how to study mandarin in Beijing and getting student VISA ?

[remigio]

Hello,

i want to study mandarin in Beijing for at least 1 year.

i carry a french passport.

is it possible to get a student visa for 1 year ?

or should i go there as a turist and then upgrade it

student visa ?

how long will it take to get residence permit ?

bank account ? etc ?

do you think is faster doing it all from HK or via chinese embassy

in Paris ?

p.s.

i've been already 3 months in china so i know what to expect, the

issue is that i've no idea about the timings to get visa etc

if possibile i would want to move in May so i've more than 2 months

to get my visas and permissions.

thanksss !

Remigio

[magores]

Hello.

I can't help with all your questions, but I'll try to help as much as I can...

My situation is a little different than yours, but some of the info might be helpful. I came to work and study when possible. Not study and, then work... So my situation might be a bit different than yours

i carry a french passport.

Mine is US. Essentially the same I think, as far as China is concerned.

how long will it take to get residence permit ?

The temporary thing I have took about an hour. My boss, my landlord, and I went to the local police station. Took some pictures. The officer did some stuff. I walked out legal.

bank account ?

For me, waiting in line was the longest part of the process.

registering at the (home country) Embassy once in China

This was probably the most surreal part of everything that happened my first week in Beijing. Very easy to deal with. Just surreal. Hard to explain.

do you think is faster doing it all from HK or via chinese embassy in Paris ?

In my case... Bank account--> Do it in country. Residence Permit --> In country. Visa --> I had the proper documents for my work Visa before I even went to the Embassy in the US. So, it was no big deal. (Of course, I'm also from San Francisco which has a large population traveling to and fro from US-China, so I wasn't asking for anything "odd")

As far as the timing of the visa... If I remember right, it was $50 for a single entry/exit Visa. It took about a month. A multiple entry/exit visa cost a little more. Expedited processing (1 week vs 1 month) cost a little more. 1 day processing cost a litle more.

So... I don't know how the student stuff works, but my guess is that 2 months is a reasonable amount of time for the Visa. Alot of the other stuff, you can/will do once you arrive.

But, it you have any worries at all... Ask at the Embassy. Officially, they know more than anyone else about all this stuff.

Of course, others here have much more experience in all this, so listen to them if/when they correct me.

M

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