Visa woes - stories of good and bad
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Hong Kong,
China
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Here are some stories from the forums about getting China visas:
1.
For L (tourist) visas, they are requiring much more than the "published" restrictions (tickets & hotel confirmations). It's just the tip of the iceberg
When I arrived at the Chinese embassy in Bangkok with all these new documents, they then asked for copies of citizen ID cards of any Chinese citizens I would be visiting. (I had a letter of invitation with me from a host family). They also wanted ORIGINALS of hotel confirmations (no photocopies or faxes accepted). Also, my E-ticket confirmation was not accepted: they required original paper tickets in hand.
For a person intent on pouring thousands of dollars into the Chinese economy to see the Olympics, this treatment is demeaning. I promptly canceled plans for a China visit, as is happening with a number of my friends and acquaintances.
China is shooting itself in the foot. Throwing a party, but locking the door. Absolutely ridiculous.
2.
This week I attended an AmCham seminar on the new regulations for Chinese visas. I thought I'd share my notes with everyone so that you can all be informed about the new rules:
* There are no changes to the Z (work) visa procedure. These visas are converted into work and residency permits inside China upon entrance into the country.
* Currently people need to apply in their home countries for Chinese visas and cannot apply in Hong Kong (other third countries are currently okay at the moment including Macao). Only those with either HK work permits or HK ID can apply for visas in Hong Kong.
* Visa processing takes longer so you need to be prepared and apply in advance.
* For L (tourist) visas, you are required to have a copy of a hotel reservation a photocopy of a round-trip plan ticket.
* For F (business) visas, you are required to apply at the consulate/embassy in your country of residence. The consulates/embassies are only issuing 30-day single or double-entry visas. The following are the required documents: original letter from the Chinese government ministry; Chinese hotel reservation; photocopy of return plane tickets.
* F visas can be extended inside China only. If extended in Beijing they can only be extended to July 1st 2008. If extended in Shanghai, they can be extended for the standard 30 to 60 days and count as single entry (and supposedly beyond July 1st). Extensions take five working days and must be applied for in person.
* For the letter from the Chinese government ministry (usually the local foreign affairs office), this must be applied for by a locally registered company such as a WOFE or domestic Chinese company in the city where the person applying for the F visa intends to visit. IE if the person intends to visit Shanghai, the letter must be applied for by a company in Shanghai.
* Representative offices must apply through an agent such as FESCO to get the letter from the relevant ministry
* Those people who are in China for longer than 90 days continually or more than 180 days in a calendar year should apply to be on a Z visa, which would be changed to a residency permit inside China.
* F and L visas for senior managers can be changed to work and residence permits from inside China. Also all companies with capital over US$3 million can change F and L visas to work and residency permits for all employees. Representative offices also can't apply directly for Z visas. They must apply for L or F visas and convert them to work and residency permits inside China.
* These regulations will most like last after the Olympics. The government is really cracking down on F visa holders who are actually residents inside China as they are really residents here, and should therefore be on residency and work permits and be paying taxes.
I hope this clears things up for a lot of people. J. P.S. It's the Labour Day holiday in China, so I'm not posting for this weekend. I may post a book review on Lost Laowai though so please check there.
3.
I'm a student in China. I already have an F visa that expires in September. Could I be asked to leave even though I have a visa? Could I be prevented from traveling? I'm sort of hoping to visit qingdao. I don't really enjoy beijing anyways.
I really can't go back to the US (and thus couldn't apply for another visa from the US) , ... I'm an American but I'm based in the Philippines, and couldn't afford to fly to the US just for the sake of another visa.
It seems like strict policies will only hurt them. I'm here learning their language, ... yet it cost me ~$300 just to enter the country. I had to pay ~150 for a tourist visa to enter, and then another ~150 to get the F visa so I could stay at school. This is my second time entering, because I went to the Philippines over winter break. Back in September, I had to apply to my current university because the one in Beijing wouldn't bother helping me get a visa to study at their school.
As compared to about a thousand dollars a semester for the university, the visa fee's aren't small sums of money. I'm a student. I don't have an income, ... I'm spending my savings in their country. It really discourages my desire to be involved with this country. I get shafted like that on visa fees, and then my school lectures us about traveling here. I hope I don't actually run into problems, but rumors are floating around and they're making me nervous.
