Before we left we got a one year multiple entry visa, but it only allowed us to stay for 60 days before we needed to leave the country. I just couldn't do that with 3 kids that are so young. So the first thing I did upon arrival was to discover what options I had.
F Visa good for 6 months. A company essentially sponsors you and you can stay for 6 months even though you are not working. Goverment fees are about $150 per person, processing fees from a copy will run you $700-900 per person. We negotiated because we had so many kids. We paid $500 per person - totally $2,000 and we will have to pay it again in April.
X visa good for 6 months to 1 year depending on the school. You can get an X visa for attending university and language school specialize in this. To process the visa is much, much cheaper around $300 USD per person, but requires a full health exam.....you have to decide if you want to do that in Beijing. We didn't end up going this route because I could never figure out how to get the dependent visas processed for my children. It is possible, but it takes a lot of time and possibly some expensive trial and error. You need to get Apostille Stamps on the Birth Certificate from the Secretary of State where each child was born. Then I needed to translate them (I ended up having to do this step anyway), and possibly notarized....but who would notarize something in a foreign langaguate, and then it had to be stamped by the Chinese Consulate in the US that has jurisdiction over the state where you documents were stamped. So for Gavin that was the Chinese Consulate in LA, but for Jack and Sam it was the consulate in D.C. That process could have taken months, and by the time we paid the courier fees, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. I could never get a clear answer on the exact process - ever school gave me conflicting data....and their responses conflicted with what the Chinese Consulate wrote on the subject.
I wish I had been here on a student visa. There was one school that offered a 12 month visa (Daisy 84727866, 13801308396) which would have been amazing to be part of...and would have saved us a lot of money. There was also a cooking class at Beijing International Youth Research Institue (contact Huang Laoshi at 8454-4690) that I felt was tempting.
That class only required you to attend one day a week while the others require almost daily participation.
I didn't want to risk not having my paperwork in order because I have been stopped twice in the first month in Beijing and asked for my papers. There are enormous banners hung throughout the complex where I am living that request foreigners register with the local police station within 24 hours of their arrival.
The second time I was stopped I was walking with a Chinese America.....who was not asked for papers. It is interesting being caucasian in China because everyone is so....well Asian. You really stick out, and when you are in a police state that can be uncomfortable.
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