Residence Permit

The student with an X visa must register with the local public security bureau (PSB) within thirty days after entering the country. All students, whether entering on an L, F or X visa, must make sure not to overstay the validity date of their visa or temporary residence permit. Failure to do so will result in legal consequences, including fines (typically CNY 500 per day for each day overstayed and up to CNY 5,000) that must be paid in full by the student prior to leaving China.

The student X or F visa is good for one entry and may be used within a three-month period. Please note that the Enter Before date on either an L, F or X visa is the date before which you must enter the country, and is not the date of validity for the visa. The date of validity for an L or F visa must be calculated yourself and is based on the Duration of Each Stay (typically 90 days for an L visa, and 120 or 180 days for an F visa), which begins from the date of entry indicated by the customs stamp given at the port of entry.



The X visa will indicate a Duration of Each Stay of 000 days. The student entering with an X visa is therefore required to go through residential formalities at the local public security bureau within thirty days after entering the country to arrange a temporary residency permit. This Residence Permit for Foreigner in the People's Republic of China will be added to the visa page of your passport and replace the student visa used to enter the country as the official document used to prove right to reside within China. It is valid typically up to one month longer than the period of study indicated on the JW form and allows multiple and unlimited entries into China for the entire duration of the permit without additional fees or paperwork. The Chinese residence permit looks very similar to a Chinese visa, but unlike a visa indicates your purpose of residence.

Validity Date Warning

Students staying more than one semester are warned that it is much easier to unintentionally overstay a visa than one could possibly imagine, and every year numerous foreign exchange students in Hangzhou are forced to leave the country and/or pay substantial fines. Short of tattooing the expiration date of your visa on your forehead, students are encouraged to take the necessary means to remember this date and to begin the renewal process well in advance of its expiration. While the application may take only four to five days to process, students staying in the country for a second semester should make sure the necessary paperwork is in hand at least three weeks in advance. If you are a fall student extending your visa to the spring, you will need to apply for a letter of extension from the Foreign Affairs Office of the International College at Zhejiang University prior to their winter holiday, even if your visa is good beyond that date. It is difficult for spring semester students wishing to study another semester in China during the fall to extend a student visa without leaving the country during the summer. Students spending two semesters or more in China will be required to submit records of a physical examination, which may be completed in Hangzhou or prior to entering the country. If you do not extend your visa through the Foreign Affairs Office prior to leaving the country you will need to pay an additional CNY 400 processing fee when you return.

Please be warned that while the China Center faculty and Zhejiang University staff will provide students with information regarding visas and residency permits and will always be available to answer questions regarding these, it is entirely the student's responsibility to apply for a residency permit if on an X visa, to beware of the validity date of the visa regardless of type, to register change of residence with the police, and most importantly not to overstay the validity of the visa and to be in complete compliance with all local visa and residency laws while in China. Any fines or legal consequences for noncompliance are entirely the student's legal and financial responsibility and not those of the China Center faculty, Zhejiang University or Long Island University.

To overstay a student visa does not just impact your own legal status in China, it also impinges upon the relationship between the Foreign Affairs Office and the local Public Security Bureau and adversely affects the standing of Global College with both.

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