Quick question, apologies if this has been asked a thousand times before, I searched but couldn’t find the answer: I am here on a tourist visa, two months, multiple entry. I’m looking for work (non-English teaching, I know I’m making things difficult for myself), but haven’t found anything yet, so I want to stay longer and look some more. Can I just go to the immigration office and have my visa extended?
I tried calling the imm. office to ask, but the line was busy all the time (naturally), and before going over there and waiting in line bantian just to ask this, I thought I’d try asking here. Thanks for any info!
Yes, you can extend your visa up to two times through the National Immigration Agency. You will have to state a reason why you need to extend your stay. It is highly variable what kind of supporting documentation or information they may demand. However, since you have a multiple entry visa, at worst you are out $10k or so to go to HK for a few hours and come back.
Thanks! Not sure if I can get an extension, I don’t really have any reasons for staying other than that I want to (to find work). But does my multiple entry visa mean I can just leave and when I come back I can stay another two months?
Yes.
Yes.[/quote]Thanks for the info, this might come in handy in the future.
I decided not to try to extend my visa after all, I have no proof of a pressing reason to stay longer so I figured I wouldn’t stand much of a chance.
I didn’t mean to be too discouraging. Some people have reported no problem getting an extension even on the flimsiest of stories, while others have had really good reasons and been rejected. If they approve yours then you’ve saved the cost of a trip.
I have never tried anything like extending a tourist visa, but would guess that a half baked story about how you only have been able to see 1/4 of all the temples, and want to see more, should do the job. -or that you need more time to visit all the night markets, or that there are still a lot of rivers unexplored, or, or, or…