Monday, June 23, 2008

Do you still have your original VISA NOTIFICATION LETTER ?

Please see following info from the "German Chamber of Commerce" - update 20.06.2008 - this is only the most important part:
quote
Information regarding Chinese visa regulations
UPDATE June 20, 2008 (see red type)
As the German Chamber of Commerce in China, Beijing periodically receives information regarding the new visa application process, we stand ready to share any and all such information with our membership. Please contact us. We must however note, that the Chamber is not in a position to guarantee that the information provided is in agreement with the latest requirements, as these are subject to frequent updates.
F-Visa (Business Visa)
- Plane tickets for both the outbound and return flights (E-tickets with the ticket number are also
accepted, but in both cases the original ticket is more likely to be accepted than photocopies)
- Hotel reservation in China; must include complete name (as displayed in passport) of each traveler
(original reservation and a copy are usually required, in some cases though the copy is enough)
- Invitation (original and copy) for a business visa from the responsible ministry, provincial
government, or companies and institutions of the P.R. of China with the necessary authority to issue invitations.
To renew or extend an F-Visa the original invitation which was used to obtain the visa must be presented. There might also be the additional requirement that the applicant work for a company with a certain minimum registered capital. Please note that at this point it is unclear exactly what the required minimum will be.
unquote
Full link is here:
http://www2.china.ahk.de/download/bj/Visa200608.pdf
What is written there in RED will be almost impossible for most of the (still existing) F-Visa holders - Cheers ! If you don't know why - just sit back, relax & think about it for a minute or two.
Very "creative" department somewhere there in the "Central Government".
It is sad, ridiculous + very much annoying !

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha - good joke - nobody of the most F-visa holders will have this "original" letter. Because they never had one.............
As all was proceeded mostly through travel agents. Interesting would be to find some F-visa holders who received the last F-Visa directly from the Commissioners Office for example in Hong Kong also without this letter. This procedure now makes sure that a majority of F-visa which will expire soon will not be renewed. Yes you right - thats really quite creative.

The Visa Man said...

Just to make it clear: Nobody of you will still have the ORIGINAL Invitation Letter (Visa Notification Form), because the issueing authority requires that you pass the original to them - see the excerpt from the COMMISIONERS webpage:
quote
"To apply for multiple-entry business visa, Visa Notification Form issued by authorized Foreign Affairs Office or Bureau of Commerce(original),........."
unquote
This theoretically should have also been the practice "before this nightmare of regulations" was triggered.
So this is just to make it impossible for anyone still in possession of a valid F-Visa to renew this after expiration. So you all need to become tourists now

DBCHongkong said...

You have to keep that?

I don't even think they gave it back to me.

The Visa Man said...

Yes DBC - thats exactly the TRICK (because you are supposed to hand out the ORIGINAL) ....they are coming up with this now and if anybody ever had the letter - they will not have it anymore and copies surely will not be accepted. Thats why I said this is very CREATIVE.....and it is going in circles and we are the SIMPLY THE IDIOTS.

Be aware that this new rule until today could not be found on any of the official Visa pages of Central Government - but the source for this info seems reliable ! Also as we have learned up-dates on the official sites are very slow to non-existent ! CHEERS.

Anonymous said...

Lets think well
Remember?
There was a time when a person ask for a visa he will be given a One Entry Visa.
Than if he applied a second time
He was receiving a double entry visa.
When he came soon after to ask a visa:
He received a multiple entry visa
In every time it was a decision of issuing party.
I do not know if anybody did not witness this?

The Visa Man said...

To last Anon comment:
Not sure what you want to tell us with this:
Yes sure everything is depending on the decision of the Visa issueing authority - they do not need to explain anything or whatever - they simply can say yes or no. But a clear "YES" or "NO" is not very much chinese nature, so setting up some rules which are saying "no" in the end seems alway to be more "comfortable". and keeping them out of a "direct shooting-line".
Please do not forget the year is 2008 - we are not 1986 anymore. Even China's leaders know this - but it seems in some department of this big and huge house some guys are still far away from reality.
Why they cannot more fine tune the procedures ?
Myself have a seamless visa history of more than 10 years - mostly 1 year F + several Z visas.
My last visa with a single entry to SZ permitted only. This is what I remember and I think somebody else (the issueing authority) is not thinking well.

abusaleh said...

Please visa notification authority contact and address?