DON'T PANIC

Ah, the annual rush to renew my Chinese visa - how I loathe it! Every May/June the same - 5 or 6 weeks of bureaucratic frustration, gut-wrenching anxiety, and desperate brinksmanship.

The process is additionally complicated for me this year because my passport is due to expire shortly after my current visa; which means that I must renew my passport before I get a new visa; and also - perhaps - renew/transfer my old visa to the new passport before I get a new visa. (Moreover, I am waiting to hear on a new job, which might actually provide me with a visa free of charge - rather than requiring me to once again go through the irksome rigmarole of utilizing guanxi, 'dummy' contracts, or 'fixer' agencies. Alas, their decision timeframe is just too long drawn-out for me to be able to depend on them to bail me out.)

Now, when I handed in my old passport for replacement at the British Consulate a couple of weeks back, I was assured that I could simply carry my old passport around with me as proof that I had been issued a valid Chinese visa - no need to get a new visa for the new passport. I was much relieved. Sceptical, but relieved. When I collected the new passport this week, I was told that the Public Security Bureau had just issued a new directive on this: it was imperative to transfer visas to new passports as soon as possible; apparently this had been 'the rule' for years, but they had only just decided to start enforcing it. The Consular staff didn't know what the time limit for transferring visas to new passports was, or what the penalties for breaching it might be, but were suggesting that "within 7 days" was probably sensible.

It's been tough to find a free moment to go around to the PSB visa & passport office this week, but I managed to get over there after only a couple of days. Turns out the time limit is "10 days" (I've no idea whether there's any firm basis for that; and I omitted to try to clarify whether that was "10 calendar days" or "10 working days", or whether the clock starts on the date of issue [29th May] or the date of collection [30th]. We should assume the worst.).

However, I had been rashly assuming that - since all we are talking about here is copying an existing visa rather than issuing a brand new one - that the process would be relatively swift and straightforward. WRONG. No, apparently I have to fill out a full application form again - including getting an official stamp from my employer. Now, that could be problematical, since I don't really have an employer. Last year, through friends of friends, I was able to persuade a manager at one of the major Chinese language schools to apply for my visa and 'Foreign Expert' certificate for me - by signing a one-year contract with them that we mutually agreed would never actually be enforced (by the prevailing standards of subterfuge required to get 'legitimate' visas out here, this is very mild - scarcely 'dishonest' at all). Unfortunately, I have mysteriously mislaid all of her contact details, and I suspect she is no longer working with that school. Even if she is, I have grave doubts as to whether she will be willing to fill in a bunch of paperwork on my behalf again..... just to get a duplicate visa for a measly three-and-a-half weeks.

The trouble is that unless I can get this duplicate of my existing visa, I might not be able to get any other kind of new visa either. I rather fear I might have to leave the country - on or before the 7th June - in order to get a new visa. And if I don't, I may be left with no valid visa, no way of acquiring a new visa - and thus no way of leaving the country??

Calm, calm, calm. Deep breaths.

I'm working near the British Consulate a couple of days a week, so I think I'll drop in there again to ask their advice on this.

The one possible ray of hope I see is that my old passport does not appear to have been "cancelled" - so I may be able to continue to use that (to leave the country, to get a new visa abroad) up until the current visa in it expires on 28th June.

Then again, maybe my contact at the English school will come good after all. Or maybe I can get some help on this from my various other guanxi. Or maybe I can find a reliable 'fixer' to work his arcane and expensive magic for me. Or maybe I'll just start screaming & gibbering in public places, and get myself arrested and deported. Or.......