Job Discussion Forums

[tofuman]

[Edited by Tofuman] Are these people stupid or what? Why are so many people trying to resolve important immigration and transportation questions with hearsay? Why come in here and ask scores of people with varying experiences on different airlines about what can be expected from one airline? Same for PSB, immigration, etc. It troubles me to think that people with this level of research ability are supposed to be teachers. Obviously, if this is how you problem solve, no decent company in America would employ you for long. Many things here are of poor quality, must the FTs be morons as well?

If you have questions about an airline, CONTACT THE AIRLINE FOR A DEFINITIVE ANSWER.

If you have questions about your visa, CONTACT THE CHINESE EMBASSY FOR A DEFINITIVE ANSWER.

Many askers of visa questions are really asking, not about visa laws, but about what they can get away with.

Here's a true story about what you can get away with in China: A beautiful young woman from a well to do family opened a large hotel on a main street that, among other services, featured prostitution. She entertained government officials, invited FTs to her establishment and said this place is an "open city." She is serving a two year prison sentence.

Different strokes for different folks should always be kept in mind. If you come to China intent on breaking the law because others are doing it, you are asking for trouble. This place is in a fluid state, with few certainties. The illegals here live in a state of uncertainty. At any time, the authorities could swoop down on them, incarcerate them, fine them, or expel them.

If you come here illegally, you are inviting abuse and exploitation.

[Talkdoc]

[DistantRelative]

I am going to post my experience from the American perspective. This is very recent experience i.e. the last few days.
I flew in via China Airlines from LA to Taipei, then on to HK. I flew with no Visas of any kind and on one-way tickets with absolutely no questions or problems. This is the second time now I have used China Airlines and would definately recommend them. For the trip to Hong Kong I would recommend booking an E-Ticket through Orbitz travel if you have a credit card. Cheapest rate I've been able to find online. After arrival in the morning I set about securing a Visa. I tried Phoenix Travel Agency which was the one that was supposed to be located across from Kowloon Mosque at 84 Nathan St (7th floor). Turned out to be a bad addy. That address is a Bank of China and Phoenix travel has moved. Anyway with a stroke of luck I happened to stumble across a man who had a drawer full of business cards for Phoenix Travel. I'm not going to bother giving you their address as I was totally unimpressed with them and would not recommend anyone using them. why pay someone else to do what you yourself can do cheaper? I got there about 1 PM on a Friday and spoke with the man there. I was hoping to get a Tourist Visa
that wold be good for 6 months or a year. He proceeded to tell me that because of Icy American relations with China they were not at this time issuing long term Visa's for americans and the best he could do would be a 30 day double entry which he could not get for me until monday because it was too late in the day on a Friday. He said he could get on monday and it would cost me double because I wanted it in one "Business" day. As you can imagine all this was very disheartening to me. First finding out I couldn't get the visa until monday and then hearing I could only get a 30 day. Why I asked I don't know but I enquired as to whether I might be able to procure a visa on my own if I went to the Chinese foreign Ministry (Chiese visa Section) located at the China Resources building in Wanchai on HK Island. This is on the 7th floor at 18 Harbour Road. He told me I could ceretainly try. Personally I think he said this knowing full well the possiblity was good that if I hustled over I could get one same day. To make a long story short that is exactly what happened. Got over there and got my passport pictures done at a photo shop about a block away from the Visa Section. Cost was 35 HK for 4 photos done in 10 minutes. Apparently you can actually get the photos done right there on the 7th floor in one of those little walk in photo booths they have available right there for the same 35 HK. I didn't know this prior to. After doing this I waited outside the building on the main floor in a line with at least 50 other peeps of varying nationalities until the visa office reopened at 2 PM. From there I went up to 7th floor filled out the Visa app I was given and took it to the window. When my number was called the woman there looked at the app and then asked me how soon I needed it. I told her I would be tickled to no end if I could get it that afternoon. She proceeded to tell me the price would be 840 HK and to come back at 4:20 PM to pick it up. I showed up about 4 went to the window and asked if it might be ready? It indeed was, I paid the 840 HK and walked out with a dual entry Visa good for 2 trips of 30 days each into China.
So that takes care of the Visa end of it. If your willing to pay extra you can procure a Visa on your own in just a few hours. I'm sure it would have been half what I paid had I been willing to wait. My thoughts? Why wait overnight if you can get same day? On the other hand I ended up having to stay overnight anyway in order to get a flight to my eventual destination which was Guilin.
Now I want you to pay much attention to what I say to you next. If you want to save yourself a nice chunk of change fly out of Shenzen rather then Hong Kong. Once you have your Visa in hand get yourself over to China Travel Service located at 24 Nathan Rd. There you can get a ticket for most anyplace you need to fly in Mainland China. When I phoned China Southern Airline on friday they told me the soonest I could get a flight from HK to Guilin would be on Sunday and from Shenzen it would be next day and would run me 678 HK. When I called China travel service and asked about getting a flight from Shenzen to Guilin they also said next day but quoted me a price of only 510 which was what I ended up paying. strange as it might sound I was actually able to get it cheaper through the Agency then directly from the airline. From what I can gather Hong Kong smokes you on the Taxes to fly out of there and by flying from Shenzen which is in China you avoid all that. Through china travel I was also able to get a real decent 4 star hotel (Sunway Hotel) a 2 minute ride from the airport in Shenzen for 50 dollars american(Less then half what you'd pay for same quality place in Hong Kong).
I took the train or subway(not sure which it is) from Hong Kong to LoWu which is the end of the line. That is where you cross from Hong Kong into China. It's a real simple process. That's the one place you get smoked price wise. Cab Fare from LoWu to the hotel was 200 Yuan.
Ended up getting a good nights sleep and a real nice free breakfast that comes with the price of the room and cruised out of Shenzen hastle free at 1:15 on saturday with only a one way ticket.
Sounds like I might get my ass in a bind eventually though because I am not staying at a hotel in Guilin but rather with friends. Prior to perusing this site I had never heard anything about staying in approved lodging so it sounds like that something I might need to rectify.
Anyway sorry for the long post. I hope it might be helpful to some and I'd be more then willing to go into more detail if anyone has any questions or comments.
I was hoping to be able to relax a few months on a tourist Visa and then secure a teaching position for summer session, but now due to only being able to get the short visa I'm going to need to accelerate the job hunt. If anyone needs a Teacher in or near Guilin or Nanning I'd love to hear from you. I wish you all the best.

