I used to live in Shanghai and renewed my F visa in Hong Kong every 6 months, but I've been away for a bit. I'm on an L visa now and am planning on flying to Hong Kong next week to apply for an F, but I've heard they've only been issuing 3 or 6 month F visas to Americans with 30 day limits. Anyone know the current status? (And yes, I know I can apply to change it after I get back, just interested about the current status of what is going on in HK.)

Thanks!

Yes i was very disapointed to here that things have changed. I just called Forever Bright Trading Company(Hong Kong) today. Last year, i got a 1yr-multi-entry F visa (no limits) from them very easily and quickly, but this year, they said things have changed.

I need to find a good alternative solution soon. Any suggestions ??

In what way did they say things have changed? 30 day stay limits? Thanks.

in the way that you had mentioned. 6 month visa at most with only 30day limits per stay. this bites! it was so simple and fast last year....what options are you considering now??

I need to go down to HK for some meetings anyway, so I'll just see what I can get. What makes things even more ridiculous is that my travel agent told me that if I had previous F visas in my passport, she would be able to get me another one (with the 30 day stay limits, of course), but if I had no evidence of previous F visas (either in my current or expired passport), then the best she could do was a single or double entry L. So in other words, if you were previously breaking the law and working on an F visa, that's ok, but you can't do it for the first time. Meanwhile, a non-American colleague of mine just got a 1 year mulitple entry F visa with no limits on stays.

What particularly sucks for me is that I just renewed my passport, and my old one is in the US. Oh well.

Can please you update on the results of the HK trip? I have a similar headache with F-visa. Thanks.

Can please you update on the results of the HK trip? I have a similar headache with F-visa. Thanks.

Basically what I said above is what happened. I went down to HK in late June and got a one month single entry L (entry valid for 3 months, but I entered the same day). I was told I could also get a double entry L, but since I can extend in China without leaving the country (each stay on the double entry L is limited to 30 days) I didn't see a point in getting a double entry, especially considering the fact that I planned to stay here continuously for about 50 days.

As I mentioned above, the travel agent also told me that if I'd been able to show the previous evidence of F visas (my old passport with the F visas being in the U.S.) I'd be eligible for another F visa, but I think it would have 30 day stay limitations.

The travel agent also informed me that PRC visas for American and British citizens could not be processed on Saturday, as was done previously and I suppose is still ok for other nationalities. This may be because the multiple entry F visas we were getting earlier were from Guangdong (even though I gave it to the agent in HK), and the L visa they processed for me was from Hong Kong. Not sure.

That was a little over a month ago, but I believe the situation is the same now. I just extended my L visa last week at Wusong Lu for one month. RMB 160, no questions asked, but took 3 days to process.

Hope this is of some help.