Visa Issues

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When I first arrived back home I told everyone two months, I’ll be back for two months. I leave on the 3rd of August. Oh how wrong I was.

I didn’t end up leaving until a month later, on the 4th September. I had a flight booked for August! I had a job waiting! But I had visa issues!

The last time I went to China I flew to Hong Kong and got a visa there. However recently China have been more forceful on their visa requirements and a lot more was required.

I had my degree and TEFL already notarised by a solicitor so I had one part of the process done. I had to apply and then wait for a police check to be notarised and a letter from my University to prove I had gone to that Uni, again needing to be notarised.

While I was waiting for them to arrive I took the first of many trips to London. This trip was to Harley Street. I had to have a full medical check. Bloods, X-rays, heart monitoring, everything really. I got that done and all results came back clear which was a great relief!

Once I had received all notarised documents I then had to send my degree, TEFL and police check to the FCO to be notarised. I posted them off knowing I had nothing to worry about! It was meant to be a quick turn around but the solicitor I had used wasn’t in the system. Only solicitors who have done this before for China are in there. My solicitor then had to prove who she was and they then carried on with the process. I received my documents back to be told my TEFL couldn’t be done as I had done it through a Canadian company so the British Government couldn’t notarise it. The only way to solve this issue was to do another TEFL. I completed one over an all-nighter with a few hours nap to keep me going the next day but I had a new tefl.

Now I just had to wait for it to arrive. When it did I was in Paris so explaining to my Dad what had to be done, it was posted back to the FCO. I then received the same letter as before - my solicitor had to be checked. I rang and explained it was the same one I had used a week prior and they had checked her then but apparently her signature was slightly different this time. Finally this was completed and I was off to London again.

This trip was to the Chinese Foreign Ministry to have the same three documents notarised by the Chinese government. I was told where to go and when I arrived it was the wrong place. I had been sent to the place to receive a visa! After finding the correct place, I was in and out in moments. They kept my documents saying I had to go back in four days to collect them. I had to get back home so instead of staying in London I went home then returned the day before I had to collect my documents. I showed them the receipt and the documents were mine. All very quick and easy.

The problems with the FCO had caused delays and I still needed to send all my documents to China to apply and receive my work permit. Luckily they accepted copies of my documents via email. I had changed my flight to the 4th of September which should have been plenty of time to receive my permit. However the work permit took longer than it should have and when it finally arrived I still had to get a visa. I went to the website to get an appointment but the next available appointment was the day of my flight! I wasn’t going to get a visa in time!

My only option, if I didn’t want to change my flight again, was to use an agency who had appointments available with the embassy. This does cost! I contacted the agency and sent them the documents they needed. I had to be in London to meet them the day after they received the documents in the post. As there was no exact way to know when they would be received, I had to book a coach and leave the day they emailed me to say they had got them. After finding a hostel for the night I met with the agency representative and had my finger prints scanned, yes that’s the only reason I had to go and why it couldn’t be done by post. I asked for my passport to be posted back to me so I didn’t have to do another trip to London.

My passport with visa arrived the Saturday before my flight, five days before I left, which was very lucky as the Monday was a bank holiday. I was now ready to go.
After five trips to London, a lot of bureaucracy, I finally had my flight and visa.

I was off to Huaqiao

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