Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Trying to "slip across" a border unnoticed by the Chinese immigration and guards is just not a good plan, nor is trying to charm them. She has a problem, and the smartest first thing to do at this point is to get to the nearest Consulate or Embassy in China of her passport country, even if it takes a trip to Beijing, and tell them the story. They can probably issue her with some sort of temporary papers, and/or contact the appropriate person at the PSB to get her a stamp/letter or something retroactively to allow her to exit at any legitimate crossing open to foreigners. No telling what the penalty will be, but if she's lucky she may be let off with only a scolding, maybe not even that. I find this entire scenario a little strange--normally the only time an official passport is allowed to be used is while on assignment (and if an accompanying dependent). When the gig's over, most govt's cancel the official passport and you use a regular one. How she ended up travelling around on one is curious indeed (assuming of course, she's not the gov't official on assignment)

2

Thank you

First thing she did was to call the embassy of course and they are the ones that told her she'll have to pay so much for each day and that there's nothing the embassy can do for her.

Second, on her entry it took the border officials about an hour to figure out what to do with this kind of passport and they stamped it without saying nothing to her. I was asking (and she's hoping so) whether at some borders like in many other borders around the world the officials are more human and less concerned with what is exactly in the book. In China I see the book is not such an omnipresent thing as it seems from the outside.

Third, in her country (Turkey) tens of thousands of people carry official passports and keep them all their lives even though they are not officials themselves (they lose it when they get merried). And of course this is too loose and the government has been warned by other countries about this and next year this is changing and she'll have to change it with a normal one. The situation until now has been that she was able to go to any country without a visa (which is a great boon when you're Turkish and it's so hard to get visa for anywhere).

What would you think would be her chances when she goes to the border, pretends she didn't know about the 1 month (which is true, she didn't know until yesterday, 2 months late) and doesnot have any money? Would she be deported or any other punishment?

Thanks

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3

In any foreign country, the sensible thing is to seek the help of the embassy of her country.

It is better, in my opinion, to go to the Chinese immigration authorities, with her embassy's help, to clear matters up before she leaves.

Trying to fool border guards can happen in movies, but it would be foolhardy because if she's caught, then she will be at the border and far from any help.

I'm sure no one on TT has personal experiences regarding the many border checkpoints to discern where the guards are friendlier.

I second what #1 had advised.

4

The cost is 500 RMB per day, and these days you wont be able to avoid the penalty which in this case is a maximum penalty of 4,000 RMB.
You may get lucky, but I doubt it. Unfortunately

Good luck

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5

Have you considered pretending that you lost the passport and reapplying for a new one? There may be some cost and time delay but it might be worth a try.

1012

6

I think the border crossings in the west would be more difficult to go through, since they don't see as many people crossing. They have time to check everything carefully. As besi says, there's a maximum fine, so hopefully she can find that much money to pay it, or get embassy help somehow.

!! Be warned that "students" who want to practice English with you may actually be scammers. In Shanghai they try the Tea Ceremony Scam. In Beijing it's the Art Student Scam. Be very wary if a stranger wants to speak English with you, especially if you are in a tourist area. !!

7

Embassy citizen services generally will NOT offer any assistance to travelers regarding visas and overstaying.

They will replace passports. They will assist if you need tax information or voting information overseas, if you need a register the birth or death, if you need a notary. But they do NOT assist with travel problems other than in extreme situations where they might assist in acquiring funds from home, in arranging for medical care, or in assisting citizens who are arrested or incarcerated in overseas.

I would not expect them to assist in any way in this situation.

My guess is that they will try to get fine her at the border. Given that she says she has no money, they may hold her and permit her to contact family and friends or the embassy to provide funds. Perhaps they will cut a deal or perhaps not. There is no way to predict this sort of thing.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

8

The result

I just heard from my friend who safely made it to Laos with a 2 months overstay.
The thing was that she had this strange "green" official passport that confused the officers and at the entry she had only an entry stamp (no exit date).

She says the officers took her passport between different offices for about an hour and apparently couldn't solve the puzzle and just gave her the exit stamp.

So once more we can say that also in China, as most other places, not everything work strictly according to the book (esp. if it considers foreigners).

Peace

_____________________
Visit my travel blog at
http://icouldiwilltravels.blogspot.com

9

Thanks for the update! Glad it had a happy ending.

!! Be warned that "students" who want to practice English with you may actually be scammers. In Shanghai they try the Tea Ceremony Scam. In Beijing it's the Art Student Scam. Be very wary if a stranger wants to speak English with you, especially if you are in a tourist area. !!