This is more of a guide than one of my regular blogs, about extending your visa. At the beginning of this month I had to extend my visa for an extra month as the residence permit I was on expired before I planned to go back home.
As I was technically still under contract I wanted my employer to do this for me because it’s so much simpler for them to do these things- and it’s their job- but they weren’t willing to help me 爱莫能助. So…
To get the extension you need a temporary residence document filled out in Chinese, stamped by the place you’re staying at (or with a recipt from hotel), and also stamped by the local police station nearest to your residence. Probably the hardest thing about this is finding the nearest police station, the right department, the right person, the right time of day, the correct celestial date etc etc etc On top of this If you need to find someone at one of these places that speaks English, then you can forget it.
Technically, as I’m now a tourist I’m only meant to be staying in designated places for foreigners i.e certain 3/4/5 star hotels. (but, of course, I’m not doing this!) I took the form to my local police station, and after eventually finding the right person to talk with, he asked me where I was staying, what I was doing etc…, how long I’d been here. I was fortunate to meet a very helpful polieman, probably a similar age to me and very eager to help.
We started talking about football, David Beckham, basketball (I always say just because im tall doesn’t mean I play basketball!) The officer was obvioulsly bored, the other police in his office were playing majiang (mahjong) on their computers.
They have a database of all the foreigners that have registered before, and he tried to look me up on this database but gave up after I told him I haven’t used a Chinese name to register this. He didn’t seem like he cared much, just going through the motions, he was more interested in talking about Manchester United.
He then went to the next office gave the paper to his superior – who was sitting in a reclined position chain smoking – then he gave the form the red stamp.
After this I went to the place in Changchun that deals with visas, it’s the city Public Security Bureau 市局 near to People’s Square on guangming lu .
I’ve extended visas myself before, It really is very straightforward when you know how, a million times easier than trying to do this in a western country I’m sure.
Every time I have come to this place it’s always been packed with Chinese applying for passports, permits to travel and the like. I think they need a bigger building.
Annoyingly, there is only one desk that deals with foreigners (desk 3), you can’t just line up with the Chinese. (Interestingly Hongkong and Taiwanese also have to use this desk, one country right?).
As my old visa was a residence permit (Z visa) I had to have this changed into a L (旅游) tourist visa if I was to stay in the country. For me this presented no problem as I’m not working and I only wanted a 1 month extension.
For this you need to give them a photocopy of your previous visa, photo page in passport and bank statement (According to them you should have 800 yuan per day of stay, so it isn’t cheap!)
You’ll be asked a few questions – I was asked about my old visa, where I was working, what I’m going to do now and why I want to stay in China. For the last question
I simply said ‘我想去旅游’ ‘I wanna go travel!’ and that was sufficient to asuage her!
I’m told by others that they do speak some English here, I did everything In Chinese so I’m not sure of this – but whether you could do everything without knowing some of the language, I’m not so sure. But it would be interesting trying.
Then you will be given another A4 sized form to fill in, which is the actual visa application form. You need one passport sized photo for this. Took about 2 minutes to fill in, gave that back then got a recipt telling me to come back in three days time.
The L visa costs 160 yuan and takes 3 days to process, I applied the day before my visa was due and got it back with the new visa date 1 month after the expiry of the old one.
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Interesting post. I’m getting close to the end of my teaching contract (and visa) here in Changchun and want to get a tourist visa so I can travel China for a month-and-a-half or so. My school’s office manager has told me that I would have to show tax receipts to the PSB to get an L visa which. Have you ever had to do that?
I may simply take a Chinese friend and do it all myself if it’s not that much of a hassle.
Interesting post. I’m getting close to the end of my teaching contract (and visa) here in Changchun and want to get a tourist visa so I can travel China for a month-and-a-half or so. My school’s office manager has told me that I would have to show tax receipts to the PSB to get an L visa which. Have you ever had to do that?
I may simply take a Chinese friend and do it all myself if it’s not that much of a hassle.
The tax recipts thing is bogus, never had to do this for an L visa.
All I’ve ever needed is:
-passport +photocopies visa/photo page
-Bank statement – evidence of funds (800 yuan per day)
-Stamped temporary residence form
That’s it.:smile:
The tax recipts thing is bogus, never had to do this for an L visa.
All I’ve ever needed is:
-passport +photocopies visa/photo page
-Bank statement – evidence of funds (800 yuan per day)
-Stamped temporary residence form
That’s it.:smile:
I brought this up at work today and lo and behold, yes, all I need is a bank statement. I don’t have as much in my Bank of China account as I do at home…do you know if they’ll accept a foreign bank statement as well as a local one?
I brought this up at work today and lo and behold, yes, all I need is a bank statement. I don’t have as much in my Bank of China account as I do at home…do you know if they’ll accept a foreign bank statement as well as a local one?
Yes they do, anything is ok as long as it shows funds!
Yes they do, anything is ok as long as it shows funds!
