Hi All, seems this thread is a little old but I didn't find anything new in the forum. Just wondering if anyone has any recent data points on this. And a specific question, would those who have done it recommend doing it yourself or hiring an agent? And what's the normal agent fee? FYI my situation is that I'm currently on a 10-year M visa, and would like to get a residence permit so I don't have to worry about leaving every 60 days (usually not an issue as I travel for work around Asia frequently), but also so I can renew driver's license, start paying Shanghai tax to be eligible to purchase property, etc. I would be using my own Chinese company (of which I am the legal representative) as my employer. Any tips would be appreciated!

1. If you are familiar with my posts in the main visa thread (can't fault you if you're not because they are surely deeply buried by now), you'll know that I'm generally averse to paying others for services that I could do myself. Furthermore, efforts have been made to make self service a little less daunting over the course of the past year. That having been said, I definitely recommend outsourcing this drill in spite of the high costs for renewals, let alone for first time applicants. Basically, there are lots of moving parts, all of which are easy to screw up, and with an agent, you don't have to worry about things like booking time at one of the designated hospitals for the health check.

2. My agent charges Y4500 (plus the Y1000 that goes directly to the government). I shopped around, and found a few other agents in the Y3000-3500 range who could also guarantee 5 year RPs, but I ended up sticking with my guy because doing so entailed almost no effort on my part (i.e. he already had all of my documents, so I just had to print and sign a few things). I did have to go to the entry/exit office in person for the "interview"; apparently, this is pretty much impossible to avoid. The most important factor for me in choosing an agent was making sure they had big companies as clients; this all but guarantees that they have decent guanxi with relevant bureaucrats.

I am with moondog on this.

The way I see this - the most difficult part is not about getting the actual visa and/or the residence permit, but to get all necessary permits, authorizations, etc. leading your eligibility for a new visa.

In the Mainland, agents are practically jokes because many of them simply know how to get money without accomplishing anything. And some of the money you pay may not be pocketed by the agents solely, if you know what I mean. You should never try to find one yourself, but instead, ask for a referral. So that even you may end up spending big, still you are still able to get the visa.

While I did get hooked up with the agent we use via a trusted referral, I went mostly on my own (e.g. soft referrals in Wechat groups) when I was researching other options earlier this year, and was sufficiently confident that any of the agents on my short list could deliver desired results.

As I mentioned above, my primary filter was/is big companies with lots of expat employees as clients (easy to verify). Basically, any agency that is capable of becoming a supplier to MNCs or SOEs is probably good enough for me.

Another filter I would apply if I was applying for the first time (or first time after a significant lapse) competency with respect to streamlining some of the initial documents. For example, I ended up getting an FBI background check, and waiting 4 months for it to come through. This turned out to be overkill because my agent later told me that he usually uses the local government in order to fulfill this requirement. Getting my university degrees in order was also painful (e.g. originals only, official translations, authentications from both US State Department and PRC consulate in DC). If I were to do it again, I'd still get the original diplomas, but I'd try my best to pull off the drill in China (after confirming with an agent they can pull it off). Then, there was the employment contract...new territory for us at the time because we had never previously employed ourselves using our Chinese company.

Unfortunately, I recently cleaned up my Wechat account and deleted all of the agencies I didn't end up using, but I am still happy to refer my (higher than average cost) guy to anyone who is interested; he only does Shanghai. And, I also want to reiterate that I didn't find searching on my own to be especially taxing.

In rereading my previous post, it occurred to me that the following statement could be a little confusing due to unclear punctuation:
My point was that paying up is a no brainer for first time applicants. Renewals, by contrast, are much more straightforward, but if I hadn't used my agent this last time, I probably would have had to make at least 4 more visits to government offices, each sucking up half a day, might have ended up with a 1-year RP, and surely would have encountered a delay or two along the way. Bear in mind that you need to get/renew your work permit in order to apply for the residence permit; good agents do these two processes in parallel to the greatest extent possible.

Hi moondog, thank you for your detailed reply on this, really appreciated. I think you are right in this case that it would definitely be a good idea to use an agent. Things now in my situation are also complicated by the fact that it's basically impossible to travel back and forth between the U.S. and China now to collect any documents I may not have with me here in Shanghai, so perhaps a good agent could help with getting things done here instead. (I will also have a problem getting my diploma originals, which are in storage in the U.S. and not easily accessible...) Anyway, could you please refer me to the agent you used and had good success with? I will contact him and explain my situation and see what we can do. Thanks!