A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall... (THE VISA NIGHTMARE!)

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Pashley

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2008, 01:17:05 AM »
New York Times coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/world/asia/24china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Note that they also mention police cracking down on Beijing bars where drugs are sometimes found. One might want to avoid such places, or exercise more caution if you do go.

I wonder if they might crack down on prostitution and/or gambling as well.
Who put a stop payment on my reality check?

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #16 on: April 28, 2008, 01:27:02 AM »
I have German friends here (strange but true) who work for Siemens, which has huge high-tech plants all over China, and THEY can't get F visas. Some of them are shipping out... amamamamam
"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #17 on: April 28, 2008, 02:05:47 AM »
[quote/] That was reported, for Beijing, on the TEFL China list a week ot two back. Someone else posted a link to China Daily denying the rumour.
[/quote]

I learned long ago never to believe in rumours until someone in a position of authority starts to deny them. Then start to worry. When the denial hits the Daily, you're pretty sure there's an ounce of truth to the original rumour.

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #18 on: April 28, 2008, 07:25:20 PM »
Quote
My suspicion, though, is that this is a spouse L.

Hey Raoul, can you keep us informed of how this pans out, i will try to look into this when i return as my visa will finish whilst i'm away and i really don't want to jump through a million hoops in HK every month.
The future's so bright i gotta wear shades

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #19 on: April 29, 2008, 06:11:55 AM »
I'll do my best.
Little Hope has a bad cough at the moment, and her charming mother is currently convinced that SARS has started a new outbreak in her, and the poor child will rattle her last at any moment.

Uh...I'm not joking. aoaoaoaoao llllllllll

So, my stuff is all twisting in the wind for a while... alalalalal

like I may be taking a holiday Aug-Sept. Pity, I already have one planned in July too. bfbfbfbfbf
Good on ya, Icebear, but you bring up a good point: I suspect a lot of foreign heads will start rolling around June or July as the public school contracts come to an end. A lot of public schools and unis are very reluctant to extend contracts or visas through the summer season even in uh...normal  times, and the expedient of a short-term, F-visa job will likely not be as available as before.

It's always important, as a lot of people find out the hard way, but now it's absolutely vital that we remain mindful of our visa situations and plan way ahead to either get covered or get out... oooooooooo
"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)

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Pashley

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #20 on: April 29, 2008, 07:00:54 AM »
I suspect a lot of foreign heads will start rolling around June or July as the public school contracts come to an end. A lot of public schools and unis are very reluctant to extend contracts or visas through the summer season even in uh...normal  times, and the expedient of a short-term, F-visa job will likely not be as available as before.

One might consider Korea. Pay is sigficantly higher than here and there are lots of summer school jobs there.
« Last Edit: May 23, 2008, 03:28:52 AM by Pashley »
Who put a stop payment on my reality check?

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Lotus Eater

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #21 on: April 29, 2008, 08:31:39 AM »
Reading all of this I am thankful for a few things.
  • my visa is until Feb 2009 - maybe the hysteria will be gone by then
  • I have mates in Xi'an local gov't, Xi'an External Security (ie the boys you toss you out of the country), Xi'an FAO and Shaanxi FAO

Otherwise it could be dodgy.

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Schnerby

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #22 on: April 29, 2008, 01:38:01 PM »
I'm busy going through hoops, song and dance routines and many other possibly unnecessary tricks to get the consulate to get my visa going. Mind you im heading to Zhongguo in January but they said I should start the process now.

At first I thought they were mad. Now I realise it is feasible to waste 9 months getting a visa.  aoaoaoaoao

At least my employer in China is being good, organising their bit quickly when the consulate asks (which has been at least once a week so far).

Apparenty this country wants teachers to come! Coulda fooled me...  asasasasas

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decurso

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #23 on: April 29, 2008, 04:07:29 PM »
New York Times coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/world/asia/24china.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin

Note that they also mention police cracking down on Beijing bars where drugs are sometimes found. One might want to avoid such places, or exercise more caution if you do go.


 Two weekends ago the police raided Pure Girl, a group of bars on Sanlitun Hou Jie notorious for drugs and fake booze. Most of the Africans I know are now avoiding Sanlitun like the plague. In a lot of parts of Beijing being black these days is enough to to get you beat up and arrested. About a month ago an African was beaten to death in the Wudaokou police station. Keep in mind most of the Africans in WDK are actually foreign students.

  Another visa issue has recently come to my attention. For a tourist visa you are now required to provide a hotel reservation. One of the FTs here has a friend who was coming to stay with him in June, but this new rule is messing up the works. I advised him to tell his friend to book a hotel and cancel the reservation when he gets his visa. Any thoughts on the wisdom of this situation.

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #24 on: April 29, 2008, 05:42:36 PM »
I haven't seen or heard about any problems with foreigners in Lanzhou yet...

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Lotus Eater

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #25 on: April 29, 2008, 06:07:33 PM »
tell your friend to fax his residents permit to his friend in lieu of the hotel reservation.  That is what I am doing with my friend coming from Germany for  2weeks.  And we are forgetting to tell them that within 24 hours of him landing here we will be headed to Inner Mongolia to go trekking and camping.

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Raoul F. Duke

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Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #26 on: April 29, 2008, 09:02:12 PM »
I'd still do the reservation switcheroo, though. I'm a firm believer in giving the po-lice whatever they specifically ask for if I possibly can. bdbdbdbdbd
This stuff varies from province to province, city to city, day to day, and even officer to officer. You really have to work with your specific current local situation on these things. llllllllll
"Vicodin and dumplings...it's a great combination!" (Anthony Bourdain, in Harbin)

"Here in China we aren't just teaching...
we're building the corrupt, incompetent, baijiu-swilling buttheads of tomorrow!" (Raoul F. Duke)

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #27 on: April 29, 2008, 11:13:23 PM »
My sister's a travel agent with an Oz company.  She's pissed off.  She says as of recently there's a whole lot of extra hurdles for coming to tour China.  One in particular, she, as travel agent, has to provide a detailed itinerary accounting for where the tourist will be the entire time they're in China *before* a tourist visa will be issued.  As such, she's got people who'll (in theory) be departing before they have confirmed visas.


Anyone know if Z visa/Resident Permits are still multi-entry?  As in, if you're in China and working, and you want to step out for a breather, maybe go to Thailand or a trip to Oz, you can still get back in if your current Z is still... well, current?

Mine expires September 30.  If I sign up for another year, as I may, then because of summer holidays, the process of renewing it will, hooray, happen right around July.  Yay!
« Last Edit: April 29, 2008, 11:22:23 PM by Calach Pfeffer »
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #28 on: April 29, 2008, 11:21:44 PM »
This visa situation is getting to be a real problem for my Oz employer. We do all the testing for our foundation students with most of the testers coming up from Oz. The problem is they cannot get visas (F or L), they don't need the z because they are only here for a week or two. Now, I am in the unenviable position of being onsite with my Z (if they renew it before then) of maybe having to do all the testing in our partner schools. I hope they can find an alternative because I would really hate to have to say no but I will.

Re: A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall...
« Reply #29 on: April 29, 2008, 11:31:57 PM »
I think if the large corporations can't get their experts into the country for inspections, reviews and onsite work, they should shut the company down until they can get their people in.  Maybe if 20,000 workers found themselves unemployed for 2 or 3 months the govt might realize the problem.  MIGHT realize  bibibibibi
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