Specific date to leave country on temporary stays?

[Brian US]

I couldn't readily find this asked before or my search skills are that bad, but I have a visa with 90-day stays and I need to know the latest I can stay in country.

 

My last entry was March 31st, 2014 and I am not sure if my last day is June 28th or the 29th. The actual visa itself says "90 days after entry," so would I not count March 31st and assume my last day is June 29th?

 

My registration form of temporary residence says exit date of June 30th, but that is from my local police station and they selected that date since it is the end of my lease. However, I will not be relying on this date since I would rather just go off my visa.

 

95% sure I won't have issues leaving on the 29th, but any feedback would be most appreciated! In case anyone was wondering, I generally do stand-by for all my international flights so I can be flexible with dates.

 

 

[m000gle]

My initial reaction was also June 29th.  This seems logical enough, at first glance; despite only very rarely being explicitly stated, when counting duration we typically start at zero and increase for each unit/period which passes.

That said, I strongly recommend you err on the side of caution, and count your date of arrival as day one: Assume the final day of validity is June 28th.

I could try to justify an answer in any number of ways, from carefully interpreting the English and Chinese wording on the visa to anecdotes about Chinese culture occasionally counting duration from one instead of zero (e.g. age); but these would miss the point entirely.

 

When dealing with things as important as visas etc, one should always plan for the worst.  The difference between 89 and 90 days is negligible for a visit or temporary residency; but the difference between 90 and 91 is massive when you consider the potential fine, questioning, and especially the possibility of an "overstay" making any future visa applications more difficult.