China Visa

[Operator 1,927]

Q1 is a single entry, 30 day visa which gives you enough time to head over to the PSB for a residence permit. The residence permit will allow unlimited stays, with no border hops necessary.

The consulate in Houston told me that I could not convert from a 10 year Q2 to a residence permit - I'm not sure that that's true (seems like it's easy enough to apply for a residence permit anyway), but I got a Q1 and am told I can expect a 3 year residence permit. No renewal activity required on my part for the 3 years, whereas the Q2 would require 20 border trips over the 10 year period.

I'm interested to hear about your experience with the PSB. My wife and I labored over the idea of a Q1 but she felt like the local authorities would be more difficult to deal with in terms of the residence permit. The border hops aren't an issue for me because I have clients in Korea, Thailand and India and I'm traveling every few months anyhow.

I think the embassy in Houston is right about the converting the Q2, at least that's what we've read. As you well know sometimes the rules here are little fuzzy.

Let us know how the residency permit goes.

[RandyW 149]

I'm interested to hear about your experience with the PSB. My wife and I labored over the idea of a Q1 but she felt like the local authorities would be more difficult to deal with in terms of the residence permit. The border hops aren't an issue for me because I have clients in Korea, Thailand and India and I'm traveling every few months anyhow.

I think the embassy in Houston is right about the converting the Q2, at least that's what we've read. As you well know sometimes the rules here are little fuzzy.

Let us know how the residency permit goes.

My original visa was a two-year multiple entry back in 2009, with 90 day stays. On the first entry, I also got a one year residence permit from the PSB while I was teaching which expired BEFORE the 2 year visa did.

Since then, the PSB has given 2 or 3 one-year L-visas, and then last year another residence permit. This permit expired while I was unexpectedly called away to the U.S., so I had to apply for the Q1. The consulate gave me a choice of single entry Q1, or the 10 year Q2. Since I wanted the residence permit, I chose the Q1.

Going to the PSB to apply for the new residence permit is next on our list, but they tell me it'll take about 10 days, and will be a 3 year visa.

The PSB has been relatively painless for us. The Q2 would have required 20 trips to Hong Kong (one every 180 days), so it was a no-brainer to go for the residence permit instead.

My gut feeling, though, is that from an administrative (THEIR) point of view, if you're living in China, it's better to have the visas from the PSB than the overseas ones. I have NO idea, though, if there are any actualities to back up that gut feeling. The PSB visas don't even have a space for length of stay.

I've run into some minor confusion from one hotel clerk who was confused about how I could stay in China without exiting for 3 years on L-visas, a Immigrations clerk who was confused about how I could be leaving China with a COMPLETELY BLANK passport (it had been issued at Guangzhou a month earlier, yes I showed her the old one, also), and more recently about my "000 days" length of stay on my Q1. Just a little confusion - no problems.

Edited March 5, 2015 by RandyW