police station and so my landlord had to come in and verify i lived at the apartment. they also are fining her. 

 

i have a job starting next week in the U.S. and i do not even know how much of a delay i am looking at here. 

[roddy]

Then the only thing I can suggest is going down to the PSB and very very politely and apologetically begging. Do you have travel booked?

[jakets]

flight home was booked for july 2nd.. but now changed it to open ticket after they told me it wouldn't be processed in time. they told me to change it to open ticket. 

 

i've already gone to them and told them about my situation (basically begged) and have been calling every morning for updates (to which they told me to stop calling them and just wait...)

[roddy]

Sounds like you've already exhausted all my ideas. Anyone else got any?

[jakets]

         

 

how long did it take everyone else's overstay to get processed?

 

i have no idea what to do at this point...

[Lu]

[the consulate] said i need to comply with the chinese rules for overstaying passport

Depending on when you called them and got this reply, perhaps consider calling them again and asking how long it normally takes, what the relevant rules and regulations actually are, and what to do if the normal time limits of such things are exceeded by so much. Or ask them to call the PSB on your behalf, the mere fact that a foreign government is taking interest might speed things up.

 

Or have they perhaps just lost/misplaced your passport? In that case, perhaps file for a lost passport, get a temporary one and you can at least go home. Not sure if this will work though, tbh.

 

Good luck, that's a really unfortunate situation to be in.

[roddy]

"everyone else's overstay"? I think you're overestimating the number of people who do this. 

[jakets]

haha yes i mean anyone else who has overstayed their visa*

 

it definitely was my own fault for overlooking the duration of stay and not keeping track of it. but i had no idea they would take this long to take care of it. the worst is that i have no concrete idea of when this will be resolved.

 

i have made an appointment with the consulate for tuesday so hopefully going in person may encourage them to help

[roddy]

At this point I'd just follow the consulate's advice. You can ask them at what point they would intervene and at least that gives you some kind of timescale. I'm kind of surprised they're not more interested - citizen overseas and unable to travel home is pretty much one of their reasons for existing, and the PSB does appear to be taking an unreasonable length of time. I've seen consulates rush to help people who've done WAY stupider things. 

[889]

My impression -- second-hand of course -- is that overstays are normally handled pretty expeditiously, even ones over a few days. And that the PSB Exit-Entry Administration has authority to settle up on its own motion, especially in a large city like Guangzhou, without referral to higher authorities.

 

That your case is being handled differently suggests it's been put it in some sort of not-normal category. A reasonable assumption is that they think you've been working on a tourist visa, though you don't mention what type of visa you held, and have been out investigating what you've been up to during your time in China. Pulling that sort of information together and then deciding what to do with it could easily take well over a month. If this is the case, then you'll be called in to explain what you've been doing, and hopefully your explanation will match up with the information they'll have on you.

 

Another issue is that Guangzhou in particular seems to attract periodic crackdowns on foreigners who aren't properly registered and such. It's possible you've been unlucky enough to have a problem during one of these episodes.

 

As for the U.S. Consulate, well, good luck finding somebody there who'll be willing to push a bit on your behalf. An American who gets himself in trouble by overstaying his visa is very low priority for them.

[jakets]

thanks for the responses-- to clarify, i am on a 1 year, f visa, multiple entries working for a hospital here on a research project so i don't think it would be employment. 

 

however, it could be that i was unlucky enough to get caught during a  crackdown.. 

 

i thought perhaps it was because i overstayed more than a month (two months) and so that is why they are required to send it to this legal bureau? was wondering if anyone can confirm that..

[abcdefg]

May be time to hire a lawyer. I think that's what I would do. Sounds like it's worth spending some money to get it straightened out.

 

Do you know anyone in your hospital senior enough to have some official pull? That would be an alternate approach.

[Tianjin42]

Something sounds odd here. We assist a few people who overstay their visa but it is generally resolved fairly rapidly. Granted, the overstay is typically shorter and for the most part in Beijing but I am still suspicious of the timescale. I'm afraid 889 might be onto something here.

Your consulate should be doing more given the length of time - this is not a normal case. The face-to-fave meeting is positive. Let us know how it goes.

[jakets]

hi all, just an update.

 

i went to the consulate here and they were very helpful. they ended up calling the exit entry PSB and i got called to pay the fine the next day. my suspicion is that my paperwork was sitting on their desk and they just didn't feel the need to get to it that urgently... three weeks of waiting.

 

thanks all for your replies and help!

[Shelley]

Glad to hear it worked out

[roddy]

Excellent - don't miss your plane ;-)

 

Actually, how much was the fine?