Visa overstay info needed

[Dazfraser]

I have been living in China for 7 years and stupidly overstayed my 60 days about 8 months ago by one day.

 

I am going to HK next week to apply for  new visa. I have all the appropriate documents to attain a business visa, i'm just concerned that the overstay might effect my application. I did not receive a stamp or a fine at immigration and was let back into china within 20 mins. 

 

Could anyone give me some solid info about if my next application will be rejected. 

 

Any experiences with the same issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks. 

 

[realmayo]

I think it's hard to find solid info because the rules, and more importantly how they're applied, is pretty vague. It's clear that your overstay wasn't treated at all severely, so obviously you're not blacklisted or anything.

 

But: it means that you'll presumably be answering "yes" to the "have you ever overstayed your visa" question. When it comes to tourist visas: I've been told that's grounds to disqualify people from the more generous tourist visas that some countries have now as default (multi-year, multi-entry) meaning you instead end up with the old-fashioned visas instead (shorter, fewer entries). But in reality, those longer visas are possible to get, despite an overstay, at least in some cases. I think it depends on individual situations and how the rules are applied.

 

So in your case, all I can say is it that they'd be within their rights to make things difficult but given the nature of your overstay, they probably won't.

 

The visa application asks to to explain why you overstayed. I'd advise making sure you don't just explain but you make clear you accept your responsibility for the mistake and apologise.

 

It's not impossible they'll want this explanation on a separate sheet of paper too so just in case, you could consider typing and printing out a copy in advance and bringing it with you. Whether you choose to add some guff about how much you've appreciated your time in China and admire the country, how much you're looking forward to working there and contributing to society, blah blah, that's your call.