So ...... can I stay for 6 months??????

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Today was a pivotal day for Ollie and myself - after months of struggle and my coming to China on a 30 day tourist visa with a hope that I can be allowed to stay for 6 months, we applied for our Chinese Residence Permits.

Those of you who are aware of the situation know that after Ollie was assigned a position in China and the ball was set rolling, we discovered that China doesn't recognize common law marriage externally (ie: from Canada I could only get a 30 day tourist visa while Ollie had a 6 month work visa). We came here hoping that once in Shanghai we could apply for a joint residence permit and all would be good. If not .... well we'd have to figure out what the next steps would be as there was no way we were going to be separated.

So 2 days after we arrived in China we had our medical exams. After a week we discovered that we passed those and received our medical certificates. Then Ollie had to apply for his official Chinese work permit, which we received this Tuesday. Today we had to go apply for our residence permits - basically those override the entrance visa to get into the country, and allow you, as a Chinese resident, to stay for a year in China before needing to either renew your permit or leave the country. We also discovered that residence permits are usually for multiple entries . . . . which is awesome because then we'd be able to travel in and out of China whenever or wherever we wanted.

Back to today - so we woke up at 7 15 and took a cab to the Shanghai Entrance and Exit Bureau in Pudong, about a 40 minute drive from our hotel. Right from the start it was a challenge (what HASN'T been a challenge for us during this whole process???) as our taxi driver didn't know where we wanted to go, and after much yelling back and forth in chinese between him and our hotel concierge, we were finally off.

We arrived at a building that was not at all what I expected it would be. I was picturing some relatively small police station where we'd be one of few people going through this, and we'd have to fill out documents and forms and interview with a police officer (as we were told we would). Instead it was a gigantic modern facility full of hundreds of people waiting for their numbers to be called, to deal with entrance and exit visas, residence permits, etc, for China, Hong Kong, Macau, etc. There we met with one of our Ernst and Young representatives (ie: an immigration lawyer), Annie, who held a massive folder containing what appeared to be tons of official forms, documents, and papers with our photos and official stamps and seals on them. As well she had our passports, medical exam certificates, common-law statutory declaration and all of Ollie's work permit documents. However, she asked Ollie if he had another form on him, which he'd never received nor seen, and she looked a little concerned. That wasn't good.

After a 15 minute wait our number was called and we walked up to a long counter at which police officers were seated. The officer started sorting through Ollie's papers first, then pushed them back towards Annie. They had a back and forth conversation in chinese, and I could tell that Annie was trying to fight something. Ollie and I had no idea what was going on, but the officer pushed our files back to Annie - she obviously wasn't going to budge.

Annie led us away and described that the form missing from Ollie's document was the most important one, and if we could call Pacific Relocations - the group working on our transition who had processed the medical exams and the work permit - to see if they had it. So we called, and they did! How could they forget to send us something like that - the make it or break it document!!!?

Anyway - Annie to the rescue! She drove out to Pacific Relocations to pick up the document while we waited patiently for almost 2 hours not knowing what was going on. Finally Annie returned, document in hand, and we went back to the pick-a-number-and-wait-your-turn floor. But Annie just walked right up to one of the officers, showed him our old number (which was 84 - they were now calling on 243), and somehow bypassed the waiting line! For 5 minutes the officer riffled through Ollie's papers, then mine, took a digital photo of both of us - and that was it! He sealed up our documents and passports into envelopes to be processed, and we were done!

Ollie and I looked at each other, and than Annie, asking now what? She said that was it, all finished - we'll get our passports with the residence permits back in 5 business days - so next Thursday. We couldn't believe that was it - so much waiting and stress over so many months, for a 5 minute check! Although we don't want to officially celebrate my ability to stay until those residences are in our hands, Annie said the paperwork was perfect and she couldn't see any reason whatsoever for us to be declined. She said it was all done - but Ollie and I still don't want our hopes to be smashed - and thus we're reserving our festivities until next Thursday.

But, it looks really good!!!! And we'll both be so relieved and so happy once those documents are official and in our hands. We've been on tenterhooks the whole time here unsure of what our future would be, although I've been able to stay quite mellow and positive about it all (which I'm proud of - I think I stressed plenty enough about it while back in Canada!). If this all gets in the clear we'll really be able to start living here and make it home. Hopefully we'll be able to do some travel outside of China and around Asia too!

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