Cross-cultural, Daily Living, & Adjustment Issues

I have read the info on coming to China with a significant other, wife or fiancee. That all seems to imply the SO is in place before you begin the procedure for the Z visa. Is it possible to bring a new fiancee or SO with you if you met her after you got the Z visa? Second part, is it possible for her to join you at a later date? Maybe after a few months or a semester in China? As always, grateful for your time and effort here.

Danny, to the best of my knowledge, family visas only apply to spouses and children. Girlfriends and fiancées would need to apply for a separate visa of their own, typically a tourist visa.

If and when you and your girlfriend were married, while you were both still living in China, she would then submit her passport, along with a copy of the marriage certificate, to the PSB for conversion to a combination Z-visa and residency permit that would be linked to yours. The residency permits will be identical except for "Purpose of Residence": yours will read (in Chinese) "foreign teacher" and hers will read "family member."

Unless you were married in mainland China (not impossible to do but it's very difficult to find an official who knows what is required outside of an international city) or Hong Kong (much easier for two foreigners), you would first have to get the marriage certificate translated by an official translation service.

The visa situation is going to be a hassle for you. On our blog, under "Latest News and Announcements," we list an agent in Hong Kong who successfully converted an L- into a Z-visa for an American foreign teacher. I would look up the agent's name and number, once you are in China, and see what he can do for your girlfriend.

Best of luck.

I was thinking of bringing my girlfriend to China in January. I was wondering if it is possible to just keep renewing her tourist visa until I finish the year in China. I believe that would involve a trip out of the country every 60 days or so. Has anyone done something like this before? Is it legal? Thanks for any advice.

Although a 30-day visa is the most common and easiest to receive, your girlfriend could apply for a 90-tourist visa. She'd have to write a brief explanation about why she wants to visit China for 90-days. Before it expires, in about 80 days or so, she can apply for a one-month extension. At the end of the extension, she could travel to Hong Kong and apply for another tourist visa, but that would most likely be limited to 30-days, also renewable one time.

Assuming she could initially arrive on a 90-day tourist visa and further assuming she will have no difficulty receiving a one month extension each time, that means she would have to make a visa run at the end of 4, 6, 8, and 10 months after arrival.

As her only purpose for staying in China is to be with you, and as she would not be earning income, I don't see why that would be illegal at all.

I have read this with interest. I have heard that if my girlfriend is a Filipina, there are complications with her getting a visa like the one you describe. Is this true? Is there a different standard for people from the Philippines, especially women? Thanks for any input here.

It appears that different nationalities do get pegged from time to time in China as "undesirables" and, right now, Filipinos are on the list.

If your girlfriend has never received a tourist visa to mainland China before, she may be able to get one for 15 days, but that would be about it until things change.

Your best (maybe only) option for getting her to mainland China would be to have her enroll in a Chinese language program at either a private or public school. From what I've been told, it is fairly easy for a Filipino to get a student visa to China and it is also a lot easier for them logistically in Manila in terms of dealing with their own government.

Hi Danny here,

I was wondering if I fly my Filipina girlfriend into Hong Kong and marry her there per the instructions on this website. Can she then apply for a 90-day visa as my wife? I am living and working legally in China at this moment. Any idea on a time table for that? Would she have to fly back to the Philippines and then apply for the visa? Would the fact that it is a newly minted marriage be a negative factor? We are already engaged but I know China does not recognize that....thanks for the help....

Filipinos are now on China's immigration blacklist so it's very difficult for them to get a tourist visa into mainland China, even from Hong Kong and Macau. In addition, the Filipino government also makes it difficult for them in that they now require a "residency authentication certificate" from the Chinese consulate before being allowed to board their flight.

If she has never received a tourist visa to mainland China before, she might be able to get a 15-day tourist-visa in Manila. She could then fly into Hong Kong a day or so before your scheduled appointment at the wedding registrar and then use that L-visa to follow you into mainland China where your employer would process her residency permit based on her marriage to you. The marriage certificate issued in Hong Kong is bilingual so the PSB won't have any trouble with it. The only caveat here is that she would have to purchase a return trip ticket dated no more than 14-days from her arrival into Hong Kong because that is the maximum number of days she can be given as a Filipino (see residency authentication below).

If she has been to mainland China before on a tourist visa, it is unlikely she will be given a second one. She will then have to fly directly into Hong Kong without a visa and will be given a 14-day entry permit (based on the residency authentication certificate and return ticket). After you two are married, she will have to fly back to the Philippines with the marriage certificate where the residency permit based on marriage will have to be processed. (Perhaps your school can prepare these documents in advance, so she can just take them directly to the Chinese consulate in Manila, but I'm not sure.) One advantage to doing it this way is that she can then register her marriage with her local government office and also change her family name with the National Statistics Office (NSO): Changing her family name to yours on her passport will make future residency permit renewals much easier. If you use option number one, then she will have to travel to the nearest city in China with a Philippines consulate to register the marriage within one year.

I should also warn you that all Filipinos (along with several other blacklisted nationalities) are currently being detained at Hong Kong Customs and taken into interrogation rooms where they are questioned in detail about the purpose of their visit. If she explains that she is there to get married to a foreigner, there won't be any problem and they will give her an entry permit up to 14 days based on the date of her return ticket.

Residency Authentication

The big caveat here is that she will have to obtain authentication from the Chinese consulate in Makati that basically states she has a place to stay while in Hong Kong. What this means is that you will have to send her confirmation of the hotel booking and she will take that to the Chinese consulate for authentication and will have to produce that certificate before boarding her flight. However, the entry permit in Hong Kong and return flight ticket must coincide with the dates on this "residency authentication" certificate. So, for example, if you book a hotel room for seven nights, her return ticket has to match the check-out date on the hotel room confirmation and she will only be given an entry stamp for those number of days, up to fourteen.

It's a nightmare now. Her best bet is to check the Chinese embassy website in Manila for the latest requirements and procedures before doing anything because it is possible that she may not need this residency authentication certificate if she is able to obtain a 15-day tourist visa into mainland China--but I'm not certain.