Renweing residence permit - and passport later

[joshuawbb]

Hello again,

This isn't an immediate or urgent situation at all, but one that's got me a little confused. At the moment I'm studying my second semester in Xiamen University, and will also continue the next autumn term this September, presumably for another year. I have paid tuition fees for this initial year and have yet to apply for the coming semesters. My residence permit expires this September 20th, so I presume I have comfortable time between now and June to apply for my next semester/year, and and whatever time is needed to renew my residence permit. Am I right in saying that the renewal procedure consists of paying new tuition fees, filling out and receiving all relevant documents from the university, bringing said stuff to the PSB and paying a fee for permit renewal? Then after that, I presume I have my new permit and green light to go through the next year of study?

My passport will expire in September 2011, which is a fairly long time away but means a passport change is down the line. Hopefully that shouldn't be too complicated but I have a few questions:

-Will I be required to change my residence permit immediately after registering for my new classes? I'm uncertain whether my permit is only connected to my general study in Xiamen, or if my permit is strictly connected to my first year of study, and should be changed when a new year starts, as applying for my next semester will require new documents.

-If I got a new permit and it was valid say until September 2011 (as my current one is valid until September this year), what time do you think is best to change my passport? I was thinking sometime next spring or summer. If I have a current valid permit in my old passport, can residence permits be simply transferred by the PSB, or does a whole new X visa and permit procedure need to take place?

-Lastly, will the PSB allow a residence permit into a passport which will expire itself before the permit expires? E.g. a permit until September 20th when the passport expires earlier that month.

Mnay thanks for help in clearing that up. I'm presuming the permit renewal will hopefully be a matter of money and documentation, it's just the future passport issue that's a bit confusing.

[roddy]

I suspect you might want to get your new passport this year - certainly if you're planning to stay for a year they want you to have eighteen months of passport left when you apply for the visa, so I can't imagine this would be any different. Getting a years residence permit in Sept 2010 on a passport expiring in Sept 2011 might be a push.

I'd get the new passport at your convenience sometime before September this year. As you're British you actually get to keep both as valid travel documents (at least I did in 2006). Then this September get them to put the new permit in the new passport and start using that.

You will probably need to explain what's happening when you get the permit and maybe when you leave and reenter the first time, but I can't see it being a problem.

[taylor04]

One big thing to remember is that they will only give you a 6 month residence permit if you pay one semesters tuition vs a year after paying the years tuition.

You don't have to register for a new residence permit as soon as you register for classes. It takes about a week to process your new residence permit so I would do it 2-3 weeks before it expires.

I honestly don't know how the passport expiring thing works, but I know a lot of people will get a visa for a longer period of time than their passport validity. When this happens, they just carry the new and old passport with them, to prove they have the visa and a valid passport. I honestly don't know how it works so I can't recommend one way or another. Another thing to remember is that getting a new passport can be a time consuming process so it can't hurt to do it early, plus they are valid for 10 years.

I've always wondered why you couldn't pull the visa stickers from your passport off. I would never do it, but it's literally a sticker, why not just pull it off instead of getting pages added? Do they actually check old visas? Would they even notice?

[imron]

See also this thread, which deals with renewing passports.

[joshuawbb]

Thanks everyone for your help I've also just realised the spelling error in my post title, sorry about that.

As roddy suggested I'll probably go the route of changing it earlier this year, to minimise any hassle, though I'll discuss with my parents too. I gave the Beijing consulate a call and they said to me that the PSB shouldn't mind the impending expiry of the passport as long as it's got longer than 6 months, though it's likely down to the officer's discretion or individual procedure. They said to me that the PSB will issue residence permits with validity up to the passport expiry date, on the basis that the passport should obviously be renewed before then.

I will most likely be going for another year's study, since I wish to gain HSK 6 here in Xiamen, so will pay for a year's tuition. Hah, I was unlucky enough when I was 15 to get a child passport - I was only a week or so away from turning 16 but had to apply for a child passport, as the rules are the rules and I had to be 16 to get an adult one. British child passports are valid for just 5 years.

I would imagine the visa stickers have that multi-layer security mechanism which voids them if they are removed - just like the warranty stickers on electronic products which break into 2 layers with a "void" design on them when taken off. You can't easily stick them back since the layers have been broken apart, and the complex design makes it harder to match the layers. Just a guess though

Edited March 29, 2010 at 06:51 AM by joshuawbb

[roddy]

I can't even get the price tag off a greetings card without ripping it to shreds, good luck to those of you removing visa stickers . . .

If the PSB will issue the residence permit running right up to the expiry date of the passport then I guess you've got another year to play with.

[joshuawbb]

Visa stickers are tough indeed, might as well have been merged right into the page, not that I would try removing one.

I'll go along to the PSB tomorrow or sometime, and see what they think about it. Hopefully I can keep it for year longer and add another permit to the pages, though it might just be better to get it over and done with.

[taylor04]

I actually started pulling one of the corners up a few works ago... the hardest thing was getting a corner up. Once you have a grip on a corner, it comes off with EXTREME easiness, atleast the 1/10th i pulled off before i stuck it back down! Does anyone want to try with an expired passport? Personally I would never do it in case they do check your previous visas or something, I'm just curious whether or not its just that easy to pull them off.

[gerri]

Play what you want, but I wouldn't:

My passport clearly says that it contains 36 pages (not that I think anyone would count, but still...) and that making changes to entries in the passport is punishable by the law (if not done by legal authorities, of course).

As re. the visa, it clearly states the number of the passport it is associated with, and my passport number has always changed... so I guess sticking it from one passport into another would count as something like forgery.

Not the best idea, especially in this day and age.

The question is interesting though. I've been thinking about changing my name (when marrying, and that outside of China)... that would invalidate the passport, making me have to get a new one, meaning that the residence permit is in an invalid passport...

[taylor04]

No no no, I wasn't saying to take the visa sticker out of an old passport and put it into a new one, you merely keep both passports with you.

I'm curious as to what the system behind the passports are, the visa sticks seem to be very easy to peel off, making it so you would never need visa pages. I'm merely asking anyone who has an EXPIRED passport to try pulling one of the visa stickers off so see if there is any mark left behind or if it came off with ease. I would never recommend anyone to tamper with their real passport.

Otherwise I'll have to wait 7 years to try for myself!

[Comrade]

I had to get a new passport a couple of months ago (for the 4th time in my life already, since my country only started issuing 10 year passports this year, until now you could only get a 5 year one). In September I wanted to get a 1 year permit like usual, but they gave me one valid until the exact expiration date of the passport (so technically for even less than 6 months). When I got a new passport at the consulate, the staff told me that I don't need to transfer the current permit to the new passport, just use both passports and wait until about 10 days till the permit expires and renew it as usual.