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Scholar trying to get Chinese visa for academic conference on religion

  • I'm from the U.S. and I've been invited to an academic conference on "Religion in Modern Society" at a university in PRC. I need a visa. I've contracted with a visa agency to submit all the necessary papers for me. The visa agency says I have two options... 1. Tourist Visa - Everyone I know who has gone for similar reasons has done it on a tourist visa, but here is the snag. My own institution (listed as my employer on the visa application) is affiliated with and named for a Protestant denomination, and the Chinese consulate (I think) is requesting a letter from my university containing a list of religion classes I teach (I teach Eastern Religions), and a statement that my trip has nothing to do with my employment teaching religion. Though I will not be advocating any religious perspective, proselytizing, or doing anything other than reading a dry academic paper, I could not get that letter from my dean, since I am not really going purely for tourist reasons. 2. Business Visa - I do have a letter of invitation from the Chinese University that plainly states my purpose for visiting, and could probably meet the requirements of a business visa. But would it stand a good chance of being approved? I certainly don't want to spend my week in China afraid of being arrested for violating my visa. I also want my visa approved. What sort of visa should I get?

  • Answer:

    Sounds like you want the F visa, for business visits.Business Visa (F Visa) is issued to an alien who is invited to China for a visit, an investigation, a lecture, to do business, scientific-technological and culture exchanges, short-term advanced studies or internship for a period of no more than six months.http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/hzqz/zgqz/t84247.htm I've gotten these before without difficulty, although I don't have any potential religious red flags in my background. You've got an invitation letter from a university. You should be OK. For the record, they're not just concerned about Falun Gong or the Dalai Lama. They're not keen on proselytizing of any description, and plenty of evangelicals try to bring in suitcase loads of bibles and pamphlets on tourist visas.

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Is it possible to contact the organizers of the academic conference to see which visa they recommend? Surely they must have been asked this question before, if they're in the business of organizing conferences and inviting foreign speakers to attend.

erst

Not sure which agency you are using, but I've always gotten good advice from Travisa. It seems that if a Chineae university is holding an academic conference about religion and are inviting you, there would be little grounds for denying you the visa unless you are known for advocating for Falun Gong or the Dalai Lama. A good visa agency should be able to give you a second opinion on what I'm saying.

Dansaman

a statement that my trip has nothing to do with my employment teaching religion. I agree with erst but wanted to ask exactly what this part says. It seems like a candidate for mistranslation, and they actually want a statement that your trip has nothing to do with advocating or training religion, rather than teaching about it.

Etrigan

I agree with what zjacreman is saying but didn't mention proselytizing and distribution of materials because this is an academic conference and the OP is from a university, so under those circumstances it seems there would be less concern by the authorities about the visit's objective being to proselytize and distribute materials.

Dansaman

zjacreman: thank you. I agree with erst but wanted to ask exactly what this part says. It seems like a candidate for mistranslation, and they actually want a statement that your trip has nothing to do with advocating or training religion, rather than teaching about it.

reverend cuttle

Yeah, that language in the tourist visa app definitely makes it sound like they're trying to avoid the suitcase of bibles scenario. I wouldn't expect the Chinese diplomatic corps to know the difference between, for example, Southern Methodist University and Texas Bible College. I would, however, expect a lot of the suitcase bible types to be affiliated with institutions of the latter sort. Don't lie to the consulate. Lots of people do, and you'd probably be OK if you did (it's only a week, after all), but that doesn't make it a good idea.

zjacreman

update: went with the tourist visa. I don't know why, but of the scholars I know, all recommended doing it that way. Went to China, had a blast, came back.

reverend cuttle

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