Journal: The Visa Saga

We have a joke about the bureaucracy in Tajikistan: you have to prove that you're not a camel. It's no good saying "I don't look like a camel." You need the proper documentation stating that you don't look like a camel. "I don't think like a camel," you might say. Well, come back when you have the forms to prove it. "I don't spit!" Then where are the documents that say so?

— Phil from Tajikistan, a volunteer worker at Crossroads in Hong Kong

Foreigners in China fit into one of two categories: (a) language teachers, and (b) everybody else. It's true that there are many stories about shady language schools that take on foreign teachers then turn out to have no way to furnish them with a visa, but for teachers who choose their school wisely, visas, foreign expert certificates, and residence permits are a mere formality. On the other hand, those of us in category (b) must negotiate the maze that is the PSB's Entry/Exit Administration Office.

It all started more than 6 months ago, when I was preparing to come to Qinghai and wanted to apply for an "F" class visa. This is known as a business visa, but from the information I'd managed to find on the internet it seemed that its scope was quite board (excluding work of course) and that with an invitation letter from a work unit in China anybody could get at least a 3 month visa. But in the end, even with an invitation letter and help from the foreign affairs officer at my university, all that the Dalian PSB gave me was a stamp on my residence permit saying that I was leaving their jurisdiction. Whether or not the lack of this stamp would have caused me trouble later on, I do not know. I should also explain what a residence permit is: if you enter China on a work visa, as I did, your stay is sanctioned by a temporary residence permit issued by the PSB after you arrive, not by the visa itself which is typically valid for only 3 months from the date of issue.

I had a few weeks validity left on my residence permit in which to get to Qinghai and make my visa application to the PSB here. I rocked up with my invitation letter, but the officer read it and said that if I wanted to volunteer at SDA I would need a work visa, regardless of whether I was being paid or not. In the afternoon I went back again with a mouthful of excuses ready for why I should be given at least a small extension, and it turned out to be quite simple to get my residence permit extended for one month.

What followed was several weeks of thought, research, and worry about how to get a longer visa. Finally a foreign teacher and friend of Mr Zhu's suggested getting a part time job at a certain private english school (to my knowledge, it is the only private school in Xining that is licensed to employ foreigners). I didn't want to go back to teaching, but I thought perhaps I could help them in some other way, so I arranged a meeting with the principal of the school. Actually, I was quite proud of how I did this: through contacts I got in touch with one of the teachers at the school and asked her to arrange the appointment for me, figuring that this would look better than cold-calling, and I even took a small gift to the meeting. At first the principal was reluctant, but he quickly agreed to help when he found out who had recommended me. All it took was a word from him to the school's foreign affairs office to get me a new residence permit valid for 5 months (not a new visa).

That gave me a few months to settle in, and of course to convince Mr Zhu that it was worth having me around. I didn't have much to do with the school during that time, but on the one or two occasions when I did pop in the office staff were all very friendly with me, so I felt confident that they would help me get another visa extension when the time came. Still, I didn't want to leave it too late, so with a month of validity left on my new residence permit I made a call to the principal. Unfortunately, when I asked if he would be able to help me a second time, he responded with a question of his own: would I like to come and teach classes during the winter holidays? My answer to his question: "I'm afraid that would be inconvenient". His answer to my question: "I'll have to give it some more consideration". Needless to say, that was the last time that we spoke.

So it looked as if I would have to tackle the bureaucracy of the Entry/Exit Administration Office head on. Well, not literally head on of course, because that wouldn't achieve anything. My impression of bureaucracy in China is that it can be very flexible if you know how to push its buttons in the right way. Rules and regulations define who has the authority to make decisions, but whether those decisions are always made in strict accordance with the regulations is another matter. If you know the right people, then anything is possible. Of course this is corruption, but it's so ingrained in the system that it seems natural after a while. The bottom line is that picking up a copy of the official regulations (such as the three heavy volumes that comprise the PSB's own manual for foreigner entry/exit procedures) will not help you understand what is really feasible or infeasible. Indeed, if you're not sure about how the system works then going straight to the relevant authority to make enquiries may hurt your case rather than help it. So Mr Zhu and Zhuoya both started thinking about how to leverage their personal connections to help me get a visa. At the same time, I tried to invent a semi-believable lie to explain why I needed to stay at SDA for another 6 months. In Australia I would never fill out forms untruthfully, but in this case I was just adopting what seems to be a common attitude towards paperwork in China: that it is merely a formality, and you should fill in the "right" answers, not necessarily the true answers.

With the clock ticking, Mr Zhu and Zhuoya tried numerous avenues, but to no avail. A number of people tried to help, but it turned out that none of them had enough influence or authority. None of the letters we wrote or stamps we got impressed the visa office. The right to employ foreigners is not easily obtained: I think this is partly due to strict government regulations, and partly due to the fact that employing foreigners (for example native english teachers) can be quite lucrative, so of course greedy officials are not willing to give out this privilege for free. Personally, I believe that in an ideal world people would be free to live and work in whatever country they choose, but despite the trouble that this issue has caused me I do not blame the chinese government for its strict visa laws. After all, some developed nations (including the USA) have such strict immigration policies that they even turn down some applications for tourist and student visas.

With only days left before the expiry of my residence permit and no solution in sight, I was once again forced to apply for a short-term extension. This turned out to be harder than the previous time: I first had to go to the local police station to register, and the officer who dealt with these matters wasn't even there when I arrived. Nevertheless, after spending half the day accompanying me around, Zhuoya's opinion was that it was much easier than she had expected!

