Spousal/family visa

Have any of you gotten a "spousal visa" (which I think is just an L visa)?

 

Yes. It actually isn't an L visa anymore, it is a residence permit, and usually they give them for 1 year periods, but I've heard of 2 years as well. It very cheap and quite easy to get. Just have your wife call up your local entry-exit bureau and get the details. Generally, you'll need your passport, her ID, her hukou book, your police registration, her police registration (if you're outside of her hometown -- the 暂住证), and a couple of pictures (of you). Takes a week and about 400rmb. Simple and easy.

I get one annually. Besides the above paperwork...bring your spouse. I always laugh when they ask my wife to do this but they ask her to write the following on a completely unofficial piece of blank white paper...

name, address, and she must state we are indeed married.

This I am sure is to prevent tricksters using a forged Hukou and forged marriage papers.  

...and while it is true it is no longer an L-visa you can not legally work under a spousal RP.

Right, the Residence Permit still doesn't let you work, but it is nice to all the same. I used to hate that stupid "tourist visa."

To add to what opiate says about bringing your spouse -- actually, you can stay home and have your spouse go and get the visa for you. It is the Chinese person they need to see.

Thanks for that. I think we'll have to do it in Jiangsu province since my wife doesn't yet have a Beijing 暂住证…she said she has to have worked for two years before she's eligible for one?

Actually, legally, every Chinese person without a Beijing hukou is supposed to apply for one. Apparently in 2008, police were stationing themselves outside of office buildings and checking everyone to see that they'd registered- and if not, sending them back to their home province.

My husband needed one to apply for a Japanese visa without going all the way back to Shanghai. You definitely don't need to live in Beijing for two years to get it, but in our experience, it was used as a way to collect tax on rented properties. In order for my husband to get the temp residence permit he needed to show proof that tax had been paid on our rent the landlord collected- which she was unwilling to pay. We needed the doc, not her, so we had to pay it- money which may or may not have gone directly into the police officer's pocket. Depending on your local PSB (and how evil your landlord is), Anhui may be a cheaper option!

Right. Your wife is thinking of the next step up from the 暂住证, the 居住证. The temporary residence permit is, as frb said, for everyone. My husband has had one since we first moved to BJ in 2008. We only ran into the tax issue this year, when we moved to Shijingshan district, but our landlord paid it when we asked, but we have an awesome landlord. When we lived in Haidian we never were asked to pay any tax and getting my husband's 暂住证 was really really simple.

The second one, which requires residence for two years and steady employment where your employer will vouch for your need to be in BJ (so, no nongmingong don't count), is what will allow your kids to go to school in Beijing. That said, even though your kids can go to school here with the jvzhuzheng, they will have to go back to the hukou province for zhong and gaokao. So it is still kind of a crock.

Interstingly, this year the guy at the PSB who fleeced our landlord for the tax money (this is not a police officer exactly) called us up and said my husband was eligible for the 居住证. My husband is a musician, self-employed, and under normal circumstances would be unlikely to qualify for a 居住证, but this guy was saying things like "you won't qualify without me."  We had a strong suspicion he was fishing for bribes/hong bao and my husband got kind of pissed off at the implication and was sort of rude to the guy on the phone. Oh well, guess we won't be legitimate Beijingers anytime soon.

Update:
I have just been told by my new employer in Shandong, that they can issue me a new Rp no worries, but according to the police there and the PSB Entry/Exit, they cannot extend my wife's or daughter's L visas.
I have also tried today to extend my wife's and daughter's L visas here in Hubei, and was told it is not possible. (Why-I don't know, as no-one is saying why).

I can not afford the visa agents' fees, so they will have to do a visa run from Shandong when we get there. Such is life. I will keep you all updated, as things change very day.

I got a spouse visa (Z but stipulating he is just accompanying me and not able to work) in May no problem extended from now until June 2014 (Fujian province). Maybe it depends on relations of your employer with the PSB?

Sorry I posted my previous entry in the wrong thread, -I will copy it into the right one, but my wife does not have a spousal visa-just a tourist "L" visa.

Question about switching from the Spousal Permit to a Work Permit.

Can't work on a Spousal permit.....thats an unfortunate given.
So find a job that provides the work permit...

Would this mean you would have to cancel the Spousal permit in order to be on the work permit? Can you have both valid in your passport at the same time?

Can changing from one type of permit to another be done in country? Or would you have to leave go back to home country and apply for the Z visa there and then transfer within the 30 day limit?

Or as usual is it province to province with no hard and fast rule 

thats my exact issue too. i got the family rp, asked if i could work on it, they said no, need to have employment letter to transfer. the form at exit entry office does seem to allow 'internal' transfers (simply a tick box option on the form i used to transfer from l visa to family rp), and they said i could transfer with the employer documents, but from the internet, it says the family rp is cancelled, you get the z visa, and do the exit the country route. i think the hong kong visa run option may also become more difficult after sep 1st. im going to wait until my family rp is close to expiry, june 2014, before i try for my own work rp. the family one is revoked, and id always prefer to have the family one as the work one gets complicated with bad schools.

Yes. It actually isn't an L visa anymore, it is a residence permit, and usually they give them for 1 year periods, but I've heard of 2 years as well. It very cheap and quite easy to get. Just have your wife call up your local entry-exit bureau and get the details. Generally, you'll need your passport, her ID, her hukou book, your police registration, her police registration (if you're outside of her hometown -- the 暂住证), and a couple of pictures (of you). Takes a week and about 400rmb. Simple and easy.

Mine are 2 years now. But I can't even attempt asking for a permanent resident ID (10 years) until I have bought a home first.

I've just applied for my second yearly marriage visa, well rp.
as stated, its cheap and a doddle, 5minutes and its done as long as you have all the papers.
Interesting note, the chap even recommended applying for the old d visa, permanent residence after 5 years, so hopefully the bureaucracy is lifting somewhat, they were helpful to me, in TJ.
he said as long as im here over 9months of the year, each year, i should get it. 4 years to go mind, anything could happen!

1 year, 10 months, and 2 days until I'm eligible to apply from my green card.

I wonder if my wife will make me eligible for a green hat by then?

Did you guys not need to have the medical for your spouse visas, or is this just a shenzhen thing? We never used to but for the new residence permit ones i've had to go and do the usual bulls**t medical that you need for the Z visa. This is a new development this year.

1 year, 10 months, and 2 days until I'm eligible to apply from my green card

Unfortunately despite being here for 12 years already i have no chance of ever getting one of those as i don't pay tax in China, apparently that's a big stipulation