Eric's Beijing Diary

This morning I took my homeless friend to a small international church that has a number of members from Africa. I wanted to know if they could give me some idea what the best approach would be for someone who has overstayed his visa. I don't have any experience with this kind of thing, so I wasn't sure how to advise him. What I got from the folks there was that there is a fine of 500 RMB per day for visa overstay. But it maxes out at 5000 RMB. I guess what typically happens is that they will incarcerate someone who has overstayed for about a month, and then buy this person a ticket back to his or her home country. The way to get around that is to pay the fine, then show them a ticket out of China. Usually, they will let you go.