I have a 10 year multi entry L visa.
I would like to stay in Kumning and teach for the next year or 2. What happens to the L visa if I apply for a work visa? (or study as I assume the answer is the same). Is the L visa canceled or does it remain valid for it's 10 year term?
Thank you!
L visa gets cancelled if you get any other visa.
I am pretty sure that you will have to do a border run for the new visa as well.
@ Tigertiger it won’t just be a border run to get a Z-visa. It’s geberally a trip back to home country unless you’re lucky in HK but us read that’s not easy now.
You need to have your employer to ask the labor office in Kunming to put in the documentation that you will be applying in HK.
When your employer (or yourself in some cases, for example when applying work permit for your own company) fills the application for "work permit notice" (this is done online now), there is a field to specify where you will be applying for the work visa.
If you rely on employer to do this paperwork, and they don't bother asking you what you want, you will probably end up having to fly back to your home country for the visa.
On that note, I recall reading just couple of weeks ago, that some cities now allow to change to work based residence permit without having to leave the country for work visa.
But I forget where I read this, or whether this applies to L visas, or only to things like marriage based residence permit -> work based residence permit.
@ Janjal, Shanghai has allowed transfers from other visas (including L) to work petmits/resident permits in country for a couple of years now. I’d also read recently that Guangzhou & Beijing were starting to follow SH.
