Job Discussion Forums

[tyroleanhat]

What is the procedure of transferring a F Visa into a Z visa?
I will start on a F (without working) and then transfer as soon as possible to Z. The Z process is already on its way, because all my documents (medicals, degree auth. etc) are ready. I am in Korea now, waiting for the F visa to arrive.

(For people shouting "we warned you not to start on illegal visas" - no worries, I know the school personally and it's not in their interest to deceive me. It is really just to get me earlier into the country, for about three weeks of "scholastic exchange", until the Z visa is ready and I can properly start working.)

I really want to avoid to be sent to HK. I read somewhere this depends on the province. How about Chengdu?

Also, will my employer change the visa, or could I do the Z myself by posting my passport and the complete materials to my visa agency in my home country?

[hz88]

[doogsville]

The purpose of a visa is to allow you to enter the country, whether once or on multiple occasions. So by it's very nature a visa has to be issued outside of the country. Would a local PSB or other government office even have a visa to stick in your passport? I would have thought they would only be issued to embassies and consulates outside the country. China is as worried about terrorism etc as any other country, so it would seem a bit slack to allow visas to be misused in that way.

I would think that the best people to answer your question would be the school that your going to. Surely they know what they need to do to ensure you are working legally and above board? Since you know them personally why not just ask them where, if anywhere, they intend to send you to get a Z visa. They have to put that information on the forms they give you to get it anyway.

[hz88]

I've got to agree on this. Previous postings by yourself about similar matters and similar answers to these would I have thought given you an insight into the procedures.

I'm not sure what your circumstances are, but unless you are on a tight time frame and need to leave Korea quickly for some reason I cannot see any expediency for you or your school in doing this. What I can see is that they need someone fast and will probably be asking you to start working straight away, after all what is the point of them having someone hanging around for three or more weeks without getting anything out of it?

From the time your school begins the online application and it is then approved is anything from three to five weeks depending on where they are, where the provincial HQ is and how on the ball they are with things. This is just to get you the invitation letter to apply for the z visa.

As you will be arriving on another visa the only way other than in certain provinces (which also seem to have no firm set of rules at the moment) would be to send you to Hong Kong or back home with the paperwork needed to apply for the z visa and reenter China with that. Then the clock starts ticking again and the school have thirty days in which to apply for your foreign experts book then resident permit.

Resident permits can be issued by the PSB but as the previous poster said, visas cannot. They can issue limited time stay permits (extensions etc) but these are not a visa as you would already have a visa for which they are an amendment or extension.

If you are not in a rush to come I suggest that you simply ask them to process the paperwork needed for your z visa and have it issued to apply in Seoul (assuming thats where you are). This would save you the time and presumably expense of going to Hong Kong and the risk of any troubles later. You will have to exit China for at least three or four days anyway while the new visa is processing. This is what makes me think the school needs you asap.

An ex colleague went to work in Chengdu this year and got caught up in this, his school didn't process everything in time in transferring his resident permit and literally at 12 hours notice he had to go to Hong Kong and wait around for 10 days while the school got the paperwork needed and courier it to him in Hong Kong. He was not best pleased to say the least.

You must get a clear indication from the school about what their intentions are. The clock will start ticking once you hit the ground in China and the chances are you will only have 30 days to deal with all this stuff.

[tyroleanhat]

[hz88]

Good. Glad you are clear on this, although I thought it had been mentioned in one of the replies to your earlier posts this year.

If they have already started the application and it is already underway then the wait should not be too long.

Whether you choose to work is your call. Police 'raids' as you refer to can happen, however it is usually just to check the paperwork. Once the school register you as living there they will know you are there anyway. The schools relationship with the PSB will have some effect on that.

However work is work, no matter what the capacity. Not wishing to fall into the scaremongering category, only a Z visa and associated resident permit allows you to do this legally. Of course many do ignore this and that is where the risk falls on their shoulders.

If you are satisfied the school knows what they are doing and are not going to give you the runaround then you will have to follow your gut instinct, it is not something anyone else can dictate for you.

[roadwalker]

[tyroleanhat]

[tyroleanhat]

[Tazz]

Out of interest-what is the residence permit? Is it documentation that is seperate from the Z visa and Foreign Experts book? Both of which I have. I live on University provided accommodation by the way....

[hz88]

by registering you mean RP and Z visa? Does that mean that on a F visa I am not registered as "living there"?

As soon as you arrive in China you are legally obliged to register the place where you are living with the PSB. If you stay in a hotel or hostel they will do this for you automatically via their online computer system which is automatically linked to the PSB. If it is private or school accommodation you or your school must visit the PSB (local police) and complete a foreigners residence registration form.

It does not matter which visa you are on, you have to register.

When you arrive in China you will be given an arrival card, on the back it informs you of these regulations.

Or, to be absolutely safe (it just dawned on me, just thinking out loud): I could come on the F visa in December, but having them change the starting date of the contract to January instead of December.
So the F Visa would be for December (to settle, get apartment, phone, bank account) and the Z visa starting from January.
That means another month without salary, but since they let me choose any starting date, it is maybe worth having the benefit of legal safety.

As you see it is getting more convoluted as it goes on. In some provinces including mine foreigners can no longer open a bank account if you do not have a resident permit.

[hz88]

Out of interest-what is the residence permit? Is it documentation that is seperate from the Z visa and Foreign Experts book? Both of which I have. I live on University provided accommodation by the way....

Yes, the Z visa is simply a vehicle in which to get you into China which is an indication to the authorities of your intent to work. It only lasts for thirty days and is for a single entry. It needs to be changed into a resident permit which will then last for the duration of your contract. This then becomes your multiple entry visa to China. It is on another page in your passport.

On the Z visa, it is printed with words stating "Required to apply for a residence permit within thirty days of entry".

The foreign experts book is applied for before the residence permit so if you have this then the next stage is to get your resident permit which requires you visiting the local PSB (usually with a representative) with the book, your passport and some other paperwork, they will keep your passport while they are processing it.

They come together, unless you have only just arrived in China I would be a little concerned if your University have not yet began the process of obtaining you one or at least mentioned to you something about it.

[Tazz]

Ok, thanks for the clarification-the residence permit or 'permit to reside' is the page that is pasted into the passport, that superseeds the cancelled Z visa, once it is prosessed.