Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)

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kitano

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Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« on: September 21, 2019, 08:58:38 PM »
Hello again. I finally made it to China after a fairly epic visa ordeal, so as promised, here is an account of the visa process as it stands for a UK citizen currently

1) Getting a job.
This is the same as always, there are plenty of jobs available and I always got one sorted out by email before I came so nothing to write about here except that one school that I contacted told me that I could come on a tourist visa and sort out the business visa from within China. Just a stupid idea, don't do it kids!

2) Getting the invitation letter. This is likewise the same process but where it gets tricky is that now they want documents authorised by your home country and the Chinese embassy there. Your degree and a criminal background check both need these two stamps.

To get the letter you need to send scans of the following to your new boss by email

1)Scan of passport 
2) Passport style photo
3) Police background check (authenticated)
4) Scan of teaching certificate
5) Scan of degree(authenticated)
6) signed copy of contract
7) letter of recommendation - not necessary, but apparently it helps if you can get one from a former employer

Everything is straightforward except the authenticated documents.

The criminal background check needs to be recent, in the UK you go to ACRO website and request the certificate, and ask them to authenticate it as well. For the degree, it needs to be sent to the civil service in Milton Keynes. I will put the links at the bottom of this post, I have no idea about other countries but altogether this cost me about 30 pounds per certificate. The online help service for the police and the civil service were pretty brilliant, I asked them for support using the contact forms and they emailed back within a day and then were happy to reply to my questions etc

This is not such a difficult process, but it is quite daunting. What I wish I had done is just used a visa service. I have put a link to one that I ended up using after several problems who were very efficient at a good price (I think that they add on five pounds per thing they do, you can do it yourself, but I think it's worth the peace of mind of having someone else doing it)

3) Getting the Visa
So I emailed everything off to my employer in China and they said to wait two to three weeks for the invitation letter. About 2 weeks later it arrived by email. Now it was time to go to the Visa centre. Any visa centre is valid, I did mine in Hanoi, but you need to tell your boss where you are going to do it because it's on the visa letter where you are going to get your visa (I will put more about that at the end).
So you bring to the Visa centre

1) Passport
2) 2 passport photos
3) Invitation letter
4) Photocopies of previous Chinese visas. If you have an old passport with Chinese visas bring that along

I was able to use printouts of the invitation letter (in Chinese and English) but in the past I have been sent it by post.

The rest is standard, go to the visa centre, give them the documents and then wait for 4 days etc etc


Visa Abroad) I was living in Vietnam when I got my visa and this was a worry for me because there is no information online and the Chinese visa people are very slow to respond, but the actual visa process was fairly painless. I did have two problems, one was that getting all of the documents authorised in the UK and then getting the invitation letter took such a long time that my VN visa expired so I had to sort that out before applying to China. You also need a copy of your visa/work permit for the third country, but in Hanoi I had all of the documents and it was no problem.
I would highly recommend doing it in your home country if possible. It is just less stress and gives you an excuse to visit your family, but if it's not possible then I can vouch for Hanoi, they have a big new service centre and are very efficient and everything


Sorry that is a very long post, it took a lot more to write it out than I thought

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Escaped Lunatic

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2019, 06:12:05 PM »
Kitano, was fingerprinting needed at any step?  That question seems to be cropping up recently.

Now we just need someone to do the same for a fresh Z visa for people from the US, that cold place north of the US, New Zealand, West New Zealand (aka Australia), etc.
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kitano

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2019, 08:36:27 PM »
I was fingerprinted at the airport.
Went up to the passport conyrpl, they checked my visa and made sure everything was in order and then took my prints on a machine

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Escaped Lunatic

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2019, 05:15:42 PM »
I think they're fingerprinting all inbound foreigners at the border now.  Once done, you can just slap your hand on a scanner at the desk instead of doing it at the machine.  If you go for an eChannel pass, you can get to use the same lines as the locals.  Just expect from 1-3 border guards to ask if you are in the right line and/or try to redirect you. This has been getting better over time as the number of foreigners with eChannel registration goes up.

What's odd is that there seem to be cases where they are asking for fingerprints before issuing some visa types.  Hopefully someone who has to do this will report back with details.
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kitano

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2019, 10:21:23 PM »
They have added some more documents in recent years but the process was fairly straightforward and overall I'd say that for someone from a rich country with a Z visa invitation letter it's still relatively straightforward.

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AMonk

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2019, 09:23:50 AM »
Good to know agagagagag
Moderation....in most things...

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Nolefan

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2020, 04:25:02 AM »
making this a sticky as it's the most up to date info for now.
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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2020, 02:00:23 PM »
Hi Kitano (and other thread readers), thanks for sharing your recent experience. 
I was teaching in Xi'an from 2016 to 2018 (though went home to UK for summer and winter hols), and have been back in the UK since. 
I'm tempted to look at teaching again in China after the virus (hopefully) blows over.

I got a release letter and reference from my job there before I left (which was under good and friendly circumstances).  The only thing is, I didn't get from the local police any kind of certificate of good conduct before leaving (didn't occur to me at the time).  That caused me some hassle when going for a job here in the UK last summer, but would that be a problem for going back to CN?  I'm guessing that as long as I get the criminal cert. verified (ACRO) for my UK time, that's enough?  I'm thinking of going back to the same city, Xi'an. 

Thanks for any insight guys

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kitano

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2020, 01:44:39 AM »
Hi Kitano (and other thread readers), thanks for sharing your recent experience. 
I was teaching in Xi'an from 2016 to 2018 (though went home to UK for summer and winter hols), and have been back in the UK since. 
I'm tempted to look at teaching again in China after the virus (hopefully) blows over.

I got a release letter and reference from my job there before I left (which was under good and friendly circumstances).  The only thing is, I didn't get from the local police any kind of certificate of good conduct before leaving (didn't occur to me at the time).  That caused me some hassle when going for a job here in the UK last summer, but would that be a problem for going back to CN?  I'm guessing that as long as I get the criminal cert. verified (ACRO) for my UK time, that's enough?  I'm thinking of going back to the same city, Xi'an. 

Thanks for any insight guys

The ACRO certificate is enough, but it has to be verified in the UK.

Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2020, 03:03:59 AM »
Thanks for confirming :)

Hey this might be a weird (overly sentimental) question, but had you already lived in China prior to your move there last autumn?  If so, how did it feel going back this time?

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kitano

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Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2020, 03:52:21 AM »
Thanks for confirming :)

Hey this might be a weird (overly sentimental) question, but had you already lived in China prior to your move there last autumn?  If so, how did it feel going back this time?

I have lived in China off and on since 2009. I was married to a Chinese girl, didn't work out and in 2017 I went away for a bit and then came back. I have had always had problems with China, but it keeps drawing me back because the ESL jobs are well paid with good students and of course the food/women etc

I am still dreaming of leaving and going to live in a paradise one day, but for all of the problems, I think that China is still a good place to live

Re: Visa 2019. I just got a visa (very boring post)
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2020, 04:06:35 AM »
That was really interesting to hear, thanks for that.  I get where you are coming from there