I know someone who just arrived into Xiamen and asked to do 21 days of isolated quarantine.

Since you got out in 19 days, shall I say congratulations?

Good to hear you are out and about!

My friend only had to do 14 days there earlier this month, but as soon as he arrived in Hangzhou, he got treated to 7 more days.

The rules are clear as mud and the health code is a black box run by the wizard of oz. the hotels have always said you can leave after 14 days but only if your code is green. The code rules that show on the app clearly state your code won’t turn green until day 22. However some people get it day 13,14,15,18,19,21,22,24,25.

Yes someone was stuck 25 days.

Clown world is in full force in Fujian. Tell your friend to watch his code carefully. Which is really not mentally healthy, but it could mean an early release.

Shanghai is the only place I’m aware of that doesn’t treat people to the extra week or even more. In shanghai you just record your temp twice a day and take nasal penetration day 16 and day 21.

Was your buddy by chance involved in some other extracurricular activities or groups of people that could have led to this? I know China is intense but I don’t think they just draw names out of a hat and go raid 5 star service apartments. I think he must have been “referred”

Probably. I don't even disagree with the idea that he should have been tested. However, the problems I have with this are

1) Everyone with them at the time are forced to go to the police station to get tested
2) The act of getting tested takes a long time (overnight) where you must stay at the station and cannot return home
3) This random testing seems highly targeted to foreigners

I have not witnessed this to the same extent in Beijing, only Shanghai. My friend that went on a tinder date with this random girl also got raided and had to get tested (but he was clean). It seemed to get really bad in 2018. It also seems pretty unproductive to do things this way. They're going to chase after people.... 1 by 1? If they really wanted to bust people using drugs and have unequivocal evidence, they should just go to one of the many clubs (not sure what's replaced ASL in 2021, RIP) where people are openly using hard drugs. This does not make any sense to me at all.

https://olympics.com/ioc/news/olympi...ountermeasures

My read

• Vaccinated athlete = no quarantine, remain in bubble, daily testing
• Unvaccinated athlete = 3 week quarantine, probably just skip the games at that point
• No spectators from outside China, basically confirmation of no border policy changes before Olympics
• Spectators allowed if they live in China

Well can the general public buy tickets if you’re residing in Gina

more details in late October or December

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-for-travelers
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/29/c...hnk/index.html

Thanks for the news.
At this point, I'm not even sure whether it's good or bad omen regarding borders re-opening...

Unfortunately I can only agree with you.

A random thought that I had is that these facilities are basically a prison. Do we know that every person who enters them ... actually leaves?
Would be a very convenient way to have someone disappear.

That was my gut reaction, as well...somewhat supported by the following quote in the CNN article you posted:

"Facilities like this serve as a way to institutionalize the zero-tolerance strategy."

I previously thought the bar couldn't get any lower than forcing people to spend 14+ days in a 7 Days Inn.

That is about as sure-fire of a piece of evidence as you need to suggest that China isn’t opening up in years. Wow.

And a video camera to watch you crank yourself dry for 21 days.

I guess it is a good omen for borders re-opening. But who would want to come other than a returning resident?

I have never lived in China but I was there 2-3 times per year, for 10 days to 2 weeks per stay. I have not been since October of 2019. No way I can or will go to quarantine for 2+ weeks before being able to start doing business.

I always went in April and October around the Canton Fair. I don't see any way April of 2022 happens. And I doubt October of 2022 happens. Maybe April of 2023? Maybe but highly questionable at this point.

As the article alluded, while 5000 room facility sounds impressive, it can only handle one daily flight of about 250 passengers per flight where each passenger need to quanratine 21 days. There will be enough Chinese citizens returning from school/business/visit family abroad to fill them.

CCP knows that quarantine is the pain point of travelers, business or leisure. It would be easy for them to fine-tune the number of days according to their willingness to let aliens in (see the circus of HK entry rules as an example)…

I for one would consider 3-5 day quarantine for important business meeting, 7-10 days for reuniting with loved ones… we all have our own threshold, but rules can change dramatically when immigration policies flip. Call me an optimistic, but I want to think these quarantine centers can be used for this purpose :)

It could be worse. Some cities now require as many as 90 days of monitoring.

Agreed.

China is not opening up in years. Maybe 2030?

Because the bigger CCP bosses 1) are scared of dying from COVID 2) use the pandemic as a way to solidify their power of control

I can live with 21 day quarantine. But not more than that.

I only hope that Shanghai won't increase the quarantine period under pressure from Beijing.

