Job Discussion Forums

[neverheardofem]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

I was required to submit the medical form to my employer in China in order for them to make the visa application over there. I am now planning to go to the embassy with the invitation letter etc. soon. My question is: Do I also need to bring this medical along to the embassy in my country? I had it last time I applied and they didn't actually want it, but things change..

Thanks!

[thechangling]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

I agree with thechangling. I always bring my latest stateside med check with me. Once, it came in handy when my irregular heartbeat alarmed the nurse who examined me. I had to do 2 ECGs and have my BP taken numerous times. The nurse was determined to fail me, but the assistant FAO pointed out the fact that my own doctor cleared me for work in China.

The two actually yelled at each other over the ECG test. The assistant FAO continued to point at my doctor's clinic stamp as proof of clearance. If I hadn't brought it with me, I'd probably have been sent home.

It was a good thing that I wasn't called back for another examination or that the Chinese clinic didn't want to examine the paperwork with my doctor's clinic stamp. The assistant FAO dropped me off at a bank and drove off while I exchanged currency. I walked back to campus in torrential rain, and my stateside med check was pretty much ruined by the time I got back to my apartment.

One other thing: don't allow anyone to walk off with ANY original document, including your passport. When I first arrived in China, the PSB kept my passport for a month before it was returned. Since then, I give out ONLY a copy made by the FAO.

[caleypatrick]

Nope, and hasn't been for the past three years as far as I know. FWIIW, I just go thru China Visa Service (CVSC) in Washington or wherever in America. I send them my documents, no Med Check, and I get them back in about a week's time. Years ago I actually went to the Chinese Embassy in Washington and spent the better part of three days, two nights of lodging, and found it cost me a helluva lot more than CVSC. As for having to use the Medical Check documentation in China, I can see where it may be of use as the previous poster believes it to have been, but I've never found it was ever needed to be produced. All the best, Don

[SH_Panda]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

After my first gig in China, I have insisted that I retain possession of my passport. I have never been required to surrender it for longer than it took someone to make a copy.

I have always maintained that I would be breaking my country's law by surrendering it for an extended period of time. Upon reading my passport, however, I see that there is nothing in it that states anything to that effect! It just states that the passport is the property of the U.S. government!

Maybe I should have just warned that taking my passport could create an international incident. That sounds pretty scary.

Maybe not.

[Shanghai Noon]

If anyone besides the Public Security Bureau or your country's consular services is holding your passport for any reason and will not return it, you can call the Public Security Bureau or your country's consular services. They'll get it back to you.

[SH_Panda]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

We're all herded off to spend a few hours at the PSB while they get a look at us, and affix the stamp. We surrendered our passports for only a couple of hours and waited. I think the FAO arranges for the FTs to stay at the PSB so she didn't have to send someone back to pick them up, then wait for us to go to her office to pick them up. If you live in a large city with many migrant workers, you're probably required to wait a couple of weeks before you get your passport back.

At one school, all of the FTs had to pay for headshots taken at the PSB as well, even though some brought headshots from home or had them shot at the school.

That's after spending a few hours waiting in line and going through the idiotic medical check. It seems like the last few times, everyone went ahead of us and we were the last to leave.

[hz88]

Regarding the medical check my own experience is it that it is required to be sent to your employer to obtain the initial z visa as it has to be uploaded with other documents but it is not necessary to be presented to the embassy at the time you apply in person. This is based on my own personal experience of London and asisting others in Hong Kong, Seoul and one or two other countries.

As Bud said there would be no harm in taking it anyway to avoid a wasted journey in case something has changed or is different elesewhere.

About surrendering of passports, at Resident Permit renewal time, usually it is in the PSB office five to seven days. I have never ever known them be quicker than that in all the time I have been here. The entry and exit bureau is a two hour trip from where I am anyway. It can and does differ depending on where you are. They always give us an official receipt which says your passport is in the PSB and can be accepted in lieu of it together with a stamped photocopy. However I have never attempted to travel with it.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

[adventious]

[neverheardofem]

This was the first time I have been required to submit my original medical check in order to apply for the invitation letter and work permit. The new regulations required all originals this time. It is still with my school in China, so I hope they won't require it at the embassy.

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]