Job Discussion Forums

[Yu]

I received my foreign experts certificate and another sheet of paper that tells me to report to get my visa. I am assuming this is the letter of invitation by the school, who knows? It is not like I can read it.

So the problem is that they put my maiden name on the certificate, but my passport has been amended to read that I have a married name.

Last summer when I visited China, my visa was issued to my maiden not married name and it was not a problem. It made me a little uncomfortable at first, but I decided not to worry about it.

So for my Z visa, I am just assuming it is going to be fine because it is probably more of a hassle for the school to make the change, right? I prefer to get my visa taken care of as much before my departure date as possible.

Is this ok? Should I be contacting the school? Should I try to explain the mix up at the visa office in Chicago? Should I just submit the documents and not care?

[bukowski1234]

A similar name problem occurred with my paperwork.

Time is getting quite short for you, so I recommend that you contact the school ASAP and have them begin working on new paperwork. If you have just received your letter of invitation, you still need to jump through more hoops before you get your visa.

Also, ask the school if they will still hire you if you arrive late as a result of the paperwork problem. My school told me yes, and they were glad that I asked because they feared that I'd just give up as the deadline neared. I have found that although the people you encounter in this weird paperwork journey may not volunteer information, they DO appreciate your being very straightforward in your communication. Just be sure that you ask simple questions to which they can answer yes or no.

In the meantime, FAX an explanation of your problem to the PRC consulate which has jurisdiction and ask questions to which they can answer yes or no. Fax both pieces of paper (the yellow and the white) and a copy of your passport and ask them if they will issue the visa in light of the name problem.

If it turns out that your local consulate will accept the situation, go ahead and apply for the visa. You will need to use a courier service to do this. You cannot mail your application. A travel agency or a courier such as Travel Document Services or Visa Rite will bring the paperwork to the consulate and pick it up for you, and then FedEx it back to you.

If you have not done so already, you should also see if you need to go through the process of authenticating your credentials through the U.S. Dept. of State (and local authorities as well. It seems to vary from state to state).

For some reason, at the request of the Chinese university, the Washington consulate of the PRC, and the U.S. Department of State, I was required to have my degrees, letters of recommendation, and the results of my health examination notarized locally, authenticated on the county level, then authenticated on the state level before they were authenticated by the U.S. Department of State. Though the PRC consulate websites imply that this same paperwork must then be authenticated by the consulate before it will be processed for issuance of the Z visa, the PRC consulate in D.C. told me that I did not need further authentication from the PRC.

The James Bonds on the board may tell you that you won't have to do any of this, but I was required to do this. My information regarding procedure came not from websites, pamphlets, or sage advice dispensed on this board. I am speaking from recent personal experience.

If you find yourself getting the runaround from anyone, call your congressman's office for help. That's what I did.

Get moving. Good Luck!

[cheekygal]

I had a situation similar to that when I left the country to change my expired passport - while I was in China I was going through a divorce process and when I renewed my passport I had a different last name in it. But my invitation letter stated the old one People at the Consulate were very nice and still gave me visa (I had to provide my old passport and divorce certificate). You might want to contact the authorities here and ask them what you would need for it. Make sure you have your old passport, marriage certificate and also a letter of authorisation from the place where the new documents in your country were issued. You can get them translated and verified at the lawyers office here in China - probably at your Embassy or Consulate.

[Yu]

So, here is what happened.

I e-mailed the guy from the university. He said to go to the consulate anyway.

Did that. Doesn't seem there is going to be any problem with my visa.

The catch? My son was not listed on the invitation letter, so he could only get a 6 month visa.

I am not sure how this will be fixed yet. But we will come anyway.

If there is any change regarding my actual getting the visa, I will post again....

[cheekygal]

Once you are here, it will be easier to deal with your son's visa (you just apply for extention) - just make sure he doesn't overstay it - only then you will have troubles:)
I hope everything works fine for you

-cheekybabe

[Yu]

Got the visa without problem.
But my son only got a 6 month visa because his name was not on the invitation letter. NOT GOOD. And it did not even matter that my son's father is a chinese citizen. Did not even matter.
I hope it is possible to change it when we get to China... but if it isn't I don't really want to know now. I have too many other things to think about.

[Roger]

Don't worry too much; your son can easily get an extension to his visa. I don't know if he gets two extensions but one can be for up to three months!