Folks, I have been following this thread for a while now and have a question or three.

I'm a specialised UK engineer and have been working/training folks on and off in China for since 2002, for duration's up to 3 months on a M visa, which has now expired.

My last visit was December 2019, and the companies I support are in need of my assistance in person for technical training (basically fix the bloody things..as remote support gets lost in translation).

Have any of the posters (or friends) on here travelled to PRC do do breakdown repairs? If so how many hoops does one jump through.
Or any ideas how I go about getting a visa from the UK (all documents from my employer and our customer are understood).
My destination will be Tianjin, so UK-Beijing/Shanghai would be the routing.

Thanks for any input..Cheers!!

This year I had the pleasure of two weeks hotel isolation in Mumbai, so know whats expected.

The fact that you’re willing to go to India during covid says a lot about your ability to cope with the worst possible human conditions so a quarantine in shanghai should be a walk in the park. I think you’ll need to lean heavily on the company inviting you to provide guidance. The fact that your visa expired doesn’t matter you could have had a 100 year visa and it’s invalid after March 2020.

Feel free to PM me if you are interested in talking with my visa guy. He will charge you Y3000 for an entry visa, and an additional Y3000 to convert it to a residence permit. You will need a bunch of documents to pull this off, but this is a relatively small hurdle, and visa guy will assist.

ETA: An (included) integral part of the RP Y3000 is the medical check. I value this at Y1500.

Really? This is quite interesting.

Entry visa+ residence permit for only $6000? That's incredible.

It is only for work related visa right? Not for family visits?

ETA: I did medical check in Nanjing for less than Y600.

In theory, you can do it yourself for ZERO. What's more, I dislike our previous visa agency threads because I felt those guys were stealing money.

By contrast, Scott can pull off this stuff in pretty much all cases.

To be frank, I was looking for the honest entry into PRC.
The post was to see if anyone from the UK had done the hoop run and was looking to for their advice.

Mooddog your a great source on this site, please carry on the excellent work.

Scott and Vincent definitely play by the rules. I've seen other agencies that charge ~20% less, but I haven't contemplated changing horses because renewals with Scott are insanely easy, and he got me 5 years, in spite of my B work permit (this is not illegal).

The biggest barrier I can think of in your case getting a Chinese company to hire you. You don't necessarily need to do any actual work, but the company will be on the line for you, and front your taxes (which, can be very low).

Before I got my RP, I used M visas (F prior to that), but that ship sailed pre-COVID, and these days, companies are frequently subjected to visa inspections.

There are presumably some non-work related residence permits on offer (e.g. one of our members recently received a humanitarian visa). And, F might be possible if you get a really strong invitation letter (e.g. from a government entity). I encourage you to email Scott in order to get an overview of your options. His advice is free.

This is great to hear.

My brother-in-law, a US citizen, may need a visa to visit his aging dad in Shanghai. They haven't seen each other for 2 years.

Of course, his 10-year Q2 visa is suspended by PRC.

I am wondering if Scott and Vincent take such cases?

Sorry, but I think you misread my post, I am employed by a UK company and we have done many Chinese visas pre covid, The company in China is aware of invitation letters etc.
Just looking to see if any UK national has done a similar trip post covid.

I suggest you email Scott or Vincent, and explain your desired plan. Let's go with Vincent at xinludao dot com (Scott is a little slower to respond).

It won't matter, but you can tell him you were referred by Eric.

I feel like all this advice is for pre March 2020. Maybe I'm wrong and Scott can work wonders for people stuck outside China but he'd be the first I've heard of who could pull this off.

He most recently got me a 2021 RP. I hope you guys (in SH) can attend my bday celebration.

You were already in China when you got the RP though. For people outside, trying to get in, it's a whole different ballgame.

I realize that it's difficult now, but Scott is pretty good at entry visas. These are only valid for 30 days. Converting an entry visa to an RP is not hard, but you only have 16 days to pull it off.

A vaccine that actually works would help a lot in recognizing their vaccine.

Just double-check, Scott only works for employment based visa, not family visit visa right?

The world is highly suspicious to a vaccine that does not show enough data to be recognized as effective.

I am not sure but my guess is that he handles both.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-last-holdout

Interesting article, no real new news but China+HK is the only one left. Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand are pivoting

I did my covid test at Target DX today. It was fast. Be sure to bring your passport and Vax card with you because they take a picture with you holding them.
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Were you vaxed in Shanghai or in the states? If it was both, which one did you declare upon testing?

You forgot Macau and Taiwan.