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Live abroad, send passport home for visa?
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2012 11:12 pm    Post subject: Live abroad, send passport home for visa? Reply with quote

I can't get the visa in the country where I'm living and I've been told that I can't get it in HK or Thailand either. So I'd have to go home, then fly ALL the way back to Asia.

Anyone DHLed their passport back home in order to get a visa that way? Any issues with doing that?
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Non Sequitur



Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you don't need a new medical then it sounds plausible. Then again, if you need a new medical it may not have to be undertaken in your country of origin.
You would have someone at home to send your passport to the Chinese Consulate, receive it back and courier it back to you?
Be interested to read others' take on this.
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Non Sequitur wrote:
If you don't need a new medical then it sounds plausible. Then again, if you need a new medical it may not have to be undertaken in your country of origin.
You would have someone at home to send your passport to the Chinese Consulate, receive it back and courier it back to you?
Be interested to read others' take on this.


According to the visa agent I'm looking at for our visa apps, I don't need a medical. My school DOES require one, but I'll get it here. I think they just want to make sure I don' thave any diseases.

I'll be doing the baby's birth cert this summer / fall, depending on when I get the new ones. They're 50 bucks a pop, thank you very much Consulatar Birth Certs Abroad Sad

Then probably around December or Jan, they only do it 45 days before I'm supposed to arrive in China, I'll be processing the work visa. Which means I'll be very, very crunched for time.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 6:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't you need an entry stamp from the airport authorities on your new visa?
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Non Sequitur



Joined: 23 May 2010
Posts: 4724
Location: China

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 7:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks nature.
Do post on this again as you tick off the steps. Could be a very useful marker for those who need to renew.
If an airfare allowance is included your current contract will it be paid out even if you don't make a return trip?
Dough is better in your pocket than an airline's if all you're doing is going home to renew the visa.
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boohoohooonceagain



Joined: 01 May 2012
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hardly legal. You have to have an entry stamp after issuance of the visa, thus you cannot send it home to get a visa and then return it to you while in country. Pretty basic. This is something that should have been considered in advance.
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choudoufu



Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 3325
Location: Mao-berry, PRC

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

boohoohooonceagain wrote:
Hardly legal.


welcome to china, boohoo. now that you're finally here, you'll
soon realize that laws are simply rules made to be broken.
anything is possible.

if you do a search, i know you're new here and all...don't worry,
you'll get the hang of it, you'll find some have successfully sent
their pp's back home for visas without problems.

those that had problems may not have posted.
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rogerwilco



Joined: 10 Jun 2010
Posts: 1549

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sashadroogie wrote:
Don't you need an entry stamp from the airport authorities on your new visa?


I'm confused. An entry stamp from where ?
Do you mean from her home country ?
I believe naturegirl is an American, and American airport authorities typically do not put entry or exit stamps in American passports.
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No, I meant something else. It sounded to me that Naturegirl wanted a new visa for the country in which she is already living. She would still need an entry stamp on her new visa. (I had forgotten that she was based in Korea - I thought she was already in China.)
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Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Anyway,on a more helpful note, I'd suggest checking out getting two tourist passports. Wouldn't advise working anywhere abroad if you've sent your one and only passport with papers etc home in order to get a visa for another foreign country.
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Miles Smiles



Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1294
Location: Heebee Jeebee

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sashadroogie wrote:
Anyway,on a more helpful note, I'd suggest checking out getting two tourist passports. Wouldn't advise working anywhere abroad if you've sent your one and only passport with papers etc home in order to get a visa for another foreign country.


Whoa. Yes. I agree, especially since she said that she has a baby. Yes, then she'd be in trouble with the local government AND her own. Not good at all.

I have to admit, though, that the manner in which she proposed to accomplish her goal is creative. It's sort of like mailing your debit card home in order to streamline the currency conversion process. If it works, GREAT! If not, you're scrod!
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

boohoohooonceagain wrote:
Hardly legal. You have to have an entry stamp after issuance of the visa, thus you cannot send it home to get a visa and then return it to you while in country. Pretty basic. This is something that should have been considered in advance.


boohoohooonce, I think you're confused. I will have an entry stamp. I live in Korea not China. I'll be sending the docs to the US. They'll be returned to me in Korea. I'll enter China on a Z visa and get the entry stamp.

