Job Discussion Forums

[Nicfishn]

The school that is hiring me seems to be somewhat new to the Z-visa application process. As luck would have it, so am I. After almost 2 months of waiting for the invitation letter, my school is apparently run into a puzzling situation.

Instead of the "Invitation Letter of Duly Authorized Unit," they are planning to send me a "Confirmation Letter of Invitation." Also, apparently the Confirmation letter of invitation requires an extra invitation letter issued by the school itself. The lady who works at the school has no idea what she is supposed to write for this invitation letter and the Chinese Embassy here in the US seems to be just as confused as I am about the terminology. They've just suggested that my employer goes to the local foreign affairs bureau, but it would be great if anyone knew of a simple invitation letter format that I could email the school and shave another week off of this already lengthy process.

Does anyone else have experience with the Confirmation Letter of invitation as opposed to the normal Invitation Letter of Duly Authorized Unit? Is there any particular reason why the school would send me this document instead of the normal invitation letter? Thanks for any and all clarification.

I apologize if this has been brought up before. I searched through all the Z-visa stickies and old posts but was unsuccessful in digging up anything that was relevant to this specific issue.