We know you are here legally. No no, please put your passport away. We don’t need to see it. But for that friend of a friend that’s working on an F or an L visa, you may want to pay attention to the following:
Articles across the English-language state media are reporting that the government intends to crack down on illegal foreigners in China.
China is getting tougher over foreigners illegally entering, living or working in China, Vice Minister of Public Security Yang Huanning said yesterday.
When delivering a report on the administration of entry-exit, residence and employment of foreigners to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, Yang said the crackdown will include improving visa policies, strengthening border controls, repatriating illegal aliens, and setting up repatriation locations in regions that have large numbers of such foreigners.
Most illegal foreigners are from neighboring countries, according to Yang. Language training, housekeeping and labor-intensive industries were the main sectors employing them.
Police last year investigated more than 20,000 incidents in which foreigners illegally entered, lived or worked on China’s mainland, double the number in 1995.
Couple that with the following:
China is likely to introduce a nationwide system to archive information about foreigners in the country, according to a draft law proposed to lawmakers on Tuesday.
The suggestion, if put into practice, will replace current scattered records set up by different administrations to which access is limited to one government agency. Experts said the change would effectively crack down on people who overstayed their visas or worked illegally.
The draft on regulating arrivals and departures from China was tabled before the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for a second reading. It was put before the top legislature in a first draft in December to allow the government to gather and store biometric data on foreign visitors “whenever they deem it necessary”, expanding the government’s right to collect such data.
The good news is that it appears the country is also expanding the availability of permanent resident permits and giving foreigners more ways to “get legal”.
Zhang Yan at China Business Watch sums it up well:
For long-term residents, these plans sound like nothing new: indeed, reports about databases and crackdowns are regularly carried in state-media. Recently, however, lawyers are reporting increasing numbers of cases of foreigners being caught and punished for overstaying. Their advice: get legal, stay legal, and enjoy any favorable policies that get introduced.
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The new system doesnt surprise me. When I left Pudong airport, I noted a device that sort of resembled an ipad that had a camera built into it. When I went through customs, they not only checked my passport, but the camera in the ipad snapped my photo on the spot and nearly all of my personal data filled in the blanks underneath the “current” photo. From a general standpoint, it doesnt appear to be much, but considering immigration has installed a new technical device into their system only proved what I’d heard before about immigration cracking down. When I was in Shanghai, I remember they installed a new policy on the trains requiring to check passports at the ticket office. I heard that over the summer of 2011 the same policy would go in effect on long distant buses. By doing so, the government was killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Catching illegals, and preventing street peddlers from making money off of ticket resales.
Anyways, I have a friend that has experienced life on the run and jail time due to an expired visa. I’d like to share the website where it’s been hosted by a kind blogger. Currently, my friend is planning to write a memoir detailing his life from cancer to looking for his life path in China. His attempts at an expat life are adventures in themselves; he hopes that people learn from his mistakes, but also reflect on living life in the short time we are given.
This “device that sort of resembled an ipad that had a camera built into it ” can be seen in customs from like 1-2 years ago
Hay Merlin i would love to read about your friends journey if you would like to share the link with me i would appreciate it
I know a friend that’s been to jail in China for an expired visa. The website where his story has been hosted is:
http://ilookchina.net/2010/01/28/my-experience-as-an-inmate-in-a-chinese-jail-viewed-as-single-page/
His future plan is to write a memoir from cancer to looking for life’s path in China.
I remember that story. Man, he was a fucking idiot. Also, very pretensious and self deserving too.
I was suggested by a few friends to post my story on the blog. I wasnt sure what would come of it, although I knew posting a small snippet of my life would create negativity to fill in assumptions. I never intended to be self deserving, that’s my experience and if somebody had something better that’s cool. I’m not competing, just testing the waters because some suggest to take my experiences into a published memoir which if I’m going to go to that extreme I’d like to have a general idea if the time and effort put into it would be worth it.
Also, if you think so negatively about my experiences, I’m all ears as to what you’d do differently. I’ve been asking people this question for 2 years, but all I get is the simple response “Teach English”. That would be great if we lived in pre-2008 before the damn government clamped down on enforcing regulation for western english teachers. I’ve heard stories from other expats of kids straight out of highschool that spent 4 years teaching english at a Beijing University and managed to pot up so much cash they bought a boat and sailed the world. Nowadays, such a story seems like a stupid joke.
Yep, we talked about him here.
Yea, that dude must’ve been a fool.
By the way, I heard a rumor that he was a cancer survivor. LOL! What an idiot.
You make a good point, but if you feel so negatively then why do you make THIS blog post? Unless you have something more to hide than worrying about an expired visa. I’d be careful if you’re packing weed as China takes high offense to that. They not only execute dealers by the dozen, but they’ve battled the British government for over a year in order to charge a british man in Yunnan province for drug possession, which led to the death penalty by firing squad. It’s been international news in 2009, so I feel I dont need to hunt for the reference material.
Love these fear mongering stories……………..PANIC FREAK OUT THE CHINESE ARE GOING TO GET ORGANIZED….
I witnessed a bitching/screaming brawl right in the 派出所 and the cops didn’t even care.
Yea, cops are lax usually because they dont like the paperwork. A lot of them have parents that bought their job so their kids have a stable job. Quarrels are everywhere. People drink, and women cheat. Unlike the rest of the world, divorce is taboo in traditional China.
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Obtaining a Z Visa, Work and Residents Permits. What you need to do: http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2012/05/17/obtaining-a-z-visa-work-permit-and-residence-permit-in-china.html
I note it’s not really directed a Westerners except school teachers perhaps. There are many of those both unqualified to teach that get “jobs” with Chinese schools. They should insist on getting the Z visas etc mentioned above. Other than that the report notes “from neighboring countries” so I think Filipino maids are a more likely target.