Is there a clear limit on the number of tourist visas one can apply for in a given period?

[kroy123]

I'm Australian and want to stay in Shenzhen for a few months without working or studying there. With a tourist visa normally being 30 days, can I keep crossing the border to Hong Kong, applying for a new visa and going back, or is there a limit to this? When I was in China ~5 years ago I was able to extend the 1 month tourist visa twice, but then when applying for a new visa they only gave 14 days. Otherwise I'm open to any suggestions on the best way to do it. It seems for Australians a multiple-entry visa isn't possible (unlike with US/UK citizens) unless you're on a cruise.

[889]

This is up to the smiling ladies at the HK visa office. Every once in a while you hear folks say they were told after a few visas that this is the last one in HK, that you'll have to go back and apply in your home country next time. But all this may vary by nationality and personal circumstances, so who knows. Just a caution that some people do have problems after a while. As you yourself already seem to know.

 

Further, in HK you no longer deal directly with those smiling ladies: you have to submit your application through an outsourced Visa Centre. This means you can't make your case personally to the visa officer any longer.

 

In the past there were various dodgy people in Shenzhen and Beijing and Shanghai offering to facilitate extensions and longer visas. I don't know the current situation, but I do know foreigners were generally not happy when they had to deal with these people.

[DavyJonesLocker]

 

i think years ago this is possible, but over the last few years the Chinese seem to have tightened up on visa control. 

 

i know you said you don't want a study visa but you still might be able to find a school that is accommodating in  securing you a X2 visa without actually attending classes. This was very common years ago and in  fact the class I was in had 6 students, 3 of who we saw about 3 times in a year. However there has been a whole spate of schools closed recently due to this issue.