Post by Raoul Duke on Aug 29, 2006 1:10:51 GMT 7
Hey kids!
I've been having a whole raft of frantic calls and SMSs and e-mails lately, largely from non-Saloon-members, all saying "Hey Raoul! My visa expires in (insert your choice of number smaller than 5 here) days! Can you please help me?"
The fact is, folks, if you let the time get this short, I CAN'T DO MUCH TO HELP YOU... much though I desperately want to. The best I can do is tell you the rules, maybe suggest a phone number, and give you a train schedule for Hong Kong. When the time gets short enough, NO ONE can help you except maybe the school you work for, if their connections are good enough. When the time gets too short, even the grey-market visa weasels can't help you.
I know many of you are new at all this, and you're not used to thinking about these things. Please believe me when I tell you this is a survival skill you need to develop quickly. You should always be aware at some level of the current status of your visa. The time to start working on a new visa is weeks before it expires, not days or hours!
You must take this seriously, because I promise you that the Chinese authorities will. This is not the sort of thing where they are often likely to cut you any slack at all, especially if you are operating on your own without an employer going to bat for you. That 500-RMB-per-day fine gets expensive fast. So do frantic-screaming-emergency trips to Hong Kong.
For the sake of your own well-being, and that of my stomach lining, PLEASE take care of these things well before they become a crisis!
I've been having a whole raft of frantic calls and SMSs and e-mails lately, largely from non-Saloon-members, all saying "Hey Raoul! My visa expires in (insert your choice of number smaller than 5 here) days! Can you please help me?"
The fact is, folks, if you let the time get this short, I CAN'T DO MUCH TO HELP YOU... much though I desperately want to. The best I can do is tell you the rules, maybe suggest a phone number, and give you a train schedule for Hong Kong. When the time gets short enough, NO ONE can help you except maybe the school you work for, if their connections are good enough. When the time gets too short, even the grey-market visa weasels can't help you.
I know many of you are new at all this, and you're not used to thinking about these things. Please believe me when I tell you this is a survival skill you need to develop quickly. You should always be aware at some level of the current status of your visa. The time to start working on a new visa is weeks before it expires, not days or hours!
You must take this seriously, because I promise you that the Chinese authorities will. This is not the sort of thing where they are often likely to cut you any slack at all, especially if you are operating on your own without an employer going to bat for you. That 500-RMB-per-day fine gets expensive fast. So do frantic-screaming-emergency trips to Hong Kong.
For the sake of your own well-being, and that of my stomach lining, PLEASE take care of these things well before they become a crisis!