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Anglichanka
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 64
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 Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject: CONSULATE REQUIREMENTS FOR Z VISA |
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Could anyone confirm exactly what is required? The university I will work for has sent me online copies of the letter of invitation and the other doc for requesting a visa. Somewhere I read of people being refused at the consulate if they did not have originals of these documents.
It will take me a day just to visit the nearest consulate to put in the documents so I don't want to get it wrong.
I'm not in North America, by the way, but Bulgaria. If there are Bulgarians involved anywhere, they love to make you waste your time and money so I don't want to give them the chance to turn me away. (To be fair, I don't really see why a copy would be acceptable but the university seems to think its OK). |
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lou_la
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Posts: 140
Location: Bristol
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| Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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However, I'm assuming from your name that you're English - do you have official residency in Bulgaria? I currently work in Hungary, but am moving to China in September, and was told that unless I had official residency (just working here doesn't count apparently) I would have to apply for the visa in the UK. It might be worth checking that before you make the journey to the embassy!
Sorry, can't help with the original documents thing, but good luck! |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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CALL YOUR CONSULATE!
The consulates in different countries sometimes (always) have different instructions.
Also, sometimes a person in one consulate, rightly or wrongly, interprets something differently then another leader.
New York City let me use faxed copies once, but to me, a faxed copy (though it can still be faked I guess) isn't the same. Regardless of whether the consulate accepts the online copy (which you would need to print out), the school should still give you the real thing by special mail (usually EMS here) which takes five days. |
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Anglichanka
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 64
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| Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2008 6:24 pm Post subject: CALLING THE CONSULATE |
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| This is Bulgaria, not North America. Anything someone says on the phone if you can get hold of them (doubtful) will be hotly denied after you spend a day travelling there and queueing up. Their website doesn't work and has half the links missing. What I do know I got from US sites. This is the THIRD world. |
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Songbird
Joined: 09 Jan 2005
Posts: 630
Location: State of Chaos, Panic & Disorder...
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:00 am Post subject: |
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| Yes, make sure you show them the originals, they keep the copies, but you NEED to keep the originals on you and take them with you into China because you will need them for the medical and Residence Permit application. |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| I'd have to agree with the above. When NY CIty accepted faxed letter, it was a courtesy. If you can't be sure of a phone reply, best to wait for the original, because they don't have to accept anything less. Also by all accounts, things are stricter now. If you are teaching in September, no hurry. If you are in a hurry, then it is up to the school to do their job and send it to you |
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North China Laowei
Joined: 08 Apr 2008
Posts: 419
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: Re: CALLING THE CONSULATE |
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| Anglichanka wrote: |
| This is Bulgaria, not North America. Anything someone says on the phone if you can get hold of them (doubtful) will be hotly denied after you spend a day travelling there and queueing up. Their website doesn't work and has half the links missing. What I do know I got from US sites. This is the THIRD world. |
All of the above being said and done, I still would have one worry for you which may be of greater concern than the original vs. photocopy issue which in the final analysis may turn out to be a discretionary matter, as in the case of the New York Consulate above.
My concern for you is : under the current and rather strictly enforced rules, I need to ask you, without requiring an answer here, if you are a Bulgarian national or a national of another country temporarily residing in Bulgaria.
I say this because the Chinese Government has instructed overseas consulates to only process visas during the next several months for citizens of those countries in which the appropriate embassy or consulate is located. For example, in the United States at present, and this is only used as an example, if you are not a citizen of the United States, and you do not hold any kind of legally entitled residence, beyond that of a temporary resident, you will not be issued a visa by the Chinese consular authorities and you will be required to obtain the visa in your country of origin.
This is a rather "sticky" issue and I do not remember, without having the list in front of me, whether or not Bulgaria is on the list of those countries (in total thirty-three) where the visa requirements have become exceptionally stringent.
This is an issue that you truly need to address. |
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Anglichanka
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 64
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:22 am Post subject: Good point. |
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| Thanks for the warning, Lou-la. I never even thought of that, good point! However, I'm British and EU so I hope it will be OK. I have a residents' permit here but w ho knows? |
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Anglichanka
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 64
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 4:26 am Post subject: Thanks |
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| Thanks for good advice everyone. Will insist on originals and will check if my residency is suitable to apply here. I'm in big trouble if I have to go to UK first. No time, working full time here. No money. Cant afford to stay in London. Need some luck here! |
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North China Laowei
Joined: 08 Apr 2008
Posts: 419
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:25 am Post subject: Re: Thanks |
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| Anglichanka wrote: |
| Thanks for good advice everyone. Will insist on originals and will check if my residency is suitable to apply here. I'm in big trouble if I have to go to UK first. No time, working full time here. No money. Cant afford to stay in London. Need some luck here! |
Indeed -- please take the original of your residence permit for Bulgaria with you and all relative papers (proof of address, etc., etc., the Bulgarian equivalent of what the Russians call a "propiska" (the Bulgarian term should be close). With all of that in-hand, you should be able to clearly demonstrate legal entitlement to live in Bulgaria and thus apply for the proper visa.
But forewarned is forearmed as they say. An American colleague of mine who lived in Sofia under circumstances similar to yours was actually refused by the Chinese Embassy (it didn't help that he talked too much during the process) and made his way to Hong Kong before the gates in Hong Kong closed last April.
Additionally, please bear in mind that the Chinese Embassy in Sofia probably processes at the best 20-30 work permit-type visas a year and so the process, on a good day, will be cumbersome and on a bad day, well....This is one case where I, if I were in your shoes, would overprepare, and would make sure that I presented well, particularly under the present circumstances.
Not only did my colleague whom I referenced above not prepare well, and talked too much, his evident state of rather incoherent inebriation surely did not advance matters. |
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Anda
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 2199
Location: Jiangsu Province
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: Um |
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| This has been in for a number of years in South Korea so it looks like it has now started here but nothing yet comes up on a net search that is clear. |
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Anglichanka
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 64
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| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject: Bulgarian docs |
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| Thanks for that tip - good idea. I will just take everything I've got which makes me legal in Bulgaria and then some extra stuff too. I did that to get in here - you never know what totally irrelevant piece of bumf they will ask for if they're having a bad day. It's a good idea to be very conciliatory and pleasant to embassy staff, I find. They do, in fact, have the bigger dick when it comes to measuring. |
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