They gave me an extension of 28 days, to the end of February. The only problem was that Spring Festival was approaching, and it would be difficult to get anything done in the first few weeks of the new year because the high ranking officials would probably take their sweet time returning to work after the holiday. All my friends were quite worried, but luckily I had a backup plan: enrolling at university as a foreign student. I must admit that I was curious to see what the classes would be like, but still the plan was far from ideal: even more of a concern than the expense was the time it would take up, and the fact that having to attend regular classes in Xining would restrict my visits to project sites and the time that I could spend in my beloved Guanting.

The university was on holiday, but I managed to get in contact with the head of the foreign students office by telephone. When I said I only wanted to attend 4 hours of classes per week, he seemed surprised but didn't protest. I soon found out the reason though, when I visited him in his office: there is a flat fee for part-time students, meaning any student enrolled in 10 hours of classes or less each week. Including administrative fees, it would cost me 5020 RMB for a semester. However, I explained my situation (a volunteer with no income, but in need of a visa) and seeing that I only wanted to take 4 hours of classes per week they agreed to reduce the tuition fee by 1000 RMB. The remaining four grand is still a lot for a guy living off his savings, but in comparative terms it's less than what it cost me to fly from Australia to China in the first place, and I was willing to pay it. The university gave me an application form to fill in and asked me to bring it back when the new semester began at the end of February.

Finally I had a solution to my visa problem, and could relax and enjoy Spring Festival. But not long after returning, I stumbled upon a web page about getting a visa in Hong Kong. I have heard before that getting a visa for China in Hong Kong is easier than in other places, but I assumed that "easier" meant faster and cheaper, I didn't imagine that it might be possible to get a visa in Hong Kong that is impossible to obtain either on the mainland or from chinese consulates overseas. Yet that's what this web page claimed, and after some phone calls I identified two travel agencies in Hong Kong that indeed said that they could arrange a 12 month "F" class (business) visa, requiring nothing from me except a photo. Even factoring in the cost of travel to and from Hong Kong, the expense was about the same as enrolling as a student, so there wasn't much of a decision to be made: I was going to Hong Kong!

I crossed the border on the second-last day of February. First I went to Japan Travel Agency, and they were just about to take my passport and photo when they noticed that my most recent visa was a work visa. It turns out that they have had problems applying for a multi-entry visa under these circumstances, and they told me they would probably only be able to get me a 3 month visa. Feeling rather worried, I made my way to Sunshine International Travel Service. Their prices are slightly more expensive that Japan Travel Agency, and they told me that I needed at least three previous entries to China to apply for a 12 month visa (luckily I had exactly three), but at least the work visa didn't bother them. I left my passport with them, but in the afternoon they called back and said there was a problem: the PSB was no longer issuing 12 month visas, and the best they could get would be a 6 month visa.

Seeing little choice, I told them to go ahead with the 6 month visa. But soon after I stopped in at a little cafe for a drink, and the staff gave me a copy of the South China Post to read. The classifieds section has ads for several travel agencies offering China visas. I quickly called Sunshine back and told them not to do anything until I had made further enquires. I ended up delaying several days, hoping for that 12 month visa I had originally been promised, but the bottom line turned out to be this: on Monday, my first day in Hong Kong, the PSB had started using a new computer system and it seemed they were not so much unwilling as no longer able to issue 12 month visas. The chinese consulate was still issuing 12 month visas, but those differ from PSB-issued visas in that each visit to China is limited to 30 days. The way that Sunshine and similar companies operate is by crossing the border to apply at the PSB in Shenzhen.

Everybody seemed to be hoping that the PSB might start issuing 12 month visas again sooner or later, but I couldn't wait indefinitely. I had to settle for a 6 month visa in the end. Disappointing, though at least I got to see Hong Kong, and met some interesting people—but that's a story for another day.

For reference, here are some companies in Hong Kong that offer China visas. Ordinary travel agents (including the Hong Kong branch of CTS, China Travel Service) can probably apply to the consulate on your behalf, but they cannot get you visas as good as what these specialised firms offer. Note that prices and services vary depending on nationality.

Sunrise International Travel Service: +852 2890-9698 (Rm 4008, 40/F, China Resources Building, 26 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong).
Japan Travel Agency: +852 2368-9151 (Rm 509–513, 5/F, East Ocean Centre, 98 Granville Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon).
Grossman And Co: +852 2801-7911 (Unit 905, Tower 2, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Hong Kong).
Profit Reap International Travel: +852 2893-8844 (Rm 1302, Allways Centre, 48 Jaffe Rd, Hong Kong).

Postscript: Shanghai

In September 2005, I obtained a new "F" class visa in Shanghai. To date, Hong Kong and Shanghai are the only places I have heard of where it is possible to get a visa without an invitation from a local company or organisation. However, if you do not live in Shanghai then to get a visa there you need to stay overnight in a local hotel and then get the hotel to fill in a temporary residence registration form for you. That means that you have to travel to Shanghai in person, and it is only after staying a night that you can obtain the temporary residence registration form and take it to the visa agency. Make sure that you confirm before you check in that the hotel can supply you with this form, and don't forget to make sure that the hotel stamps it. Here is an image of the form (from the web site of Meshing Consultancy Services).

I got a 6 month visa from Meshing Consultancy Services (visainchina.com). It took three business days (I gave my passport to them on Wednesday and picked it up again on Monday), which is exactly what is stated on their web site, but is significantly slower than the agencies in Hong Kong (for example, Sunrise International offers same-day service). Anyway, it gave me an excuse to see Shanghai and Suzhou.

The two companies I know of in Shanghai that offer this service are: