I'm heading to Beijing for (what I hope will be) a six month stay. When I applied at the embassy here three weeks ago, my visa notification letter requested a 180 day F-visa, and my plane ticket was booked appropriately.
However, rather than rejecting my application outright, the embassy decided to give me a 60 day visa instead.
Obviously, this wasn't what I had applied for, and wouldn't really work for me. I asked whether I could show up in Beijing with my 60-day visa and hope to renew it in November. The guy said it was "risky", but he didn't tell me not to travel. And he didn't ask me to change my flight booking. He recommended getting a new visa notification letter.
There isn't enough time to get a new visa notification letter (for whatever combo would get me 180 days) so I've decided to travel on my 60-day visa and hope I can renew in Beijing or HK in November.
My question is: 1. Should I change my return flight from March '09 to November so that it is in line with my 60-day visa? Will my return flight booking be checked when I arrive at immigration?
2. What do you figure my chances are of being able to renew my visa in Beijing or HK in November? I of course don't intend to stay in China without a visa, and will change my flight if necessary.
There are different scenarios for your case: yr pt 1) I would not change the flight for the moment. Important is that you hopefully still have a copy of the "Visa Notification Letter" indicating the 180 days. yr pt 2) Once in Beijing you should approach the PSB after the October 17th and try to get the renewal directly there - also showing up the copy of the 'Visa Notification " Letter.
In worst case you have to go back to your "home country" as long as you are not a HK resident. But in any case I would suggest to carefully review the situation after October 17th first before make any decisions.
2 comments:
I'm heading to Beijing for (what I hope will be) a six month stay. When I applied at the embassy here three weeks ago, my visa notification letter requested a 180 day F-visa, and my plane ticket was booked appropriately.
However, rather than rejecting my application outright, the embassy decided to give me a 60 day visa instead.
Obviously, this wasn't what I had applied for, and wouldn't really work for me. I asked whether I could show up in Beijing with my 60-day visa and hope to renew it in November. The guy said it was "risky", but he didn't tell me not to travel. And he didn't ask me to change my flight booking. He recommended getting a new visa notification letter.
There isn't enough time to get a new visa notification letter (for whatever combo would get me 180 days) so I've decided to travel on my 60-day visa and hope I can renew in Beijing or HK in November.
My question is:
1. Should I change my return flight from March '09 to November so that it is in line with my 60-day visa? Will my return flight booking be checked when I arrive at immigration?
2. What do you figure my chances are of being able to renew my visa in Beijing or HK in November? I of course don't intend to stay in China without a visa, and will change my flight if necessary.
There are different scenarios for your case:
yr pt 1) I would not change the flight for the moment. Important is that you hopefully still have a copy of the "Visa Notification Letter" indicating the 180 days.
yr pt 2) Once in Beijing you should approach the PSB after the October 17th and try to get the renewal directly there - also showing up the copy of the 'Visa Notification " Letter.
In worst case you have to go back to your "home country" as long as you are not a HK resident. But in any case I would suggest to carefully review the situation after October 17th first before make any decisions.
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