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China's F-Visas -- Put A Fork In Those Babies

By Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson

The Wall Street Journals' China Blog just did a post on China's current visa situation, entitled, "Visa Saga." The gist of it is that securing F-visas and tourist visas has gotten much more difficult and that multiple entry visas are becoming nearly extinct and the "prospects of the government easing the rules are slim." The post chronicles the story of "Randy, a Shenzhen-based American expatriate who says he has been living in China for the past six years and is now being ?forced out:?

Randy says he brought a properly signed and chopped invitation letter, only to be given another list of eight documents he would need to supply. Even if he had all eight documents, he reports being told, the visa notification letter would be issued only ?in cases of extreme circumstances,? and that he should hope for no more than a double-entry, 60-day visa. The visa officer said ?no more multi-entry business visas are being issued,? Randy says. The kicker: Randy says the visa officer told him that if he wanted to continue living in China, he would have to find a large Chinese company willing to sponsor him for a Z-class working visa?or marry a Chinese woman. ?I?ve concluded that for all practical purposes, the F-class business visa is effectually dead,? Randy says. ?I?d say the situation has become very nervous here for foreigners passing into China these days.?

This all corresponds with what we have been saying about how the only good visa these days for businesses with a real China presence is a Z-visa.

Full post as published by China Law Blog on May 15, 2008 (boomark / email).