Oh my. How much trouble is this guy in for overstaying

Got a call from a friend this morning.  She has a/an

a.  coworker
b.  friend
c.  boy toy
d.  some or all of the above

He has a visa (type unspecified - I wasn't fully awake) that is supposedly still valid, but that requires him to exit every 60 days. I'd only heard of 30 days between exits for common tourist and business visas, but am willing to consider that 60 may be an option depending on type and country of origin.

In any event, he's overstayed his 60 days inside by about 24 days.

I suggested running down to the Bureau of Evil Foreigner Control and throwing himself on the mercy of the first available desk clerk - who might look good in front of superiors for legalizing an illegal foreigner while collecting a big, fat fine.  My friend said that's one option, but that her acquaintance is seriously considering just making a Hong Kong run to see what happens.

Personally, I think heading for the border instead of to the immigration control office first is more likely to result in:

a.  a bigger fine
b.  visa revocation (possibly permanent)
c.  remolding through labor
d.  public caning
e.  imprisonment
f.  forcible sodomy
g.  all of the above and so much more

Has anyone ever seen what really happens to someone who overstays by nearly a month?  Has anyone who ever did something like this ever been heard from again?

Why did he overstay? For an overstay they'll fine 500rmb a day, with a cap of 5000rmb total. They also might limit his ability to get a new Chinese visa. I've heard of a five year restriction and also a permanent restriction. The one person I know -- personally -- who got five years no Chinese visa did something very very serious. Way beyond visa overstay.

IMO, his best bet is to leave the country asap. They're going to tell him to do this anyhow. Let customs and immigration deal with it. I think it is very unlikely that they'll do more than fine him. He should come up with a very good story as to why he overstayed and be as contrite and remorseful as possible.

He wants to deal with the people at the border in HK, not some petty local cops who might see this as an opportunity to shake him down or try to scare him. The border cops deal daily with overstays. They know how to handle it.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I overstayed and had to pay a fine before they would allow me to leave. I think I paid 4500 rmb, so it was about 9 days. (My employer was 2 weeks late paying me, and that late paycheck went towards my flight) I had the cash, but it was a near thing. I don't know what would have happened if I was short.
Warning! Don't let this happen to you!(Yeah, I'm preaching to the choir here, but there's always someone)

You can potentially go to jail for this if you can't pay up or even if they just want to keep tabs on you before they kick you out.

Here's a guy on Reddit talking about exactly this happening to him:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/12rogb/

I really am interested in hearing how this guy overstayed by nearly a month. I've lived in China nearly 10 years, and there have been periods when I was extremely poor and could barely scrape money together for a HK run (back when one regularly did such things), but I've never overstayed a visa, not once. I suppose there are some scenarios where I could imagine this happening -- but really, even  if you have some sort of emergency situation, maybe you're broke, or you lost your passport, or you are being held hostage by a school, still, you contact your embassy, explain the situation, and beg for help before it ever gets to that point. You (and I assume this dude) are in Guangdong so I honestly can't imagine what stopped him from getting on a bus or a ferry, hopping across the border, stamping his visa, and hopping back. The cops are probably going to wonder the same thing.

Maybe he could just play it off as "super dumb foreigner who didn't understand his visa type" but that's a stretch. 

I still think I'd take my chances with the border cops before I'd turn myself in locally. If it were a visa about to expire, no way to get across the border before tomorrow, I'd say go to the local entry/exit and ask for an extension, but at this point the deed has already been done. Guy needs to get himself out of China asap to prove that he has the intention of leaving. If he turns himself in I think he runs a much larger risk of finding himself being locked up or forcibly escorted out of the country. They're not going to give him another visa so he can stay put and overstay that one too.

There's also the situation of overstaying on that visa rather than a work visa. How many times has he been in and out? They'll know he's been (illegally) working and will be less likely to believe a sob story from him than from someone with a  one year residence permit overstay.

Send a PM to Con. I think he ran into this situation

I overstayed by nearly a month. My wife gave birth to our baby girl during that time. The last thing on my mind was my visa.

True or not I was told I should have been kicked out of China but able to return after a month or three....that was not very appealing.

I would suggest talking to some of the schools this person works for. Some likely have guanxi or at least know who to contact. Through friends I was required to pay only a token fine (though I did have to buy a few uh...gift cards). No black mark on my records. Did not have to leave China.

Trying to navigate this issue without the help of friends would be difficult.

No clue what caused him to do this.  I was half asleep during the phone call and didn't want to prolong it by interrogating my friend.  Will try to get more details the next time I talk to her.

I'm not thinking of asking him to surrender to the nearest local cop, but to go to the Dongguan Bureau of Evil Foreigner Control.  Dealing with visa and res permit issues is their job.

Guangdong provincial foreign devil control is here in GZ, that's where I would go before over to Shenzhen border.

Got a QQ message from my friend this morning.  Don't know where the guy turned himself in, but he got off with a 5000 RMB fine.

better than the guy on that reddit link who somehow bungled it into a prison term instead.

That's good. Glad the guy isn't in trouble.

To be honest, I think the vast majority of overstays end up this way. They want to fine you and be done with you, not have you lingering around in their penal system over what amounts to red tape.

Problem is that every so often China decides to make an example of some poor schmuck, and you don't want to be that schmuck.

Tell your friend (and all newbies/lurkers reading this) that in the future if you visit the entry/exit bureau before the visa expires, they will almost always give you a couple of extra days to get your stuff in order and get out of the country.

Got a tiny bit more info.  My sage-like advice was ignored and he paid at the border.

Got a tiny bit more info.  My sage-like advice was ignored and he paid at the border.

Thus validating LD's sage advice in the second post on the topic.