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My wife is a Hong Kong citizen with the return-home permit, so she can stay in China indefinitely. She rented an apartment in China. However, I am an American citizen (of Chinese descent) with Q2 120-day visa with 10 year validity. Can I do visa runs every few months (the reason being that I am visiting my wife) and thus stay in China for several years? I'm not able to get a long-term residence permit because the landlady refuses to provide the needed documentation.

Traveller
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Philip
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3 Answers3

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Yes, you could stay in China long-term on a Q2 visa by exiting/re-entering to reset the duration of stay. There are no laws/regulations that do not permit this. The relevant texts are here:

However, it will come with certain trade-offs while crossing the border:

  • Your time at border control may increase if the official subjects you to further questioning due to feeling your entry/exit history is suspicious.
  • You may need to be more prepared than usual to prove you are visiting within the conditions of your visa. For example, you may need to prove you are not working but still have the means to live – if this was asked of you, how would you do that?

Additionally, as you have not gained residency status, you will not have the benefits associated with it, such as:

  • Easier experience crossing the border as you no longer need a visa.
  • Possibility of obtaining permanent residency. Based on eligibility via having a spouse who is a Chinese citizen, you will need 5 consecutive years of 9+ months of residency (reference). Any stay while on your Q2 visa will not count towards that.

There are alternatives to doing a visa run:

  • You can apply for an extension to your Q2 visa. This may give you the time to stay until you can terminate your lease. (Guidance here)
  • If you used an agent to secure your rental property, try to see if they can assist with obtaining the documents, if you haven't already. They may be knowledgeable about this situation or want to maintain a good relationship with you.
  • If you haven't already, try to see if there are alternatives the public security bureau will accept – they may have seen a situation like this before.
Wing
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A "visa run" means going to another country for the sole purpose of getting a new visa so you can return to your target country. This is pretty much universally a bad idea, although enforcement varies widely.

However, what you're proposing is not a visa run, but simply repeated entries on the same visa. And this is generally fine assuming there are no visa restrictions like the Schengen 90-days-in-180 preventing this, which I don't believe China has.

This still sounds like a huge, expensive hassle and in your shoes I'd be looking into a Q1/S visa even at the cost of breaking the lease and finding another place that can get you the right paperwork.

lambshaanxy
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After consulting with an experienced friend I believe it is okay to stay in China long-term on a Q2 visa, doing visa runs, although one needs to actually act in harmony with the purpose of the visa (i.e. visit relatives).

Philip
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