Holiday visa for mainland China when in Hong Kong

Mr. Loverman

Hi all

I am currently a student in China with a valid student visa/residency permit.

If I go to Hong Kong, and during my stay in Hong Kong my Chinese residency permit/student visa expires, can I re-enter China on a 90 day tourist visa?

I would then either do a few weeks of travel in China or sign up for another college course.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Hi all

I am currently a student in China with a valid student visa/residency permit.

If I go to Hong Kong, and during my stay in Hong Kong my Chinese residency permit/student visa expires, can I re-enter China on a 90 day tourist visa?

I would then either do a few weeks of travel in China or sign up for another college course.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

At the moment loverman the authorities are seriously clamping down on visa's until the end of august .

Mr. Loverman

simonsez wrote: »

At the moment loverman the authorities are seriously clamping down on visa's until the end of august .

Thank you for the reply.

So that means I may have to bum around HK until September?

Why the clamp down?

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Thank you for the reply.

So that means I may have to bum around HK until September?

Why the clamp down?

back in May a foreigner was caught on camera assaulting a chinese national lady on the main streets in Beijing it went viral on the net in China . There was a public outcry .


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9257261/British-tourist-arrested-in-China-for-sexual-assault.html

http://shanghaiist.com/2012/05/11/anti-laowai_cyber-rhetoric_grows_st.php

http://www.beijingesc.com/news/77-beijing-to-clamp-down-on-illegal-aliens-20120514.html

the back lash has been a 100 day clampdown . Im based in a tiny city beside hangzhou living here since 2009 and have been stopped several times a month previously we have never been asked for ID.

Mr. Loverman

I'm aware of the 100 day "foreigners might be evil" campaign (I live in Beijing where it all kicked off) but I wasn't aware they have camped down issuing new visas.

Do you know people who have had problems?

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

I'm aware of the 100 day "foreigners might be evil" campaign (I live in Beijing where it all kicked off) but I wasn't aware they have camped down issuing new visas.

Do you know people who have had problems?

me and my fellow ex-pats. As well we have never been asked for ID either . i live in a city of 600k with about 50 foreigners and being such a small community we all talk everyone of us have had either psb checks or have found it more difficult to renew visa . Even having guanxi with the local authorities isnt really working. Generally speaking we are mostly professionals working with local enterprises or schools. A few teachers were expelled one for not having the right visa (z) and her colleague. Her colleague was turfed out even though she was qualified. The school has lost its licence with the SAFEA and was fined. Normally a slap on the wrist and 'gifts' would suffice however not this time around. This has happened before though and once the 100 days have passed it will be business as normal. However during this 100 day purge I would just keep the head down and keep of the radar.


SS

Brokentime

simonsez wrote: »

me and my fellow ex-pats. As well we have never been asked for ID either . i live in a city of 600k with about 50 foreigners and being such a small community we all talk everyone of us have had either psb checks or have found it more difficult to renew visa . Even having guanxi with the local authorities isnt really working. Generally speaking we are mostly professionals working with local enterprises or schools. A few teachers were expelled one for not having the right visa (z) and her colleague. Her colleague was turfed out even though she was qualified. The school has lost its licence with the SAFEA and was fined. Normally a slap on the wrist and 'gifts' would suffice however not this time around. This has happened before though and once the 100 days have passed it will be business as normal. However during this 100 day purge I would just keep the head down and keep of the radar. SS

Been in Shanghai over 2 years; never had any trouble before, during or after these purported clampdowns. Storm in a teacup compared to the events in Guangzhou recently, where the African national "died accidentally" in police custody, and the backlash from that.

crazygeryy

simonsez wrote: »

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

I'm aware of the 100 day "foreigners might be evil" campaign (I live in Beijing where it all kicked off) but I wasn't aware they have camped down issuing new visas.

Do you know people who have had problems?

me and my fellow ex-pats. As well we have never been asked for ID either . i live in a city of 600k with about 50 foreigners and being such a small community we all talk everyone of us have had either psb checks or have found it more difficult to renew visa . Even having guanxi with the local authorities isnt really working. Generally speaking we are mostly professionals working with local enterprises or schools. A few teachers were expelled one for not having the right visa (z) and her colleague. Her colleague was turfed out even though she was qualified. The school has lost its licence with the SAFEA and was fined. Normally a slap on the wrist and 'gifts' would suffice however not this time around. This has happened before though and once the 100 days have passed it will be business as normal. However during this 100 day purge I would just keep the head down and keep of the radar.


SS

I know this is a vague question to ask but is it a strict environment to live in? In general.and do they treat foreigners with suspicion?

simonsez

crazygeryy wrote: »

I know this is a vague question to ask but is it a strict environment to live in? In general.and do they treat foreigners with suspicion?[/QUOTE

Let me start my stating I am only speaking from my own experience:).

My experience:) of the Chinese people has been fine, I have found them to be friendly, funny , generous etc. The state itself is like any state it is there to protect itself. I have found from my experience :)official-dom anywhere generally is not friendly. However a people should not be judged by the bureaucracy. from my own experience:).

(This next paragraph is not from my own experience but from a colleagues )I think it is more difficult for individuals from Black African backgrounds to get employment even if they come from the USA/UK/Canadian etc . A black colleague of mine from Canada with an MA in English with a hDip in ED usually can only get work in private schools, yet whites with no degrees and a TEFL/TESOL course have got work in public schools.

