Hi.
Three of my children were born in China.
Both parents are Americans.
The children have been here for years without visas.
Now we are ready to leave China.
Does anyone have experience with this and know what is needed in order for them to leave the country?
.
Sorry I decided to delete,as I politicised your topic. In a goodwill though.
Good luck
Shortly AFTER your kids were born, you are supposed to get child passports, then register them at both the local PSB AND the visa exit/entry office.
You will probably have to pay a fine - at worst - the number of years they went without visas, which is about any 400 per kid per year.
If you're LUCKY - the visa entry/exit and the local PSB will let you off if you write some kind of apology letter and swear you'll never do it again (have another kid and not report them).
Suggest you go to the local PSB first and add them to your household registration (for foreigners) FIRST.
Then take a trip to the visa exit/entry office and try to sort things out without paying a nasty penalty. You absolutely should NOT wait - take care of this immediately.
Remember:
1. Local PSB - add them to the local registry - they'll give you that flimsy piece of paper - you'll need their passports and their birth certificates (proving you're the parents). It would help if you also had a few years of family photos (with all of you).
2. Visa Entry/Exit to get legal and beg for mercy.
This is technically a misdemeanor, but it's still a serious breach of visa laws.
Suggest you try to plead ignorance...
Visa Entry/Exit will have to issue both kids an "entry" stamp - so you'll definitely have to pay a penalty or fee for that one. They'll sometimes try to tell you your kids must exit and re-enter china - but you can't exit without an entry stamp...
If you work for a school - they may also be subject to penalty...depending on whether they think about it or not...(don't bring it up)...
Good luck minimizing the penalties...bring the kids - they tend to NOT yell at you in front of your kids (social responsibility).
Do the children have US passports?
... and remember, kids: everybody is always trying to capture you.
They do not have US passports yet.
I am going on the 9th of May to the consulate for the passports... it may take 2-4 weeks to receive them.
To give you a little background... when we had our first child here we were told, I forget by whom, that since he was born in China, he didn't need a visa.
As a somewhat new person to China, it sounded
logical.
For the next one, we intended to get the passports but the consulate was so far and what a hassle to travel there with the child and take off of work... excuses I know... and now I will pay for it.
Actually, now I know he didn't want to get them their passports.
Now I am quite worried about this as I don't have thousands of yuan to pay for a fine.
@Ishmael, is that sarcasm?.. I mean that is how I feel now.
If there is going to be a fine, now or next month makes no difference.
Passports may be more important to you, and I would get that job finished done and dusted first. The reason I say this is that if the PSB have only ever dealt with children with passports before, you may hit a wall of them not knowing what to do, but they probably won't admit it. Then you do the little bureaucratic run around.
The PSB are very understanding, and helpful in most cases. I have had to pay a fine before, and fines can often be negotiated down to one month; I have done this in the past.
I hope you have birth certificates. The US consular people can be difficult.
right tiger.
I think I will wait until I actually get the passports so they can stamp it if everything works out.
This is all happening now because my husband died a few months ago and I need to go back home to the US.
I also think they may not have dealt with this exact situation before.
I don't think most people would be so careless as to let this happen and for several years now.
One thing tiger, you said... negotiated down to one month.. do you mean that the fine will be so much per month for each month without a visa?
And I can hopefully negotiate them down to maybe a one month fine for each child or something?
@Goldie: Yes, sarcasm, just aimed at bureaucracies generally (citizenship, taxes, military conscription in some countries, ridiculous laws punishable by incarceration, employers, religious institutions, moralists, advertisers, surveillance cameras, Internet & cellphone spies, bill collectors, various bandits, cigarette companies), don't let it worry you. I sympathize with your situation but have no specific knowledge that might help.
P.S.: Hang in there, kids!