What were policies like regarding visas for Olympics in other countries? Doesn't the Olympic committee have some sort of requirements opposed on them so that they can't go profiteering on visa fees when suddenly so many people will need those visas? and what about media? doesn't the olympic committee have stipulations about allowing in free foreign media? Will reporters be able to get more than a 30 day tourist visa?
and, photo copy of hotel reservations? I haven't stayed in many places here that would accept reservations. Actually, I don't think I've encountered a business at all that even accepted foreign credit cards. These regulations don't seem very practical.
In practice, ... I wonder what will actually happen with these policies. I remember someone applying for a permit to tibet. To apply for the permit, he needed a copy of his plane ticket. To buy the plane ticket, he needed a copy of his permit. He walked back and forth between the two offices for days. Eventually they gave him the permit and plane ticket, and he went to tibet. It provides some headaches, but in the end it seems that the impossible policies are (by necessity) ignored.
4.
maybe the real message in this visa regulation is that China is going to be a country that is tight, like the US or Russia, and not one that is relatively open, letting people come and stay as they will, as India and Brazil are so far becoming. funny thing is, what China needs are consumers to teach people what are consumers, and foreigners are consumers. funny this is also that they are so close; if they followed their rhetoric they could be a truly great and balancing country for our age. they'll be getting their engines going, and an epic thing will either happen or happen, and what we should hope for is an enlightened class emerging, like the upper mobile class demonstration in Chengdu against the refinery. those weren't (as they're called) "strong fingers." This was a concered group of Knowledge Workers.
5.
I am "CEO" of one of top printing company in Pakistan, would like to draw your attention towards the bad behaviour of Chinese immigration department at Shenzhen Huanggang Customs at 20:45 on 20th of May, 2008.
I applied my Chinese Visa along with all necessary required documents and got Visa as per procedure of Chinese Embassy in Islamabad-Pakistan on 31th of March, 2008.
I also got Hong Kong Visa (Double entry) and Thai Visa (double entry) to cover-up my whole journey. The purpose to got Hong Kong Visa was to open my company Bank account with HSBC as I had already formed a Limited company in Hong Kong in July 2007. After completion of Bank formalities, I planned to go to China for the negotiation of different Raw Materials and for Printing and Lamination Machines. All appointments with the suppliers were scheduled.
But when I showed my passport to the immigration officer, she asks me to go with another officer for further checking and interrogation. I followed and they ask me to sit down at a stool that was lying outside of immigration office. I sit there about more than two hours without any reply from them. They appointed two Police officers to watch me.
After that they take me to interrogation room and check my body with a scanner and after that they instruct me to put down all things from my pockets and minutely checked step by step. Latterly they checked my entire luggage including my Laptop computer and asked me to run this computer. I did all what they required. I was very much surprised for what is going to be happened with me. After that one Police officer came with camera and took my photographs with different angles. He also takes many photos of all my documents and luggage. Finally after more than one hour they asked me to sign a document in Chinese. I refused because I can't understand any Chinese so he forced me to sign. I told them that I would not sign unless I knew what document I would be signed. After that one person came and point to the each sentence and speaks in English and he assures me that what he said is same as mentioned in that Document in Chinese. He asked me to sign document again with a note written by me that "I already got back all things in my luggage after checking". I wrote same and signed.
This all procedure took more than three hours, in the meantime I requested them to go to wash room, but they refused me. I'm patient of high blood pressure and was feeling much uncomfortable at that moment. I thought I would be falling down in soon, I felt my eyes were in pain and my heart beat was abnormal. At 23:45, a person told me that "On the behalf of Chinese law, you are not welcome to China". I asked them that did they find some problem with my visa or passport. They said "No", so I asked them that why they cancelled my visa? They replied "on the behalf of Chinese Law, I have right not to answering your question". They didn't give me any refusal document, just asked a bus driver to send me back to Hong Kong Customs. I arrived at my hotel in Hong Kong about 3:00 am.
I always trip to all over the world for my business and still have valid visas of UK and USA. I frequently visit China for my business and last year 2007, I visited 3-times.
This is my first time to get so bad experience with Chinese immigration. I want to ask Chinese Immigration department to give me clear answer in written form for this insulting behaviour with me on dated 20th May, 2008.
