Martin Findon asked 4 years ago
Are there any countries in Asia being allowed to enter Shanghai (eg S.Korea, Japan, Malaysia, etc)? I am a UK citizen living in Suzhou with work/residency permits. My long-term partner (we are not married) is also from the UK and has a Tourist Visa. We have lived in Suzhou for the past 3.5yrs leaving every 90days to keep to the terms of my partners visa. She has already used the 60 day auto-extension and she has been fortunate to get a further 30 days extension to take her to 6/27/2020 but then she must leave (she will have hit the 180 day max stay limit). We would prefer not to go back to the UK but instead go to another Asian city if we can re-enter Shanghai after a few days, is this possible?
smooth-administrator Staff answered 4 years ago
Hi Martin,
Quick answer: No.
More explanation: Although China has been “easing up” on the travel restrictions, it does not apply to most foreigners. They are currently welcoming only issuing visas to “high quality talents”. Foreign inbound tourists are not their priority at the moment. So re-entering on a tourist visa is not an option unfortunately. Even those with valid work permits are not allowed to enter China at the moment(unless they are “high quality talents” i.e. essential workers or senior executives that run large operations in China).
If she can manage to get a full-time job offer or a full-time study permit(cannot be a private institution. Should be a university) and get the application process rolling (i.e. work permit application submitted… job offer letter… university acceptance letter) then maybe she can use those documents to apply for a 30-day humanitarian visa(usually issued to those who are in the process of getting a work permit but ran out of time).
Other than that, I can’t think of any other option besides getting married, then getting a proof of marriage from the UK consulate/embassy to apply for a spouse visa.
Good luck.
I’m still stuck outside of China and I had a valid work permit which expired a few weeks ago. Sucks.