Respectfully,

Shawn

[jeffinflorida]

I had good luck with Hong Kong and getting a visa and plane ticket to Quanzhou.

I stayed at the Guangdong Hotel in Hong Kong and it cost $500 hk dollars a night - about $62 US dollars. I booked it through elong.com and it was the least expensive price on a decent hotel for that area.

For the visa for China I went to CTS - China Ticketing Services, same as Shawn. The basic f visa was $50 US plus about $30 fee from the travel agency for next day service. As promised, it was ready by 2pm next day.

For a plane ticket this travel agency saved me alot of money. I looked on travelocity and expedia and a few other sites. They were about $100 to fly from Shenzhen to Quanzhou. The travel agent got me on Xiamen Airlines and it cost about $56 one way. Plus she got me on the ferry from Kowloon to Shenzhen for 100hk -normal fair was 189hk. Flying from Hong Kong would have cost $200us.

I used the China Ticketing Service CTS location on mainland Hong Kong at Connaught Street and was very happy. They were very professional and most of them spoke English.

[JZer]

The original post,

[tofuman]

Jzer, I agree that you did start out by asking an immigration question. I apologize for suggesting that you are stupid. I seem to have gone off on a tangent; however, it does not excuse my intemperate language.

[jeffinflorida]

Let me also answer an original question of this topic. I have a 30 day F visa. I entered China with a return ticket for 7 months after my arrival. There was never a question asked of me about my departure or to see my return ticket. This includes the Chinese airline -Xiamen, or the Chinese authorites.

[JZer]

I love people who are so predisposed to go on tangents that they are out there making unfounded complaints because they are so ready to jump on everything someone writes. They do not step back and try to understand the posters position because they have the mind set to want to complain and belittle people.

[jg]

My experiences:

The school I first worked for had me come on a 30 day tourist visa, and they quickly and efficiently changed it into a work visa. It was not a fly by night organization either, everything was pretty well-ordered and they were in consistent and cordial communication with me before I arrived in China; that was simply the way they did things. Maybe if I had protested they might have given me the work visa before I arrived, but I didn't (out of ignorance and trust), and it went well. Conversely, had I not liked the school setup I could have left and gone and found something else; provided that I quit in a reasonable manner that wouldn't have seen out-of-hand, I don't think.

I should add that a teacher at my second school was picked up by the PSB for deportation (or so I was told) because of some visa matters; not sure what they were. So, its a crap-shoot, but the amount of foreigners coming to China and getting work before their tourist visa runs out is legion. But, as one poster has noted, its often not a matter of what you can legally do, but what can you get away with, and there is always that slim chance...

[tofuman]

Jzer,

A most graceless response to an apology. May you receive better than you give.