Independent Z

[burlives]

Z visas are sponsored items, right? To get one, one needs a work permit and an invitation from an employer -- making the employer a kind of sponsor, right?

So, if one has a Z visa (and hasn't entered China yet), but opts to go to a different employment situation with a different employer, one needs to cancel the first Z and get a second one. Right? Because sneaking in on some other sponsors visa won't work because your visa or passport or something in your passport gets scanned when you go through passport control, and if the first sponsor has cancelled the visa, one is screwed, right?

How about if one enters on a visa that one's sponsor thinks means one will proceed forthwith to one's sponsoring institution, when in fact one is planning to veer off course into the arms of some other boss?

Lastly, I'm going to be in Thailand and penniless when all of this visa debacle will come to a head. Anyone ever gotten visas there?


Finally lastly, a story: earlier in January I left China through brand spanking new Shanghai Pudong International airport. The new passport guy made me wait because my last Z visa had an "enter by" date which was 90 days after the issue date. In other words, a date 90 days after the issue of the visa before which I must use the visa to enter China. Passport Guy read that date and said my visa had expired. We all stood around for ten minutes while the supervisor was called. Finally they said that because I was a teacher, they would let me through "this time". I read about this kind of nonsense in the Lonely Planet five years ago.

[ChinaGurl]

Getting a visa in Thailand shouldn't be a problem as long as you have all the papers.

Getting into China with said visa shouldn't be a problem as long as the school who arranges it for you has no idea that you're not intending to teach there.

Getting a NEW Z visa might prove problematic, but can be dealt with simply by having the school provide a letter of release with which to give the new school where you'll be working so they can arrange for their own visa for you.

Green book and foreign residence card can be transferred to your new school with little effort once the Z visa has been reissued.

At least, this has been my experience transferring my visa and green and red books slightly sooner than my old visa expired. Then again, this was done by someone with a lot of guanxi with the municipal government here in Yuncheng as well as the provincial government in Taiyuan, so it might not really be that easy.

It's my understanding, though, that with the new 'no L to Z visa transfers' it's far easier to have a Z visa transferred than it is to go from L to Z.

Good luck with whatever happens!!

[burlives]

Goddamn! Release letters! I forgot about those ... devices.

Would an unused Z visa require a release letter?

I have had a Z cancelled before. It was a re-entry jobbie and I hadn't left China yet. I wanted it cancelled because while it did refer to someone very like me -- born on almost the same day, with almost the same name -- I was naively concerned that details counted. So it was cancelled, and stamped with a "void" sign, and a new one was pasted in next to it. To this day it's a real page turner for every passport control guy who encounters it, but it worked.

[ChinaGurl]

I can't be 100% sure on this, once you enter the country, the Z visa has already begun to serve its purpose and therefore can't be considered unused.

If you've paid for the visa, the school you're no longer going to shouldn't be too concerned with providing a release letter for you. It's not like they're losing out in any way, other than no longer having the teacher they were counting on.

The other thing you could do is trick them into providing a release letter somehow. Or fake a family emergency. Or fake a heart attack. Or fake your own death. Yeah, that oughta work.

The easiest thing to do, probably, would be to find another employer before actually coming to China (and kaibosh the processing of the present Z visa), or to come to China on an L visa, get everything worked out with the new school, and then do a Honk Kong visa run. Not sure if either of those options are available to you.

[Lager]

If I understand Burl's situation I would say:

You will re-enter China without hassle. But you MIGHT have a problem when the school go for the residence permit. But again you might not---isn't a Z almost like a visitor visa---just easier to change...Don't know but I need more coffee. Visas are such an abyss here. Best I guess to ask and trust what will be your new school,

Suppose you could also go to the China embassy in Thailand---but if it's anything like the one in ROK this will not be a fun day...

[bill]

Burl, is it not better to go with a Business visa and avoid being under the control of any Chinese employer?