Ask Headmaster Ken

Dear Dr. Greg,

I am writing this as it seems that you may have some knowledge about Jinan, which is where I am right now.

Let me give you some background about myself. I'm here with my girlfriend (we're both Australians - neither of us white) while she studies Chinese for one year at Shandong University. Seven months have already past. I attempted to find a job teaching English first but, due to my skin colour, that proved to be difficult and also the fact that I haven't yet graduated didn't help either.

So, thanks to good savings and online jobs (I'm a programmer) we have managed to survive this long. The only issue all along has been our visas! Originally I entered China on a 1 month visa (worst decision I made. I should've attempted to get a longer visa back in Australia but I was hoping for a job and year-long visa through the job). This unfortunate decision was due to heaps of forums I had previously read prior to my coming here that reassured me that I would be able to get a job easily enough: I hadn't come across this website yet though!

Anyway, near the end of the expiry of the first visa I managed to get a 3-month extension done in Qingdao through a recruiter who had recruited me to work there. I quit that job 2 weeks into it for various reasons and he promised me that he would get me a 3-month visa. He took all the salary owed to me (plus some) to get me this visa. But I was happy that at least I got that. He originally was going to get me a 3-month F-visa for the job but he got me an L-visa instead. I didn't care.

Anyway, after that visa expired I got another 3-month visa done in HK through a private agency. Now that 3-month visa recently expired and due to the upcoming Asian games they have stopped issuing 90-day visas out of HK and so I'm stuck with a double-entry visa with a 30-day limit for each stay.

I'm hoping to get a visa extension done in Jinan at the Entry and Exit Office. I don't know the address or if they even issue it. So this is my question to you. Do have any knowledge of this? I would (preferably) like to get a 90-day extension, same as I got in Qingdao since that's all I will be needing at the end of my current visa (in 2 months). I just need to make another 3 months in China before we're both back in Australia. I don't want to have to get 2 more visas done in HK and have to go to HK every month just to exit and enter China. Not only is it a waste of time and money but also rather exhausting.

I'm hoping you'd be able to help me out with this issue or direct me to someone who might be able to help. I was more than happy to go to HK every 3 months to get a new visa but now life has just been made extra difficult and I'm hoping there is an easy way out (or easy enough).

BTW, I have been reading your forums and they have been of great help in terms of just settling into the life in China! Thank you for all the work.

Thanks in advance for all your time,

Parth

Note: Parth, while I know something about Jinan University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, I know nothing of Jinan City, the capital of Shandong Province. So I've moved this to Headmaster Ken's forum as it is a visa question. Dr. Greg.

Dear Parth,

Regrettably, I too have no knowledge of visa procedures in Jinan city.

I wish you well.

I am making this post a Sticky so that anyone who is contemplating moving to China for the purpose of earning income can understand the importance of only arriving here on a Z-visa.

Based on our ongoing survey data, 16 percent (or 1 out of 6) of all foreigners who arrive in China with a tourist (L-) or F- (business) visa for the purpose of teaching English are never able to convert that visa to a proper Z- (work) visa. For more information, see the Z-visa Debate.

Please keep in mind that these open, public anonymous China EFL forums are trolled by Chinese recruiters and their Western lackeys who will tell you "It's perfectly alright" or "perfectly legal" to arrive in China to teach English with an L-visa. This is a lie and it adversely affects one out of six foreigners who follow their advice.

Thank you both for the response.

Dr. Greg, I do feel very stupid for making that decision but I do take comfort in the fact that I am not here for teaching English and this is a gap-year like experience for me and it will end soon.

Either way I will try to get a visa extended in Jinan in about 2 months when my current visa is going to expire and I will come back to this thread and post my experience. If you like, I will be more than happy to keep updating thread with more of my crazy visa experiences that can be used as warning to others or might even prove useful to some. I have been a very passive participant in these forums so far and I would love to contribute some.

Regards,

Parth

Hi Parth,

I think regular updates regarding your trials and tribulations with this visa issue would be very helpful to prospective foreign teachers.

Thanks for offering and best of luck with this very difficult situation.