Visa Finally Processed

After writing my previous post on this blog we returned to the police station on the Tuesday

afternoon and after about an hour had the first letter and ready to proceed to the next stage. One of the problems I new we would encounter here is because there is a lack of foreigners in this part of China, the police do not know how to process this section of the visa application, and rather than say they are not sure of the process they will say come back later and then check with a colleague on how it should be done, all about saving face and not admitting they do not know what to do.

It was too late that day to proceed to Binyang another city nearby and so we took the bus there the next morning, on checking all the paperwork we were told that I would need a medical and so on to the hospital nearby and begin this process.

When I previously applied in Wuhan, I did not need a medical as I was already registered there, having had a medical in that city on my arriving there in 2014. As I wrote in a previous post, I could not proceed in Wuhan due to my wife not being registered in that city, she is now applied for her being registered there, but the process takes 6 months, so we took the trip to her home province of Guangxi.

On arriving at the hospital in Binyang, we paid the initial fee of 2RMB to register and then had to go to see the doctor responsible for the process of having a medical. He took us from an office on the first floor up to another office on the ninth floor and said we should wait as he was now attending a meeting. Once his meeting was over he entered my details into a computer and we returned to the first floor to pay for the medical, 446RMB for a very basic medical examination.

The medical varies greatly depending on what city you are in within China, usually in major cities it is completed in modern purpose-built facilities purely for foreigners or Chinese from other provinces or travelling overseas. This hospital was not modern but clean, I expect I was the only foreigner they had seen in a long time.

Due to the delay caused by the doctor having a meeting, by the time we paid the fee, it was close to lunchtime. We were able to get a chest x-ray completed then at 11.30 all departments stop for lunch, so we did the same and found somewhere cool in an air-conditioned building to wait until 2.30 and continue with the medical. Wherever you may go in China, it seems the lunch break is an important part of their day and an inconvenience when you want to get something done.

At 2.30 we were back in the hospital, picked up the results of the chest x-ray and on to the next stage and a brain scan. I sat down in a chair while several monitors were attached to my head, told to close my eyes and relax, about 30 minutes later all that had been attached to my head was removed, results given to me and the process was completed for that day.

Early the next morning we were back on the bus to Binyang and the hospital, the final stage was a blood test, so no breakfast or coffee had been consumed by me as they took the required amount of blood to test for whatever they deemed necessary. That was completed before 9am, and the results would not be ready until 2.30, that long lunch break again. With over 5 hours to wait we walked around the city close to the hospital, it was very hot and humid, so we soon found ourselves sitting in a fast food restaurant taking advantage of the free wifi and airconditioning. This particular fast food outlet looked very similar to a more famous brand seen worldwide. It was called Medikan and even had a large letter 'M' as its symbol.

Eventually it was time to return to the hospital, collect the results, visit the doctor we had seen the previous day and get the completed medical report from him. With this in hand it was time to return to the police station and continue with the visa application. On checking through the documents, and getting some of the photocopies recopied, all was to his satisfaction, the fee paid (800RMB) for a two year visa and return in three weeks to collect my passport complete with new visa or residency permit.

As we were leaving the police station, obviously relieved all was completed, my wifes brother was walking towards us and going to the police station. He was applying for a passport, as he has a chance to go and work in either Macao or Hong Kong, where he can earn much more than in mainland China. So it was turn around and go with him back into the police station once again.

Once we arrived back in Litang that evening, it had been a long day, but overall a successful one.