Tourist visa - 3 or 6 months?

lucernarian

Hey all,

I'm looking to live in China and perhaps do a CELTA course while I'm there, until April next year. I was looking into visa options and it seems like the maximum duration of holiday visa (L visa) is for 90 days but I also saw a dual-entry visa available. Would this let me stay in China again for another 90 days (once I go to HK for a day or something) and has anyone here done this?

I would love to work in China during this time but it appears to be illegal to work on an F visa and the Z visa seems hard to get for Shanghai, which is where I'll be staying.

Also, do I have to make a hotel reservation for the whole time I'm there? I hope to stay with a friend who's moving there by December on a Z visa.

Ahhhhh its grand

A dual entry visa allows you to exit and re-enter China on the same visa, but only within the period to which the visa is issued. So you still only have 90 days, but you can leave and come come back to China within those 90 days. I've lived in China for a year and a half, but I have a Z visa so I'm not entirely up to speed on the whole F and L visa situations. I know you can go to Hong Kong to change a visa from one form to another (F to Z for example), providing you have the proper paperwork. I'm not sure whether you can go to HK and get a tourist visa for another 90 days. Maybe somebody else can shed some light on this.

And yes, it is illegal to work on a F visa. In saying that, many people here do work on a F visa, so it depends on finding the right job. Plus, I hear they are cracking down on this sort of thing. So it would be a bit of a risk. Do you have a degree?

Yeah I think you need to provide the embassy with the details of your trip when you apply for a tourist visa...including return flights and where you are staying. If your friend is there when you are going, I think you can get him/her to write you an invitation letter stating that you will be staying with them. They need to provide their name, address, phone etc. Again, I'm not sure of the exact details, but as I remember the Chinese embassy website for Ireland contains this information. You could also ring them, they might be able to give you more concrete info.

If you've any other questions feel free to ask

lucernarian

Ahhhhh its grand wrote: »

A dual entry visa allows you to exit and re-enter China on the same visa, but only within the period to which the visa is issued. So you still only have 90 days, but you can leave and come come back to China within those 90 days. I've lived in China for a year and a half, but I have a Z visa so I'm not entirely up to speed on the whole F and L visa situations. I know you can go to Hong Kong to change a visa from one form to another (F to Z for example), providing you have the proper paperwork. I'm not sure whether you can go to HK and get a tourist visa for another 90 days. Maybe somebody else can shed some light on this.

And yes, it is illegal to work on a F visa. In saying that, many people here do work on a F visa, so it depends on finding the right job. Plus, I hear they are cracking down on this sort of thing. So it would be a bit of a risk. Do you have a degree?

Yeah I think you need to provide the embassy with the details of your trip when you apply for a tourist visa...including return flights and where you are staying. If your friend is there when you are going, I think you can get him/her to write you an invitation letter stating that you will be staying with them. They need to provide their name, address, phone etc. Again, I'm not sure of the exact details, but as I remember the Chinese embassy website for Ireland contains this information. You could also ring them, they might be able to give you more concrete info.

If you've any other questions feel free to ask

I've passed final exams. Just waiting on graduation.

The situation is a little weird for me as I visited the embassy in Dublin and the lady said I could leave China after 3 months, go to Korea or HK and come back and be activated for another 3 months, on the dual-entry visa. While that is from the horse's mouth as such, the website itself seems to contradict what she said and I don't want to get a dual-entry L visa if it means that I will have to return to Ireland after only 3 months.

I'm deeply reluctant to do anything illegal in China going by the record the country has and even a fine of 5000 RMB would not be great to get, assuming I wouldn't be deported and not allowed back in again. Maybe an F visa without working would be the best bet, but they're much more expensive to get.

What to do...

Ahhhhh its grand

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

I've passed final exams. Just waiting on graduation.

The situation is a little weird for me as I visited the embassy in Dublin and the lady said I could leave China after 3 months, go to Korea or HK and come back and be activated for another 3 months, on the dual-entry visa. While that is from the horse's mouth as such, the website itself seems to contradict what she said and I don't want to get a dual-entry L visa if it means that I will have to return to Ireland after only 3 months.

I'm deeply reluctant to do anything illegal in China going by the record the country has and even a fine of 5000 RMB would not be great to get, assuming I wouldn't be deported and not allowed back in again. Maybe an F visa without working would be the best bet, but they're much more expensive to get.

What to do...

Yeah I'm not entirely sure myself, I've only ever gotten a Z visa. The visa's themselves are not expensive at all. I think I paid about 40 euro for mine. A friend of mine just recently came to China and I think she paid about the same. The problem with Z and F visa's is that you need to get letters of invitation, and crap like that, before they will issue you the visa at the Irish embassy. In the case of the Z visa, you basically need to have a job lined up. The F visa I'm not too sure about, but I'm pretty sure you also need an invitation from a relevant Chinese authority/company...as it's a business visa.

My advice to you would be to get an standard online tefl cert (if you haven't already got one), and apply for some jobs nearer the time you want to leave. The degree, combined with the tefl, could land you a job that would get you a Z visa. There are some regulations regarding the amount of experience you need in order to get a Z visa, but if there's one thing I've learned here its that the Chinese can pretty much find a way around everything . The fact you have a degree is a massive plus. I know plenty of people here that have gotten Z visa's straight out of college, no work experience whatsoever. So if I were you I would concentrate on this route.

If you have any questions about the Z visa, or China in general, fire away.

halkar

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm looking to live in China and perhaps do a CELTA course while I'm there, until April next year. I was looking into visa options and it seems like the maximum duration of holiday visa (L visa) is for 90 days but I also saw a dual-entry visa available. Would this let me stay in China again for another 90 days (once I go to HK for a day or something) and has anyone here done this?

I would love to work in China during this time but it appears to be illegal to work on an F visa and the Z visa seems hard to get for Shanghai, which is where I'll be staying.

Also, do I have to make a hotel reservation for the whole time I'm there? I hope to stay with a friend who's moving there by December on a Z visa.

You can do what you are thinking of doing. You can leave China for a day and enter again and your next 90 day starts. However you need to note that your visa is valid from the day it is issued and your days counted from the day you entered country. If you get your visa 1-2 months before your journey starts double entry may not be long enough unless it is for 1 year. You can get multiple entry 90 days L visa for 1 year. It may be difficult to get if this is your first trip to China unless you can show at least two itinary details. Embassy should be able to help you on this. You can try to apply for multiple entry visa with one itinary details. You may get lucky.