10 Year Multiple Entry Tourist Visa

[Larry Language Lover]

Are these very difficult to get?   How long must you wait after an exit before you can re-enter?

[abcdefg]

5 hours ago, Larry Language Lover said:

Are these very difficult to get? 

 

Where are you from? (What passport will you be using for your travels?) 

[Larry Language Lover]

OOPS....forgot that important point.   From the USA

[889]

Americans usually get 10-year multiple-entry L visas more-or-less automatically. You can stay in China up to 60 days each entry on that visa. Historically, Chinese authorities have been relatively relaxed about visa runs, but that policy could always change. In any event, be scrupulous about not working etc on an L visa.

[abcdefg]

Yes, agree. The 10-year multiple entry is the default now for US citizens. The trade-off for that is that you must leave every 60 days instead of every 90 days like it used to be. 

[Larry Language Lover]

When you leave every 60 days,  how long are you required to wait before re-entry?

[abcdefg]

The time can be as short as only minutes. For example, it's fine to walk across from Shenzhen into Hong Kong, turn right around and come back. Or it's fine to cross from Zhuhai at Gongbei into Macau, turn right around and come back, getting stamped into Mainland China 5 minutes after you exited it. The border officials don't blink or give you hard looks. 

 

No length of stay stipulations at all. In point of fact, however, I usually take advantage of the exit requirement to spend a few days in someplace of interest. Kunming, where I live, is currently connected by convenient air routes to much of SE Asia. In about two hours I can be in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma. A little longer gets me to Malaysia and Indonesia. 

 

Tickets are cheap and this makes it attractive to explore other countries in the region in conjunction with meeting the 60-day exit requirement. Nonetheless, I wish it were every 90 days instead of every 60 days.   

 

Once one returns with a new visa stamp 盖章，it's required that you go to your local police station 派出所 and give them a xerox copy of it for their records. This lets them know that you are in compliance with the terms of your visa. It's usually fast for me now, but in the past it has meant waiting in line and spending most of an hour.  

[Dawei3]

When I applied for mine, there wasn't a box on the form to request a 10 year visa.  I just typed in the request for a 10 year visa.  However, that was in 2017.  They may have updated the form now.   

 

A side note:  if your passport expires, you can still use the 10 yr visa, you just need to bring the old passport (containing the visa) with the new passport.  I was uncomfortable the 1st time, but a flight attendant friend said it would be OK.  She was right.  It's never been a problem.  

[889]

Just a couple of notes.

 

So far as I know, you need to get stamped in and out of the neighbouring territory before returning to the Mainland.

 

And if you're staying in a hotel, you don't need to head to the PSB to update your residence registration; your hotel will take care of this.

 

[Larry Language Lover]

23 hours ago, abcdefg said:

The time can be as short as only minutes. For example, it's fine to walk across from Shenzhen into Hong Kong, turn right around and come back. Or it's fine to cross from Zhuhai at Gongbei into Macau, turn right around and come back, getting stamped into Mainland China 5 minutes after you exited it. The border officials don't blink or give you hard looks. 

 

No length of stay stipulations at all. In point of fact, however, I usually take advantage of the exit requirement to spend a few days in someplace of interest. Kunming, where I live, is currently connected by convenient air routes to much of SE Asia. In about two hours I can be in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Burma. A little longer gets me to Malaysia and Indonesia. 

 

Tickets are cheap and this makes it attractive to explore other countries in the region in conjunction with meeting the 60-day exit requirement. Nonetheless, I wish it were every 90 days instead of every 60 days.   

 

Once one returns with a new visa stamp 盖章，it's required that you go to your local police station 派出所 and give them a xerox copy of it for their records. This lets them know that you are in compliance with the terms of your visa. It's usually fast for me now, but in the past it has meant waiting in line and spending most of an hour.  

 

This is really exciting, thanks!   I didn't know this was even possible.   I thought China didn't make much allowance for foreigners to live there a long time.

I'm wondering about teaching English online by Skype etc. to people from other countries while living in China.  That way it's not a China job.  I did a free online French trial class once with a French guy who chose to live in China to learn Chinese while teaching French to people from all over the world by Skype.

[abcdefg]

1 hour ago, Larry Language Lover said:

I'm wondering about teaching English online by Skype etc. to people from other countries while living in China.

 

My experience with the internet has been that it is often slow and somewhat unreliable. The point has been driven home to me when trying to complete on-line courses. One day the connections are good, the next day they are not. Or they may vary from hour to hour. 

 

Some other people here may have had better experience. I'm definitely not a tech wizard and may not be doing all the internet stuff right. 

[889]

"That way it's not a China job."

 

Not addressing China in particular, but the general rule is that you look to where you are performing the services. In any event, let me stress once again that if you intend to stay in China by doing visa runs your behaviour in every respect must be beyond reproach.

 

In any event, Skype in particular can be iffy, with good days and bad ones. Not reliable enough for work.

 

[mungouk]

7 hours ago, abcdefg said:

My experience with the internet has been that it is often slow and somewhat unreliable.

 

I was pretty happy with the 100Mbps connection I had in Beijing (China Unicom)... just as reliable as any broadband connection I've had anywhere.  

 

Accessing the net outside of China can be another issue of course. I've found that using a VPN often speeds things up significantly, whether you "need it" or not.

 

Skype can have its issues, yes, but that doesn't stop people using it for paid work. I'm currently using it to teach English to a Chinese student in Shanghai from a small town here in the UK.  You just need to have contingency plans for if it's being a real pig, e.g. fall-back to WeChat for video or even voice call.