I extended my resident permit in Changchun and paid 400 RMB for a two-month extension. If you have a resident permit and Foreign Expert Certificate and none are expired, you can just ask your employer to extend it without switching. Of course, if you plan on leaving China for good, then yes, a tourist visa is a much cheaper option.
I extended my resident permit in Changchun and paid 400 RMB for a two-month extension. If you have a resident permit and Foreign Expert Certificate and none are expired, you can just ask your employer to extend it without switching. Of course, if you plan on leaving China for good, then yes, a tourist visa is a much cheaper option.
“Hey, I was hoping to get some advice on my situation. I am planning on leaving the school I teach at before my contract it up. Is it true they can call and cancel my Z visa and every day I am without one I will be fined??
I do not have a bank account here in China, so I have no bank statement and not enough funds from home to prove the 800 yuan per day. I have an apartment that is paid for the next 3 months, and just enough to live on the cheap and survive until I figure something out.
Will it be difficult getting a travel visa once my Z visa is cancelled??
Any advice as soon as possible would be so very appreciated!! Thank you!”
“Hey, I was hoping to get some advice on my situation. I am planning on leaving the school I teach at before my contract it up. Is it true they can call and cancel my Z visa and every day I am without one I will be fined??
I do not have a bank account here in China, so I have no bank statement and not enough funds from home to prove the 800 yuan per day. I have an apartment that is paid for the next 3 months, and just enough to live on the cheap and survive until I figure something out.
Will it be difficult getting a travel visa once my Z visa is cancelled??
Any advice as soon as possible would be so very appreciated!! Thank you!”
Is it true they can call and cancel my Z visa and every day I am without one I will be fined??
AS far as I know, in Changchun know they can’t just cancel it like that.
I was on my old employers (Star education) Z visa for 6 months after I quit.
But they can report you to the SAEFA and that would mean it mya be very hard to get a work permit – the foreign experts book – meaning you’d have to go to another province to work, if you wished to stay in China.
However If you employer has your passport and foreign experts book then I would be worried, as I’m told it’s possible to chnage your visa without you actually being there..
You cannot not have a visa, even in the unlikely event that your Z visa is ‘cancelled’ you;ll be put onto something else, and you’re have a new visa in your passport – most likely a 7 day exit visa.
If you pland on satying in town then you will have big problems getting the correct working documentation again without the release letter – unless you know somebody that is.
You shouldn’t have a problem extending your Z into a tourist visa providing you can show you have the money to support yourself as requested by the government – i.e. 800yuan a day. And the correct paperwork showing you are staying at pace accredited for foreigners – your apartment isn’t good enough as you’re suppossed to be a tourist staying in hotels in their eyes!
Is it true they can call and cancel my Z visa and every day I am without one I will be fined??
AS far as I know, in Changchun know they can’t just cancel it like that.
I was on my old employers (Star education) Z visa for 6 months after I quit.
But they can report you to the SAEFA and that would mean it mya be very hard to get a work permit – the foreign experts book – meaning you’d have to go to another province to work, if you wished to stay in China.
However If you employer has your passport and foreign experts book then I would be worried, as I’m told it’s possible to chnage your visa without you actually being there..
You cannot not have a visa, even in the unlikely event that your Z visa is ‘cancelled’ you;ll be put onto something else, and you’re have a new visa in your passport – most likely a 7 day exit visa.
If you pland on satying in town then you will have big problems getting the correct working documentation again without the release letter – unless you know somebody that is.
You shouldn’t have a problem extending your Z into a tourist visa providing you can show you have the money to support yourself as requested by the government – i.e. 800yuan a day. And the correct paperwork showing you are staying at pace accredited for foreigners – your apartment isn’t good enough as you’re suppossed to be a tourist staying in hotels in their eyes!
Hello all,
I was just wondering if it is possible to change an L visa into an F or a Z visa in country…I am rather short on funds and would like to be able to change my visa type over without having to make a trip to Hong Kong. I was hoping that with the proper support of an authorized company I would be able to do this. Does anyone know about the new regulations?
Hello all,
I was just wondering if it is possible to change an L visa into an F or a Z visa in country…I am rather short on funds and would like to be able to change my visa type over without having to make a trip to Hong Kong. I was hoping that with the proper support of an authorized company I would be able to do this. Does anyone know about the new regulations?
From my experience in CC you can get an L changed to an F, If you have the right connections.
You need to have the support of someone with guanxi at the PSB, you can’t do this by yourself. At Jida many of the FTs had L 3-month tourist visas, and the uni changed them into F visas for the duration of the contract.
Also you can buy an F visa in CC if you know the right people, costs around 2000 yuan for 6 months, which is really, really expensive. Might as well take a trip to HK for that much…
From my experience in CC you can get an L changed to an F, If you have the right connections.
You need to have the support of someone with guanxi at the PSB, you can’t do this by yourself. At Jida many of the FTs had L 3-month tourist visas, and the uni changed them into F visas for the duration of the contract.
Also you can buy an F visa in CC if you know the right people, costs around 2000 yuan for 6 months, which is really, really expensive. Might as well take a trip to HK for that much…