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[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

I know visa issues have been gone through many times on other posts, but I can't seem to find one detailing this specific question.

My current tourist visa runs out this coming Wednesday. After finally getting reference letters red stamped from previous employers, I'm ready to apply for a new foreign residence permit. There shouldn't be a problem with this. My uni in Dalian posts it up to Shenyang tomorrow to arrive next day and I get all the paperwork back by the end of the week.

However, ideally, I'd like to go by train to Beijing on Wednesday of this coming week and fly back to Dalian next Sunday. My FAO reckons that it would be risky to travel out of Dalian while my permit is being processed, and I can see their point. However, I can't help feel there must be other options.

The customs officials at Dalian airport seemed to think I could get some sort of receipt or temporary certificate to use for travel while the new permit was being processed. Anyone heard of this ?

Another option available I suppose, is that I apply in person on Wednesday when I go to Beijing. That way, any travel I do will be back to the safe haven of Dalian, where the school may or may not have the guanxi to resolve any issues should I get stopped and checked. A big gamble though and one which if it goes wrong, will drag others into the trouble too.

Is it possible to apply for a residence permit in another province than the one in which you work anyway ? I doubt it, but maybe someone can tell me otherwise.

Thanks in advance.

[Steppenwolf]

You will most likely be denied accommodation in decent hotels!

I don't even believe a receipt and a photocopy of your passport would help. Hotel staff are supposed to be able to decipher your visa to make sure you are entitled to staying there. The cops on the ground won't be a problem - but hotels, definitely!

[7969]

i think you very likely cant fly without your passport in your possession. the airline checkin clerk will ask for it, the security screening post will ask for it, and you could be asked for it at any other number of places. a student id card, credit card, drivers license etc wont cut it at airports when id is required. while abroad your passport is very often the only acceptable form of id, and to travel any long distance in china without it would be a bit foolhardy i think. dont know anything about any temporary permit to travel while passport is in PSB hands. never seen or heard of one.

you say your tourist (L) visa expires on wednesday and you're applying for a foreign residence permit. i thought liaoning was one of the provinces that no longer converted an L visa into a Z visa, and/or a residence permit? hmmmm. not sure i really follow your story that well. most people at this time of year are at work even if their residence permit is still in the processing stage.

7969

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

i know passports are pretty much the standard form of ID everywhere, but it would be misleading to suggest that it is absolutely impossible to get to/from beijing by train and stay for four nights without a passport. in fact, when i went to shandong for a similar duration last year, i accidently left my passport back in dalian and managed to look sheepish enough, often enough, to talk my way around it and do the trip as planned. i wouldn't recommend it, but it certainly is possible. especially if you stay in small 50 yuan a night hotels. perhaps not in beijing ? but even then...

why i am needing to be in beijing outside the "allocated time wondow" is besides the point i guess. if you must know, my parents are coming to visit and, along with classes being cancelled at this time for students being away on work experience, i have been granted an extra 2 or 3 days unpaid leave by my uni to show them around. told you it was besides the point.

ok, my permit is being processed and i'm not going to risk travel before it comes back on thursday/friday unless i get some sort of all clear from the PSB. if i manage to get such a stamp, or form, or slap on the back, i will let the cafe know, and will try to remember to do likewise if i don't.

[7969]

[tw]

[7969]

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

yeah, sorry 7969, i thought i'd added in my original post that i was considering a train instead, but i didn't actually write that. as i am not aware of you or anyone yet being able to decipher my innermost whims over the network, you have to work with the info given. namely that i was planning to fly. i should re-read my own posts in future. you suggested that i likely wouldn't get on a plane with no passport, which is probably true. but now it seems a FEC is enough ? let the flames of debate rage on. original post is more or less hijacked, if you pardon the horrendous pun, but probably for the best.

[tw]

[adamsmith]

having been travelling by train a lot in the recent months, and always using the soft sleeper, they have never asked for ID from me. But as I am an obvious westerner no one ever bothered me as long as I had my ticket to show them. This does not mean that they wont ask, just that they never have. As to hotels in Beijing, and anywhere in china for that matter, most do ask for a passport when checking in. I have though encountered one hotel where they did not ask to see a passport but I had to write down my passport number and visa type. But this was just one of many hotels that I have had to use. It can be pretty risky process if you do not have your passport when traveling.

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

7969 wrote: