# Overstayed China Visa



## ouboxuan

Hello,
I am a native born American citizen who has been living and working in
China for just over one year. My job ended by mutual consent short of
one year, and my employer changed my visa into a one month tourist
visa, without telling me. I had to pay 1000RMB, and it almost
immediately expired. Now my new potential employer wants me to have a
legal tourist visa before they will sponsor a new work visa. What are
the penalties for this? I live in Henan, Zhengzhou. Thank you!


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## sacromonte2

ive had the same happen so many times,
id make a deal with the new school to pay the bill for you, because man, they are going to work you for all ya got, and cheating (as we call it is Chinese way, and i don't mean that to sound bad - i mean a different system


one daqy over your overstay visa can be 500 rmb a day up to 5000, if you can get it into the local police they can help youi, or in my case FOOOOOOK u over .

if you need to get a new visa experience is go to hong kong , but trains /time money is a bit


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## Attilio

A friend of mine had to pay 5000RMB at the border or they wouldn't let him exit the country.


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## Ziccawei

Yes 5000rmb fine.


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## taiyuan irish

*Ouboxuan-expired visa.*

My advice is to just accept that you have been messed around by an unscrupulous employer, who very nicely cancelled your visa, get on with it and don't make the same mistake again.
First of all, if your new school is not a state-run school, walk away unless you have a watertight contract. If you have any doubts, look for a state-run school or University that has a licence to employ foreign experts. Then get yourself on a plane to Hong Kong and get a 3 month tourist visa. Present that visa to your new school and they will process the Z visa for you and get you a new foreign expert's certificate. And if you sign a one-year contract, for God's sake stay for the full year. Just think about it before you sign and you will avoid many of the problems that you have just encountered. And be very wary of private schools. Ok?
The cost of your visit to Hong Kong will be borne by you. And when you sign that contract honour it to the full. And make sure the school does as well.


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## MoTo77

Sigh.... this is why I love Hong Kong SO much. Best of both worlds... "cheating" is basically ZERO. Certainly far less than in the United States, let alone the mainland. But I sure love to visit up your way.

Good luck sorting this out.


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## andrewrh

Why did you not see the Visa date in your passport ? When you get a new visa you are supposed to register it with the local police dept.


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## Guideshanghai

if your visa is finish and u are still in China, normally you will pay something (depend how long after visa date end you stayed in China) and you could be in blacklist for the visa. But if it's only few days, maybe you can have just a few rmb to pay (if you are lucky, nothing).


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## cschrd2

Seems to happen quite regularly these days. Be careful it's illegal to work without a valid work permit. Checking on work visa is more severe these days then in earlier days because of some happenings. As there are lots of opportunities for English teachers I would check for a valid employer and make sure you get work permit and Z-Visa (typically 1 year).


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## GrahamWeifang

ouboxuan said:


> Hello,
> I am a native born American citizen who has been living and working in
> China for just over one year. My job ended by mutual consent short of
> one year, and my employer changed my visa into a one month tourist
> visa, without telling me. I had to pay 1000RMB, and it almost
> immediately expired. Now my new potential employer wants me to have a
> legal tourist visa before they will sponsor a new work visa. What are
> the penalties for this? I live in Henan, Zhengzhou. Thank you!


.
.
I just find it very hard to believe that you didn't know your "Z" visa had been cancelled, and you unknowingly were given a "L" visa.

It just doesn't happen like that.
You would have had to give your passport, and it would have took a minimum of 7 working days. Probably about 2 weeks totally.
Then when you got your passport back, you "Z" visa will have "cancelled" across it in red stamp.
And a new visa glued in, on an close or adjacent page.
Did you not question why they (he) wanted your passport?
Did you not look in your passport when you received it back?

Quite strange, but possible. T.I.C.

Graham


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## muppetmoo

GrahamWeifang said:


> .
> .
> I just find it very hard to believe that you didn't know your "Z" visa had been cancelled, and you unknowingly were given a "L" visa.
> 
> It just doesn't happen like that.
> You would have had to give your passport, and it would have took a minimum of 7 working days. Probably about 2 weeks totally.
> Then when you got your passport back, you "Z" visa will have "cancelled" across it in red stamp.
> And a new visa glued in, on an close or adjacent page.
> Did you not question why they (he) wanted your passport?
> Did you not look in your passport when you received it back?
> 
> Quite strange, but possible. T.I.C.
> 
> Graham



They can actually cancel your Z visa without having your passport. I quit working with Aston and literally went home a few days after. They wanted my passport to begin with but couldn't give it to them as I was leaving then they were told they don't need it. When I applied for a tourist visa back at home I told them about it and they stamped it for me. I don't know if this just a "contact" thing or not, but they managed to cancel mine without my passport. Fortunately I knew what they would do beforehand through research so was prepared.


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