How to Change a Student Visa to a Work Visa While in China

Last activity 19 December 2023 by zarroukhajar85

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sophia.zhangMember02 June 2017 03:17:35

If you have been going to school in China and you fall in love with the country, you will need a job to stay. If you are not a citizen of China, you are not allowed to live for an extended period of time without employment. Switching your visa from one status to another requires some battle with red tape and a few documents you must obtain.

Things You Will Need
ID
Passport
Student visa

How to change

Receive a letter of invitation from the company you wish to work for. No employment of aliens is allowed without proof that the company wants and needs you to be employed.

Obtain a work permit or a foreign expert’s license from the company for which you are going to work.

Take the letter of invitation along with your student visa, passport, work permit or license and ID to the Public Security Bureau. In some cases you might be asked to leave the country and reapply for the different visa. Taking the short trip to Hong Kong can take care of this. In either case, the process is the same. If you must leave, go to the Chinese embassy to reapply.

Fill out the application you are given. You must do this in person. No applications are accepted by mail or over the Internet.

Wait until you receive your new visa before doing any work. There are fines and possible expulsions from the country if you are caught working without the proper visa.

Apply for a residence permit at the Public Security Bureau when you receive your visa. This allows you to live in the country. There are several types of permits: permanent, temporary and foreign resident:
Permanent permits renew every 10 years and are difficult to get.
Temporary permits are for a length of time between six months and a year.
And foreign-resident permits are for one or two years, renewable annually.

Rincewind42Member05 June 2017 10:55:40

Two adjustments. It isn't the case that you, "might be asked to leave the country and reapply." Rather, you very often will be asked to leave the country and reapply at the embassy in your home country. It depends a lot on the PSB in your city so you need to make sure you have funds to cover this travel.

As for going to Hong Kong to have the visa processed, that is only possible for certain nationalities. Not everyone can do that. Also, if you do want to go to Hong Kong, you must get the text of your official invitation letter to state such, else you might have a wasted journey.

sophia.zhangMember06 June 2017 05:19:43

good point

VhimMember08 March 2018 12:55:01

What about if the person what to go to Japan and reapply, but the person is not from Japan, it is possible

Rincewind42Member09 March 2018 03:50:04

Normally, no, you can't go to Japan to process your visa as a non-Japanese person. Same goes for any other 3rd country. If you do want to go to Japan, you would have to get the text of your official invitation letter to state that you are to apply in Japan. They probably wouldn't issue such an invitation letter unless there were some special circumstances.

VhimMember09 March 2018 04:12:51

Thank you soon much

GuestPoster14556Guest26 June 2018 07:15:20

214245

china's full of false promises and miscommunication. i would say so long as she's not working and not in the country illegally, the student visa should be fine until she sorts something else out, just dont let it expire and be here illegally.

Orlaabbie29Member17 April 2019 06:40:31

Question for Irish individual on a student visa. Looking for Z work visa who has the support of a company in china already. Must they leave to Ireland or would a run to Hong Kong suffice. A letter from the company could be made to read that the application is to be made from Hong Kong. The only issue is will the Chinese embassy in Hong Kong accept the application from an Irish national?

I've read some resources to exit and return on a tourist visa. Remain as a tourist, do not take up work and apply for the Z visa from within China.

In this case what is the possibility of obtaining an L visa (tourist) from Hong Kong for China as an Irish citizen?

zarroukhajar85Member19 December 2023 15:44:59

@Rincewind42 what about my school is going to cancel my visa because of a probelm and i want to change my visa to work visa. Is it that i have to leave the country and then aply for work visa or even the school cancel my visa i can aply for work visa and stay in China

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