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LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

Anyone got a visa through this Guangzhou agency... or tried to?

The only search result for iLaowai here on Dave's is:

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

By the way, the iLaowai advertiser who uses the email [email protected] defends himself from a 'former vindictive employee' on this thread: http://www.thebeijinger.com/forum/2012/05/07/Visa-Solutions-You-Can-Rely-On

Apparently, there are more agencies like this in HK which don't need invitation letters. But can/will this window of illegitimate (?) visas close?

Not long ago, the thought of illegal migrant workers from the 'developed' world working in China would have seemed absurd.

EDIT: Here's iLaowai's response to an email I sent. I'm guessing between 3 to 5K is bribery money and the rest goes to iLaowai.

GeminiTiger · Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 12:00 pm Post subject:

Why are you asking us about what is koser with the BJ - PSB? What's your purpose in being involved in this? It seems like your just cutting away business for a "that's how things sometimes work here" situation. Many things in China are quasi-legal and while I never want to be in this situation, I cannot understand your motive for positing. It seems to be either a vendetta or competitive or are you a perspective customer? It seems you might even be advertising these services..

Which is it?

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

sistercream · Joined: 18 Dec 2010 Posts: 497 Location: Pearl River Delta

My own 2 cents' worth from experience over the last 15 or so years ... sometimes working in mainland (even on an F visa - shhhh), sometimes getting one because I wanted to travel for more than 30 days at a time and didn't want the hassle of extending an L visa while in country:

short version - it depends. On just about everything.

Sometimes, every man and his dog in HK and Macau can get you a 1 (or occasionally even 2) year F visas for you without an invitation letter. Haven't tried getting one from in-country, but I figure it would be the same there. The F visas I've had had no limit on length of stay apart from the visa validity itself.

Sometimes (like for most of 2008, with the Beijing Olympics), there is a total crackdown, and you need ALL your official ducks in a row (plus a few extras not previously heard of) to get an F visa, and it can only be done through an embassy or MOF office.

Sometimes, it's between the two extremes.

Assuming you do get your invite-free F visa, you then have to deal with registration at your district PSB office. My experience in a 3rd tier city was that one district couldn't care less about the details and just had you give your address with the chop of the Residents' Committee from your apartment complex, while in another district they went through all my papers with a fine toothed comb (including my bank book, to make sure I wasn't deriving any [obvious] in-country income).

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

Where are you from?

The easiest and most reliable way would be to go to Hong Kong and get it through an agency there. You can get 6 month and 12 month F visas without any invitation letter. This is current information as well.

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

Mr. English · Joined: 25 Nov 2009 Posts: 298 Location: Nakuru, Kenya

I am currently on a 2-year F visa; got it in December 2010 just after the Asian Games. I dealt with an agent who lives in Shenzhen; price was 5500 RMB, visa runs every 60 days. The year before that, during the long buildup to the Asian Games (which were here in Guangzhou), the same agent could only get me a 1-year F with 30-day runs; I don't remember the price, but I do remember that I had to do an overnight run to Hong Kong, where the visa was issued. For the 2010 visa I did not leave Guangzhou; passport went to Los Angeles (I'm an American) and I was without it for about 20 days. Immediately after I got it back I did a run to Hong Kong and then registered; smiles all the way. As to both of these visas, the only thing I gave the agent was my passport and a passport photo, then cash upon return of the passport with visa, nothing else, no letters, no papers, no nothing. I have no idea what impact, if any, the crackdown recently announced in Beijing will have here in Guangdong Province, but there are a lot of Chinese making a lot of money off of traders in this province, traders who hold F visas. I guess there would be great resistance by Chinese businessmen to any proposed crackdown here.