The Mythical Transferring of the Visa?

[boxcar]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I didn't see anything posted about passport renewals in the last year or so.

I'm a US citizen currently in China on an L visa. While here I needed to get a French work visa, but my passport was due to expire in less than a year. The passport renewal was simple enough at the US Embassy. By the way, it isn't clear on the website, but you keep your old passport while waiting for the new one. When picking up the new passport, I was told that I had 10 days to transfer my old visa into the new passport.

I went to the PSB visa desk in Beijing and asked about transferring the old visa to the new passport. The officer said they do not do that; I must apply for a new tourist visa. At the time I was considering leaving, so I asked if I could leave within the 10 days without a new visa. The officer said they did not know and gave me a number for border control. According to border control, I could leave within 10 days without penalty. Every day past 10 days would incur a 500rmb fine.

In the next day or two, my plans changed so I decided to just get the new visa. When I arrived at the visa desk with all appropriate documentation, a different officer told me applying for a new visa was unnecessary; I could simply travel with both passports. I explained my previous experience and she encouraged me to call border control again.

My second conversation with border control went differently. They said as long as the information in both passports was the same (name and birthdate) and the original visa was still valid in terms of date, then I could travel with both passports. I leave the country on September 3rd, and that is the approach I will take.

I post this because the information about this process is so conflicting. When searching online, the first discussion thread I found was http://www.thebeijin...to-New-Passport. The information there ranges from transferring a visa is easy to you will be imprisoned if you travel with the old passport. The US Embassy told me I could transfer the visa. The official US Embassy FAQ states you must apply for a new visa within 10 days. Even the Chinese officials gave conflicting information.

Hopefully this helps reduce some of the confusion for the next person. I'll post an update with my experience leaving China with both passports. By the way, at any point in the story where it appears fluency might be required, the communication was handled by my Chinese wife.

[joshuawbb]

I had the same issue last year here in Xiamen when I had to renew my passport. I'm on a student visa/resident permit. It took over an hour of frustrated questioning in the PSB before I got any sort of a conclusive answer - just like you experienced, every officer gave a new and conflicting answer, if they actually managed to listen to my question before blurting out what they thought I wanted to hear. Officer A says transfer the visa, Officer B says there's no such thing as transferring a visa and wants to know what A is smoking, Officer C says leave the country and apply for a new visa...in the end, Officer B came to the same conclusion as you in that you simply carry both passports until the visa expires. When confirming this with the other officers it magically clicked and they confirmed that this was indeed the case. Anyway, rant over. To confirm boxcar's conclusion:

In conclusion, when renewing your passport and retaining the old passport, you simply keep both passports and do not need to immediately apply for a new visa nor do you transfer the visa. When renewal/extension is needed, present both passports to the PSB and apply as normal.

The final word from the PSB and immigration is that an unexpired visa or residence permit inside an expired passport is valid regardless as long as it is presented alongside your current valid passport. Exiting and re-entering China with both passports was no problem for me and I expect the procedure to be the same elsewhere.

[abcdefg]

That's good to know. Thanks @boxcar and @joshuawebb for taking the time to post the information.

[liuzhou]

Yes, I've done the same on a British passport. I had to carry two for a while.

The problem I sometimes have now is that I entered China on the old one, so the current passport has no record of me arriving, which baffles hotel receptionists of the dimmer sort. The registration form requires this non-information.

Last time I was asked when I entered, I answered October 1st, 1949 and she dutifully wrote it down. I stayed three nights and was never questioned.

[imron]

I stayed three nights and was never questioned

Of course not. As an obvious revolutionary hero, that puts you above questioning.

[Lost in Mong Kok]

I'll be putting this to the test in a few months time. Carrying a British passport means my numbers will change and they'll chop the corner off the old passport, possibly chopping part of the visa off in the process.

I've seen numerous people with passports glued together and the likes at the border and with some additional checking they seem to all get through without any problems. I'm reluctant to spent the best part of £200 on a new yearly visa given its still got 6 months valid on it.