Changing Visas

[Khaoula]

have you ever traveled to china with L visa then had transfer it to a Z visa by applying in Hong Kong? Do people do it all the time? 

[ChTTay]

It used to be more common a few years ago. They started to clamp down on it and made applicants apply from their home country.  It’s possible to do it in HK I think but not that common. You’d need your visa letter to state that you can go to HK and, as this is issued in China, they usually won’t do that. 

 

Better to do it in your home country. Also “come on an L and we’ll change it” is a classic way to get scammed by unscrupulous English schools. 

 

There are cases where you can covert an L to a Z within China but hard to say what the rules are on that. Maybe someone else knows 

[Khaoula]

@ChTTay Thank you! I appreciate it!

[mungouk]

As I already told you, I arrived in Beijing 6 months ago on an L-visa and then converted it to a Z-visa without having to leave the country.

 

I'm told it's still common practice. 

 

 

[Khaoula]

@mungouk because a few people were denied their visas in South Korea and HongKong and were told they had to go to their home countries