Job Discussion Forums

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

While transitting between the Russian Language Conference in Harbin and my next assignment teaching teachers in Wuhan, I was compelled to spend a couple of nights in Shanghai.

I attempted to check into the Foreign Guest House of a major Shanghai university where I taught and lived last year. I gave them my passport with the new residence permit pasted right on a full page. REJECTED!

They insisted on a red chop entry stamp and a green residence book. I tried to explain to the manager about how the system has changed. NO DICE! Remember, this is the Foreign Guest House of a major Shanghai university.

I took out my expired green book and showed them I had stayed there last year. There eyes lit up. I showed them the expiration date and the new residence permit date in my passport. NO DICE.

They recorded the expired Green Book number and I stayed the night.

UNBELIEVABLE!

I am posting this as a reminder that no matter what your experience or mine, we can rarely extrapolate generalities about China from either.

China is always changing and yet China never changes!

cujobytes · Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 1:38 am Post subject:

cj750 · Joined: 27 Apr 2004 Posts: 3081 Location: Beijing

Same in other countries..such as MOngolia...as a US citizen..no need for a Visa..but some folks traveling to China on motorcycles..have had a hard time convincing boarder guards to let them pass...they findly did and now are stuck trying to get into China....

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

What's so special about your ordeal or deal, Silly Sally? That the receptionist at that guesthouse didn't recognise YOUR NEW resident's permit that takes care of the old VISA?

She or he didn't have the TRAINING, or the PSB failed to instruct her to look out for this new form of documentation. That's a problem that could happen anywhere in the world, though more so in China.
She was scared of making a mistake, that's all. Maybe the instructions are that no one on a tourist visa or any visa other than a work visa can stay at their guesthouse.

I noticed the receptionist at the Youth Hostel here in Yangshuo also checked when I entered mainland China (last from Hong Kong). Maybe this is the main problem: if your resident's visa (permit') is issued in country you must make a trip across the border to validate it - or have a work visa (for 30 days) that gets activated on the day of your arrival.
But surely this is but a teething problem.
Elsewhere you will be rejected no matter whether you are a legal visitor or resident - because certain hotels only accept Chinese.

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

Roger -

The point was that even the manager of a MAJOR Shanghai university Foreign Guest House, who should be in the know, does not understand the new visa; so relax, why should we?

Volodiya · Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:11 am Post subject:

I think Roger summed it up, nicely. This event with Sally was very likely to have been a kind of "teething problem", resulting from unfamiliarity with the new document.

But, as to this comment, Roger-

Taishan · Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 110

A teething problem or a load of old horse manure?

Sally, 22 posts a day when travelling it's a miracle. You are very freakin Silly.

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

Isn't it grand to warn people of an impending problem they may incur with lodging, only to have them scoff because it has not happened to them yet.

What would I have done without my expired Green book? Sleep in a doorway? The Green book must usually be turned in but I was able to keep mine by chance. What about you?

If this can happen in Shanghai, what are the chances it can happen in the hinterland?

The Shanghai Normal University Foreign Guest House is the answer to the unasked question.

Volodiya · Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:43 pm Post subject:

You have to wonder if the people you were dealing with can even read Chinese. The document says, in Chinese, that it's a residence permit for foreigners and gives its date of expiration.

At another establishment, you might not have run into the problem, at all.

cujobytes · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 1:27 am Post subject:

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

If a university hotel for FEs in Shanghai refuses to accept the new residence permit what do you think are the chances a commercial hotel would be any different?

Are you just dense?

cujobytes · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:02 am Post subject:

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

HELLO - anybody home?

You are not going to have an entry stamp Z visa anymore in your passport!!!!!!

Got it????

Your residence permit will be in your passport!!!!!! No red chop!!!! No "Z" visa !!!!!

Yes, I am afraid you are dense!!!!!!! Sorry!

cujobytes · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:25 am Post subject:

SillySally · Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 167

No not meant as a personal attack!

Please read my original post!