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Reflections on a Wandering Life.....

Monday, December 08, 2008

Took my new and old passport to the visa office in Yonghegong this morning. The embassy had told me to bring my old and new passport, plus a paper they had given me certifying the date I picked it up. They told me that I would then be able to get my visa transferred to the new passport. They were wrong. The folks at the visa office told me I also needed an application form to be stamped by my university, plus a temporary residence permit. What a nuisance. I have never done anything like this, because the International office usually handles visa renewal, but this is different. This time I am just trying to make my new passport legal in this country to avoid paying a fine. The ten day limit is the big problem. The most convenient way to handle this, since my visa expires in January anyway, would be to do everything at the same time. But it takes at least a couple weeks to renew my Foreign Expert Certificate, which I need to renew my visa. And I couldn't start that process without my passport number, which I couldn't get until I picked up my passport, but as soon as I picked up my passport, the clock started ticking, and I had ten days to switch my visa over. So, I have to fill out the visa renewal application to switch my visa from my old passport to my new passport, then I have to pick up my passport, bring it back and get my new Foreign Expert Certificate, and bring them both back and fill out another visa renewal form to put my new visa on my new passport. What can I say. This is China.

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