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Visa expires BECAUSE OF long layover

Visa expires BECAUSE OF long layover

Old Apr 6, 2017, 11:09 pm
  #1  
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Visa expires BECAUSE OF long layover

I tried to look around for a definitive answer but couldn't find one.

My residence permit expires on June 30. I booked my flight on June 30 leaving Beijing, but I have a layover in Guangzhou, which means I actually leave China on July 1. Will I be fined for this?

If necessary, can I use the "72 hour transit" visa to avoid any fine or bad record on my immigration file?

I love China and want to come back! I thought I had booked the correct flight, but when I looked at the details, I realized, OH NO! Maybe there's a problem...
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 12:05 am
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Go to your resident Security Bureau to clarify. They can extend your staying period if they want to.
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 1:38 am
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Originally Posted by starlagurl

If necessary, can I use the "72 hour transit" visa to avoid any fine or bad record on my immigration file?
The 72-hour TWOV would not be valid if you are originating in China.

If you were originating outside China (say Japan) but flying to Beijing and then Guangzhou, the dual stops limit you to a 24 hour TWOV, measured from your scheduled time of arrival into PEK until your scheduled departure time from CAN.

Either follow mosburger's advice, or change your flights out of PEK.
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 5:06 am
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What if I went to Hong Kong to get out of China, and then flew back to Beijing on June 30?
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 5:13 am
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Originally Posted by starlagurl
What if I went to Hong Kong to get out of China, and then flew back to Beijing on June 30?
Exactly as per my post above.

China offers three types of TWOV.

24-hour: if you have multiple stops or visit multiple cities in China. Total time allowed 24 hours.

72-hour: select cities, but you can visit one city only.

144-hour: Shanghai and neighbouring provinces.

If you are intending to go from HKG to Beijing and on to Guangzhou, your total time* from landing in Bejing to departing Guangzhou should be 24 hours or less.


*total time is measured from scheduled arrival time printed on your ticket to scheduled departure time on your ticket. Delays to your departing flight will not affect TWOV eligibility.
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 6:51 am
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Yeah the 24 hour one will work, the flight leaves Guangzhou at 3 p.m. on July 1.

I didn't know that applied to Hong Kong, OK thanks!

I don't need this to all be on the same ticket, right? I can have multiple tickets and multiple airlines and it's still valid? Just making sure.

Last edited by starlagurl; Apr 7, 2017 at 7:21 am
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 7:54 am
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Originally Posted by starlagurl
Yeah the 24 hour one will work, the flight leaves Guangzhou at 3 p.m. on July 1.

I didn't know that applied to Hong Kong, OK thanks!

I don't need this to all be on the same ticket, right? I can have multiple tickets and multiple airlines and it's still valid? Just making sure.
Where is the flight from CAN departing for? It cannot be HKG.
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 8:22 am
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Originally Posted by starlagurl
Yeah the 24 hour one will work, the flight leaves Guangzhou at 3 p.m. on July 1.

I didn't know that applied to Hong Kong, OK thanks!

I don't need this to all be on the same ticket, right? I can have multiple tickets and multiple airlines and it's still valid? Just making sure.
Paying the fine would be a lot easier than flying to HK (assuming you don't have time to get the exit visa).

By the way, this thread title is misleading. The long layover is certainly not the cause of the visa expiration.
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Old Apr 7, 2017, 2:50 pm
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I agree the title is not descriptive: It should read "Visa Expires DURING Long Layover."

I think in this situation I'd try to get a one day extension from your local PSB (take your entire flight sequence booking). Failing that, and if changing the flight is more than the RMB 500 fine--consider doing nothing, and throw yourself on the mercy of the CAN Immigration officer, telling him that you booked the June 30 departure thinking you were in compliance and leaving China on time, when in fact you didn't realize you'd be stopping in CAN and this was going to throw you into the next day. Immigration officers do have authority to waive fines if you are only a day over, though they might give a warning. My guess is that this is what will happen to you (but have RMB 500 on hand just in case). It is highly unlikely that you will be entered in the database on a blacklist or have this counted against you in the future.
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Old Apr 9, 2017, 7:09 am
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I was thinking that it wouldn't be a HUGE problem. But if someone was having a bad day he could possibly make it a problem. On Monday I'm going to get my boss to call the PSB, since I live in a small town we don't have one anywhere near us. I'll let you know what they say.

The flight out of CAN is going to Toronto, so the visa run to Hong Kong could work. If they are going to give me problems at the PSB, I can always resort to doing it that way.

I think you're all nitpicking about the title. What gives. If I didn't have a long layover, yeah my residence permit wouldn't expire. So hence, the permit is expiring because of the long layover.

I have about three months to get this all done... so time is not an issue right now. It's not worth changing the ticket, so I'm gonna go the bureaucratic route for now.
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Old Apr 9, 2017, 12:31 pm
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Just be careful that if your ticket is CAN HKG YYZ and you do not fly CAN HKG your ticket will be cancel. You will not be able to board plane in HKG on this ticket.
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Old Apr 9, 2017, 2:44 pm
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Originally Posted by starlagurl
I think you're all nitpicking about the title. What gives.
On this forum, on matters visa and TWOV, we look for precision. Careless in your titling of the thread. Careless in your lack of observance that your flight out included a stopover that throws you into overstay status. What gives?

Originally Posted by starlagurl
If I didn't have a long layover, yeah my residence permit wouldn't expire. So hence, the permit is expiring because of the long layover.
Um, no. Your sentence logic escapes me. Your Residence Permit is expiring regardless of what you do. I certainly hope you weren't teaching English in China.

At any rate, you asked for and received advice; it's up to you to decide a course of action.
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Old Apr 9, 2017, 2:59 pm
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Originally Posted by moondog
Paying the fine would be a lot easier than flying to HK (assuming you don't have time to get the exit visa).

By the way, this thread title is misleading. The long layover is certainly not the cause of the visa expiration.
It might be very well that they won't even ask for a fine to be paid. Explain politely what happened, that it's your mistake, that the flight is non-changeable (or the costs would be very high) and that they would do you a big favour if they'd allow you an extra day stay on your Chinese Visa.

I've found Chinese officials, if approached with a reasonable request, to be more often than not very cooperative and not being as bureaucratic as you might fear. I once had a visa appliance for a friend with my own one. He had all the documents, I was lacking one invitation letter with it. They're checking it carefully when you hand the documents in. Embassy staff told me that I could either come back next day with my application, or that they'll simply use my friends letter for my application too. They perfectly knew that wasn't exactly 100% legal, but they used common sense - that requirement was recently added, I've had several Chinese visas granted before, all my documents were perfectly fine. No need to make a fuss out of that. My Visa (and my friends, too) was processed without any issue. ^

Plan B, with a flight RT PEK-HKG-PEK and usage of TWOV, would obviously still be possible if you'd get a "not possible" or "that will cost 5000 RMB"..
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Old Apr 9, 2017, 7:47 pm
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Originally Posted by YuropFlyer
Plan B, with a flight RT PEK-HKG-PEK and usage of TWOV, would obviously still be possible if you'd get a "not possible" or "that will cost 5000 RMB"..
They would need to go on a serious witch hunt in order to charge more than the standard fine. And, we're talking about border control in a major airport here, not a PSB branch in a lawless city.
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Old Apr 11, 2017, 4:37 am
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I'm not even telling you what happened now, because Jiejie is a jerk.
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