I got married to a Beijing Hukou'er...

Quote:

I got married to a Beijing Hukou'er...

When you say this to people back home, do you get a shocked look?

Change your F to a family L is generally easy to get for one year with multiple entries. I just renewed mine. As said before, it take 7 days. You go on Thursday, you come back the next Thursday. Price of 940yuan for an American. Bring your passport and originals and photcopies of your marriage certificate, spouse's hukuo, spouse's ID card, and your temporary resident permit and you should be good to go. The application does ask your occupation etc, so you need to remember that you are not supposed to work under this classification, so please be guided accordingly.

Yes, your wife, as well as you children, can get a family Z visa at the PSB. I know this attached visa was previously issued to unmarried couples, too (under special circumstances), but now it has been limited to married couples. Your employing company will need to approve of the additional Z visa, and you'll have to provide your marriage certificate.

sorry to be more bothers and more questions..
but can i do this from outside the country?
...see i been in china for a year, extending visa without leaving so told i have to leave the country to get new visa....so probably i cant change to the family one in the country right since i cant get other new visas without leaving?
so when i in vietnam i can probably get the family one as easily as i could in beijing right??

i could try to do it in bj before i leave, and maybe i will, but i really dont wanna line up for 2hours then they say they cant extend anyway because i been here a year
..aiyo, or get a L visa outside, come back, then switch to family???

gooldenwending wrote:

gdbill wrote:

You do not have to leave the country to get the spousal L visa. Also, you cannot get this visa outside of CHina. You can only get it once inside China.

Ok ok ok everybody. Let's not start saying things unless we know what we're talking about.

I just went to the visa place and they will not change an F visa to a spousal L visa in China. At least they can't do it right now. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY （出境）. So let's be careful about what we say unless we're specific about it.

I want to know if going to Hong Kong counts. And I want to hear from somebody who has done this RECENTLY and, hopefully, can speak in detail about the kinds of visas you have, want to change to, etc.

My wife's 8 months pregnant and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to go to America just to get a visa before my baby's born.

Not true.

You can call the PSB and they claim what you say is false.

Or better yet, go there and try it. I went last week with a friend and today he picked up his 1-year L visa based on marriage with a Chinese national. He is American.

gdbill wrote:

gooldenwending wrote:

gdbill wrote:

You do not have to leave the country to get the spousal L visa. Also, you cannot get this visa outside of CHina. You can only get it once inside China.

Ok ok ok everybody. Let's not start saying things unless we know what we're talking about.

I just went to the visa place and they will not change an F visa to a spousal L visa in China. At least they can't do it right now. YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY （出境）. So let's be careful about what we say unless we're specific about it.

I want to know if going to Hong Kong counts. And I want to hear from somebody who has done this RECENTLY and, hopefully, can speak in detail about the kinds of visas you have, want to change to, etc.

My wife's 8 months pregnant and I'm afraid I'm gonna have to go to America just to get a visa before my baby's born.

Not true.

You can call the PSB and they claim what you say is false.

Or better yet, go there and try it. I went last week with a friend and today he picked up his 1-year L visa based on marriage with a Chinese national. He is American.

gdbill. I'm sure that you're well intentioned here, but I'm wondering if you read my post where I said, I WENT THERE THIS MORNING MYSELF AND TRIED IT. One look at the F visa and they said that they couldn't do it (because it was an F visa. She specifically mentioned if I had a Z visa it would be okay) and had to leave the country. I'm also American.

So, I'm asking specifically about CHANGING AN F VISA TO AN L SPOUSAL VISA.

What visa did your friend have originally?

Or, why don't YOU call the PSB and see what they say. Specifically mention an F visa for an American citizen married to a Chinese wanting to change it to a spousal L visa. If they tell YOU that it's okay, write down the person's name and I'm calling them tomorrow.