Sasha, can't get tourist visas either. Actually I can't get ANY Chinese visas here where I live now, since you're required to have more than 6 months on your visa. My visa finishes 28 Feb. I'll have less than 6 months and will be denied even before I apply. (On another note, not my one and only passport, my daughter and I have another. And for Kiwis, if you need to get a new passport you need to send it to NZ. The embassy here in Korea won't issue any here. They do it and are told to by their government.)

Also, I never thought about sending my passport home, but was told by another poster who did it. I started asking around and since then have found 2 other people who have done it. Not sure why it wouldn't be legal. I'm supposed to apply in my home country or where I reside. I can't apply where I live. And there are tons and tons of visa agents who apply on your behalf in the US if you can't go there in person. You send them your passport in the mail and they do it for you. Again, legal. I have domicile in the US proved by my driver's license, so I can do it.

I also have to go through the Washington DC embassy to get the baby's birth cert done. As well as the Chicago consulate. Were I in the US, I'd still have to pay someone (travel agent) to go to WDC on my behalf.

Miles Smiles, yep Smile My mom has mailed me my debit card. Just doesn't activate it until I get it. Never had any issues.

The worse that could happen? Our passports get lost and we get new ones. I'm not going to be snail mailing them. DHL or something similar.

It just doesn't make sense to pack all my life into two suitcase, plus lug the stroller and carry the baby, who'd better be walking by then! and carrying her own suitcases Wink all the stinking way back home. And then turn around and come ALL the way back to Asia. Waste of time, money, effort. Plus, have any of you spent 14 hours on a flight by yourself with a baby? I'm not looking forward to it. If you don't think it's a big deal, let me know and I'll try to sit next to you Smile

I'm estimated it's going to cost about $400 plus visa fees, which I'd have to pay anyways to do this. Going to Thailand or HK would be about $4000. Going home would be about the same. And like I ssaid, even if I DO go home, I still need to pay an agent to get the paperwork done for the birth cert in Washington.

I konw my mom would be thrilled if I went home again in December or January, but the only way that's going to happen is if they invent teletransportation and Scotty can beam me and the baby up.

Hey Sasha, you might know this: do they give babies rum in Russia to help them sleep on flights? My mom got lemon, honey, and rum to help with a sore throat when she was little. She said it worked wonders. Probably becuase of the rum Smile
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2012 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

choudoufu wrote:
boohoohooonceagain wrote:
Hardly legal.


welcome to china, boohoo. now that you're finally here, you'll
soon realize that laws are simply rules made to be broken.
anything is possible.


Right. I'll never forget when a woman I worked with found out that her F visa had expired. Two months ago. She had been in China illegally for two months. She was frantic thinking she was facing being fined, jailed, deportation.

She went with our FAO to immigration. The officer scolded our FAO for not taking care of "foreign guests", made him write a letter of apology, and issued a new visa on the spot. No fines, no jail, no deportation. Listen to choudoufu: rules are made to be broken and guanxi works wonders.
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MotherF



Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2012 12:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not one 14 hour flight, but I did spend 20 hours travelling with my baby last year. 6 hours on the bus, 3 hours in the airport, 3 shortish flights (about 2 hours each) one very long lay over, followed by 45 minutes drive at the other end. But the looks on Grandpa and Grandma's faces were well worth it.
If you have the money, I say go home, who knows when your next opportunity will be?
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wangdaning



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2012 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MotherF wrote:
Not one 14 hour flight, but I did spend 20 hours travelling with my baby last year. 6 hours on the bus, 3 hours in the airport, 3 shortish flights (about 2 hours each) one very long lay over, followed by 45 minutes drive at the other end. But the looks on Grandpa and Grandma's faces were well worth it.
If you have the money, I say go home, who knows when your next opportunity will be?


Don't know naturegirl's family, but you might be assuming too much with regards to some people's families.

Naturegirl, Sasha was not talking about tourist visas, he was talking about tourist passports (if the time comes where you are separated from your actual passport).
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