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Advice before traveling to China


true786

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Hi All,

Apologies if my post has been covered elsewhere, I have seen a lot of contradictions so wanted to clear this up:

My wife and I are planning to teach English in China. We are a few days away from completing our TEFL. Our plan is to head to China in September - currently we don't have any work lined up.

We are thinking about heading to china on an L visa, do some travelling whilst we look for work. If we find work we would then try and convert our visa to Z. - this is my area of concern.

I understand that converting visa's from L to Z will depend on province? We were thinking of heading to Guangdong....

If it is possible, is it 100% that we would only need to head to Hong Kong to do the conversion via an agent?

Or would you advise on us getting employment prior to arriving?

Sorry for repeating what others have already asked, I just wanted further clarification...

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May I recommend you read this thread?

Personally, I would recommend traveling first. Your opportunities to travel are likely to be more limited once you start working, and I think it would be a much better experience for you the more traveling you can do.

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Hey

Thanks for replying to my post. I did read that thread prior to submitting my post.... but I am still confused.

I don't think anyone can say for certain that you can convert a tourist visa to a Z visa, or it may be dependant on province?

Travelling first would be ideal for us, do you think we could get longer than a 30 day tourist visa?

Lastly, we would want to pack our things and just head out to China - how difficult would be find it to travel china without any past experience nor agencies? We want to do it properly and not staying in plush hotels...

Thanks for your help :)

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there is NOTHING 100% about Chinese Visas EVER!

But then a friend of mine just had her L-Visa converted to Z without having to leave China at all. So I wouldnt miss out on traveling through China just because of Visa issues.

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Thanks driftman

China is a huge place, do you think it would be difficult if we just turned up in Beijing (or somewhere) and went for it?

Have you got any advice on a travel route we should do?

I CAN'T WAIT TO QUIT MY JOB AND GET OUF OF THIS PLACE!!! lol

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how difficult would be find it to travel china without any past experience nor agencies? We want to do it properly and not staying in plush hotels.

Not difficult. Provided you can read and speak basic standard Mandarin. I am solo traveling right now from Harbin to Kunming by land, using long-distance buses and occasionally trains. I take 2-4 hours ride from one city to the next. Staying in Chinese hotels for 80-100 rmb/night, private room, always with internet, shower with hot water, toilet. Food is cheap and good. People are extremely friendly. So far covered 5,400 km and twenty places, have seen only one white person in a long while (American dude who went to China to teach English and never returned back home). The longer I travel the longer I want to travel, China is huge and fun place.

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Panshi, thanks for the reply

Unfortunately my wife and I can't speak or read mandarin but we are putting effort into learning

Sorry to be a pain but could you just confirm some things for me:

1) we could fly straight to HK and get our visa to China from there? (we are both british passport holders)

2) we were thinking of starting in Guangzhou and travelling up to Beijing - is that the normal route? we have no idea what the best travelling route would be

3) Is it hard to get a 90 day L visa?

4) We are planning to head out Sept but will need to come back in Dec for a wedding, we then want to go back again - will it be easier for us to get another visa? or would they question this?

Sorry to be a pain guys! this is a huge step for my Wife and I and we really can't wait to go!

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Have you got any advice on a travel route we should do?

Depends on your preferences: see places? see country? meet people? taste food? learn language? shopping? hiking/climbing/outdoors? photography? etc.

I find everything north of Huangshan city less fun, more modern and industrial. Influences of Beijing? Down south landscape gets better, food more exotic: dog meat sold in the markets, frogs, pegeons etc is normal. Wal-Mart in Shenzhen sells fresh crocodile meat. Chinese teas selection gets better and better. Speaking about teas: north is pathetic on teas, it has nothing to offer, except classic LongJing, and even that one is overpriced (200 rmb/500g and up). I also had trouble many times in the north trying to rent a room in Chinese-only hotels, which doesn't happen in the south: they often even don't bother to check passport. Beijing was particularly bad: once I was refused probably by 10-15 places in three hours, ended up finding a place only at midnight.

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is it 100% that we would only need to head to Hong Kong

No. Depends on country. Canadians for example can not do this anymore, I know for fact.

"..Applicants are advised to apply his/her Chinese visa from the Embassy or Consulate-General of Peoples’ Republic of China in the country where he/she resides or works permanently. ..|

http://www.fmcoprc.gov.hk/eng/zgqz/zgqzcgzs/t279927.htm

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1) we could fly straight to HK and get our visa to China from there? (we are both british passport holders)

Unless you have some strong reason to get your passport in HK, I think it's always safer to get a visa in your home country before you go. With Chinese Visas, Things Happen . While I think HK is a great city, being stuck there for weeks due to visa issues may not be your idea of a vacation.

3) Is it hard to get a 90 day L visa?

4) We are planning to head out Sept but will need to come back in Dec for a wedding, we then want to go back again - will it be easier for us to get another visa? or would they question this?

You should ask for a 90-day multiple entry visa. Whether they give that to you or not is uncertain. You'll just have to take what you get.

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