Queue Up Now: China's Visa Nightmare

Hong Kong: lines of hundreds of people wrapped around China's visa office.

For more than a year foreigners have been joking about the Beijing government's attempt to teach its citizens to "queue" in time for the 2008 Olympics. But it seems China will get the last laugh on this topic. Anyone who wants to enter, return to China or renew their visa before the end of the Olympic Games is going to face a lot of queuing.

Regardless of the type of visa you have/want, if you currently reside in China and your visa expires before the end of the Olympics, you will have to go to Hong Kong.

As of April 3rd, the only visa that will allow foreigners in the country for more than 30 days is the "Z" (work) visa. The "L" visa for travelers, which used to be available for up to 90 days and the "F" business visa, which was once valid for up to 12-month period have both been reduced to 1 month...indefinitely.

Until quite recently one could obtain an "F" visa for 12 months. Then it was 6 months. Then 3. Now, 30 days.

What amounts to the end of the "F" business visa is something of a tragedy for foreigners working in China who for one reason or another could not get their hands on employment visas. These nifty documents allowed you to stay in the country without really proving exactly what you were doing here. The ambiguity inherent in the "F" visa made it a favorite for entrepreneurs developing "visa companies," which for a time, were delighted to pick up your passport and your money, whisk it all away and return a few days later with what may or may not have been a government-sanctioned visa.

Another other change that took place on April 3, is the definition of "rush" service. Prior to this Olympic-related crackdown, you could request rush service on your visa, pay a fee and return to the office that very same day to pick up your passport. Now, "rush" service is defined as approximately 24 hours. The visa office is open from 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm. If you drop of your passport in the morning hours, you can pick up during the morning hours of the following business day. If you don't make it in until after lunch break, you pick up in the afternoon of the following day.

This new arrangement makes it virtually impossible to spend less than two nights in Hong Kong. Short of presenting a letter from Hu Jintao, no amount of tears, screaming, pleading or excuses will get anyone at the office to budge on this issue.

The third change that took place April 3rd is that visas for Americans are now substantially more expensive -- ranging anywhere from 600CNY (US$86) to 1300CNY (UD$186) depending on the type of visa.

It may be worth your time to snag an L or F visa from one of the many travel service offices scattered about Hong Kong. These places still offer same day service and you wont have to wait on a line. Expect to pay up to 2500CNY (US$360) for these advantages however.

The "Z" visa, the mother of all visas is really the only option for anyone looking to live in China. This territory comes with its own set of grievances, however. To obtain the illustrious "Z" you must be employed by a legitimate (registered) company, undergo a battery of medical tests -- including HIV --, prove that your were employed by two companies prior to your engagement in China with letters and be willing to make the trip to Hong Kong.

What is the purpose of all this? It's tough to say. Some believe that the newly installed Kafka-esque bureaucracy is to help keep track of the number of foreigners in the country during Olympic time. Others think China is just posturing for public appearances.

Whatever the reasoning, when you return to the visa office to pick up your passport and are told to wait in the same two-hour plus line as people making visa applications, you might be tempted to ask the guards, why? You might think, waiting in this line again doesn't make any sense and it's a big waste of time. You'd be correct on both counts.

Comments

[JDBishop5]

>The "Z" visa, the mother of all visas is really the only option for anyone looking to live in China. This territory comes with its own set of grievances, however. To obtain the illustrious "Z" you must be employed by a legitimate (registered) company, undergo a battery of medical tests -- including HIV --, prove that your were employed by two companies prior to your engagement in China with letters and be willing to make the trip to Hong Kong.<

We have been living in China with 'Z' visas for six years. There are many, many thousands of non-Chinese doing so. There is no indication here that we will be required to travel to Hong Kong to have our present visas renewed. It is a short trip to the provincial capital where the renewal facility exist.

[198bfjGGu8]

Isn't that really rather the point though? Before you could do it, now you can't. I am the "zonglan" of a newly-established company, in Pudong. I have to go to Hong Kong to do my Z visa according to Mr Thursday, and to Australia according to Mr Friday. However, Mr Magic Visa man says as a senior bod, I don't have to go anywhere. As with everything in China, you keep trying until you get the answer that suits you best and you never know what's really going to happen until you go and apply.

Great article. One interesting point is all the "fake foreigners" here, i.e., Chinese working on their foreign passports. They must be bricking themselves. Because "Ah but OK I am really Chinese now" will really give rip to some good old-fashioned bureacratic phlegm at the visa desk. My wife got berated in public when the Goon-in-Chief at Pudong airport discovered she had had the temerity to become a foreigner at only twenty-something - "shei jiao ni dang waiguoren?" was his opening salvo.

Haven't seen blanket restrictions like this (actually implemented) since trying to get a Chinese visa in HK in August 1989. We have an Aussie AP Regional Manager in Singapore flying today to Canberra to get a China visa and a guy coming over from NY next week who was given the thrid degree. COO for a big US multinational. There will be tears before bedtime.

[SamThornton]

One thing no one in the West seems to be focussed on is the intelligence bonanza the Olympics represent for Chinese security and intelligence services.

Frustrated by long visa waits? It takes time, my friend, to enter all your personal data into the Chinese data banks and make a copy of your passport photograph. The Olympics, with its hundreds of thousands of carefully documented visitors from all over the planet, is for China's intelligence services a goldmine of information they'll be able to exploit for years.

Need a cover identify for a mission to New Mexico? Pick from these 5,000 or so, Comrade. Each with a credit card number, photograph, address, etc., etc., etc. You get the idea. Some people think identity theft is a problem now. For China's intelligence services, it's not going to be any problem at all.

[ORSunshine]

I think China is doing a lot of posturing leading up to the Olympics. The point of this Visa-crackdown is likely to portray the image of the strong, tough on security country -- a country that will keep ALL foreign visitors to the Olympics "safe." Because I think the last thing the Chinese want is to allow a terrorist attack on their soil. They want to prove the superiority of their systems over those of other countries. I would say it's all balled up in National Pride and the desire to make bank on the Olympics. The economic infusion of the Olympics is certainly cause enough to try to make sure that people will want to visit after they see all the media coverage... it's a worldwide marketing campaign, and the Chinese have already started "spinning" their "safety," (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/world/asia/09cnd-terror.html?ex=1362801600&en=e0a31203b62fd10b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss "China Reports Suspected Terrorist Activity"... I'm so sure...)

[198bfjGGu8]

Well it all makes perfect sense. What you do in order to safeguard your country, is kick out all the people who have been living in your country, or doing business with your country for years, and about whom you have a lot of information already. Clearly these people are not a threat, and therefore cannot be relied upon to provide the kickstart to any nasty foreigners hurting the feelings of The Chinese People campaign. So you prevent all the people with a vested interest (usually monetary) in the success of the economy and bring in a whole pile of unknowns at least some of whom can be relied upon to cause the necessary rumpus. Bingo! Instant casus belli - just add "L" visa holder and Middle Class Angst ("Where is Tibet?! I really care about it! Them. Whatever. Show me on the map again! It costs 3000 USD to go there!!??? Wow. It must be _really_ poor. Do they have free trade coffee? Excellent!!")