I can only speak for myself however I have been stopped since May a number of times which never happened to me before and asked for ID however this has also happened in Germany and Spain too. Maybe I have that type of face that screams CRIMINAL!!!! haha:) I can only relay what fellow colleagues have said also asked, however this is hearsay and would not stand up as admissible in a court of law . By the numbers you are supposed to have ID on ya anyway in case you are stopped it seems the local 'five-o' (police)are just actually doing their jobs. To be fair they are polite about it and not heavy handed. Yeah that was terrible down in Guangzhou read about that. Mind you
apart from the US I would never want to end up in prison here in China . Like the Americans they have a Medieval approach to Penology !!!

However I love China. It took me awhile but, the electrodes, sleep deprievation and the flashing retina burning images of mao helped me to see the error of my ways . lol . Seriously I love China and as I might have mentioned before I can only speak for myself:)

Mr. Loverman

crazygeryy wrote: »

I know this is a vague question to ask but is it a strict environment to live in? In general.and do they treat foreigners with suspicion?

My white female friends have been sexually assaulted many times in Beijing (at least once a month someone tries to stick a finger in them or something like that), so for foreign women I would say it is not a very safe environment. For men, in general it is very safe.

Regarding strictness, well there seems to be one rule for Chinese and another for foreigners. For example, in Sanlitun in Beijing there is open drug selling, open prostitution, etc. There is a police station beside where all this happens and they don't care, as long as it is foreigners doing it to foreigners. But as I say, it is a different story for Chinese people.

The media here are constantly publishing stories about foreigners being bad people. The sad thing is many Chinese people believe whatever they are told, so I have had Chinese people telling me "most foreigners are criminals" based on ridiculous bull**** articles in the press.

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

My white female friends have been sexually assaulted many times in Beijing (at least once a month someone tries to stick a finger in them or something like that), so for foreign women I would say it is not a very safe environment. For men, in general it is very safe.

Regarding strictness, well there seems to be one rule for Chinese and another for foreigners. For example, in Sanlitun in Beijing there is open drug selling, open prostitution, etc. There is a police station beside where all this happens and they don't care, as long as it is foreigners doing it to foreigners. But as I say, it is a different story for Chinese people.

The media here are constantly publishing stories about foreigners being bad people. The sad thing is many Chinese people believe whatever they are told, so I have had Chinese people telling me "most foreigners are criminals" based on ridiculous bull**** articles in the press.

so its just like anywhere else so.

Mr. Loverman

simonsez wrote: »

so its just like anywhere else so.

Not really...

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Not really...

sexual assault/harassment/, biased media reports(daily mail, der bild, fox etc etc), foreign nationals being treated differently to native population this only occurs in china? Ethnic profiling? Racism?

I don't condone any of the above myself however China and its people do not have the monopoly on any of the above, no?

Mr. Loverman

simonsez wrote: »

sexual assault/harassment/, biased media reports(daily mail, der bild, fox etc etc), foreign nationals being treated differently to native population this only occurs in china? Ethnic profiling? Racism?

I don't condone any of the above myself however China and its people do not have the monopoly on any of the above, no?

All countries have problems, but China is in the lead on a couple of fronts...

For example, the state media in Ireland do not run anti-foreigner campaigns. Foreign women probably won't be sexually assaulted every month on public transport in Ireland. The Gardai tend not to allow open drug dealing. Etc.

simonsez

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

All countries have problems, but China is in the lead on a couple of fronts...

For example, the state media in Ireland do not run anti-foreigner campaigns. Foreign women probably won't be sexually assaulted every month on public transport in Ireland. The Gardai tend not to allow open drug dealing. Etc.

This must be an emotive issue for you and I apologize for causing offence and hope that your experiences of China will improve. I admire your endurance in sticking it out for such a time . I think I probably would have headed back to Europe sooner. As they say 'one mans meat is another mans poison '

Do you have info on visas ML? Have you applied for a work visa through the Chinese embassy in Dublin?

:)ss


ss

Brokentime

simonsez wrote: »

...biased media reports...

It's not really biased, per se. There are the Government propaganda outlets, be they either newspapers, magazines or TV stations, and then privately-ran outlets, but which are heavily bowdlerised and/or censored by the state.

Very little in the West compares to what happens here when the Government wants to suppress a news story or prevent something from reaching the public (e.g. 2011 train crash near Wenzhou). Even *gulp* Tiananmen Square...

RadioClash

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

My white female friends have been sexually assaulted many times in Beijing (at least once a month someone tries to stick a finger in them or something like that), so for foreign women I would say it is not a very safe environment. For men, in general it is very safe.

Regarding strictness, well there seems to be one rule for Chinese and another for foreigners. For example, in Sanlitun in Beijing there is open drug selling, open prostitution, etc. There is a police station beside where all this happens and they don't care, as long as it is foreigners doing it to foreigners. But as I say, it is a different story for Chinese people.

The media here are constantly publishing stories about foreigners being bad people. The sad thing is many Chinese people believe whatever they are told, so I have had Chinese people telling me "most foreigners are criminals" based on ridiculous bull**** articles in the press.

Often wondered about the fairly open pushing of drugs in Sanliturrr( rrr for the er-hua effect), triads have gotta be paying off cops to allow those African guys to sell it so openly.

Anyway Sanlitun is a hole. Even in the great pantheon of Asian foreigner ghettos (Itaewon, Roppongi etc) it's a craphole (save Annie's Italian which can be got elsewhere in the city).

Mr. Loverman

I thought I should update this:

I got a tourist visa in HK no problem (two thirty day entries) and have since changed it to a business visa. No problems whatsoever, assuming you have a bit of cash you can spend on these things.