This summer I was planning on going to China for about a month for travel, then taking a mandarin course in Hangzhou (I'm a college student). So, as I understood originally, I would need to get a 30-day L visa in Chicago, then after 30 days go to HK to convert it to a student visa (I'll have the paperwork for the student visa). I've heard China isn't giving out student visas longer than the exact length of the program anymore.
Anyway, my first question came up when I was looking at the Chicago Consulate website and saw the thing about needing proof of hotel bookings. Since I lived in Shanghai 2 years ago, I have friends there that I was planning on staying with, therefore I wasn't really planning on setting up hotels ahead of time. Does anyone know how strict they will be about this? Would it be good enough to book a hotel for a few days or do they expect me to have a room for the entire month? Do hostels count? Could I book the hotel, get my visa, then cancel the hotel?
Next, the site says Chicago no longer does "express" visa apps for same day processing. Would my next best option be to have them mail it to me since I don't actually live in Chicago? I know most of the people reading this aren't in the US right now, but I thought I'd try to ask.
And finally, I haven't exactly been reading uplifting stories about applying for visas in HK. How much time should I give myself down there? A week? Have there been issues of people not being able to get their X (student) visas processed there?
Sorry for all of my ignorance on this stuff. It seems so complicated and I don't want to get stuck in HK or something. I've even been considering canceling everything
