Another frustrating thing is that we have to have our Chinese work visa renewed because ours is set to expire June 10 and we don't leave China until July 5. Normally that isn't a big deal but apparently our school is having some "problems with the government" according to my supervisor and I won't get my passport back until mid-June (I gave it to him a week ago). Unfortunately, to do a lot of things in China as a foreigner you need your passport. For example, Sean, Qin Chen and I have booked a hotel room in Shanghai so we can watch Sean play in the Shanghai ultimate frisbee tournament June 11 and 12. However, every single hotel in China requires foreigners to present their passports for inspection upon check-in. They don't accept copies - we've tried and failed before. We are not sure what we are going to do about this and after a rather tense meeting with our supervisor during which we complained and explained our problem, he didn't seem to think that there's anything he could do (even though all three of us are well-aware that there's no problem a little guanxi or bribe couldn't solve here).
Building on this, when we do eventually get our passports with new visas back, the visa extension doesn't allow re-entry into China. Again, normally this is not a big deal but Sean and I were planning on visiting Hong Kong before heading home. Although Hong Kong is considered part of China Chinese people need a special visa and passport to go there and if we enter Hong Kong we are considered to be leaving China. Our new visa extension does not allow for this which is a huge bummer. China is a huge country and there are plenty of other places to visit but we were kind of looking forward to checking out Hong Kong.
In other frustrating news, I got an email with a newsletter from the U.S. embassy in Shanghai that read "News: Foreigners may face rail ticket delay." The email went on to explain that due to new rules, foreigners will now be required to show their passport when buying train tickets and that they will not be allowed to buy tickets from automated machines anymore (an easy, convenient and fast system). The rule, which also requires Chinese people to scan their ID card upon ticket purchase, was put into effect June 1 and is supposed to cut down on the number of scalpers while improving railway station security. This is going to be a pain for expats as lines to buy tickets are already long and most tellers don't speak English. In addition, the new rule makes it risky for people to get tickets for you (as we often do) as one person will have to go with all of the ID cards and passports. As you can see, we are kind of in a bind here as well because we won't get our passports until mid-June. Sean is on his way to Shanghai now to play frisbee since he bought his ticket in May, but he's wondering how he's going to get a ticket back to Changzhou tomorrow morning. . .
Alas, it's not always fairy tales, rainbows and sunshine living and working abroad.
Hi Sarah! I am currently teaching in Shanghai with CIEE and if you need help with anything, let me know! That passport situation sounds frustrating. If I could help Sean out, I would, but since I work in the morning, I am not sure how that would happen!
I could try and book the hotel under my name instead and you all could stay there? Just ideas. :)
Sorry to hear about the frustrations, Sarah!
It is a good thing that you know about these issues in advance though - when I was in Brazil I got a visa extension, but wasn't aware that it wasn't good for re-entry. I discovered this after a 10 hour bus ride left me & my sister stuck at the Brazil/Argentina border in the middle of the night, and we had to travel 10 hours back to the Bs As to get it sorted out.
Hope that you guys get everything figured out so that you can enjoy the last month before you come home!
Sarah,
I'm sorry to hear about your visa problems. I can sympathize because I'm dealing with the same thing right now-- had to hand over my passport to get my visa extended and was told I might have it back in time for my trip to Yunnan.
If it makes you feel any better, I stayed in a hotel in Shanghai last fall without a passport. I was escorted to the local police station by someone from the hotel, they looked up my visa info, gave me a piece of paper and I was on my way. The whole thing took 10 minutes and was surprisingly easy.
I'm going hiking in Yunnan with 2 friends from June 10-27. If you can't get to HK, you're welcome to join!
-Julie
gosh everyone is so nice - thanks for the encouragement! And Julie Yunnan is definitely on the list as one of the places to explore - maybe see you there!