Visa extension problem?

Chinese Visa Problem?

• I'm a university student from London who has already applied and got accepted to go to a university in China (flights, hotels booked. flying on the 22nd August 2011) to study abroad for one year. I have received my JW201 forms and admission letter from them. However the problem is when I was applying for the University, I mistakenly added my Other name, which is not in my passport, during this application. With this misunderstanding on the wording of my JW201 and admission letter, there is now a mismatch regarding my name between my letter of admission and my passport. The name on my JW201 and admission letter is presented as "Other name" "first name" "surname" and my passport is "first name" "surname". In other words, I have wrongly added "Other name" by mistake in my application to the Chinese university. I have already visited the Chinese Embassy and they refused to give me a Student X Visa because of this name issue. They advised me to contact my Chinese university to reprint and resend the JW201 and letters with the correction. Afterwards however, when I contacted my Chinese University, they said it is not possible to resend the JW201 and letters, even with the corrections, as they are the "original" copies. I was also told by the Chinese uni that my option is getting a tourist visa to China, and when I arrive to the Chinese Uni, then I sort out the Student Visa for the year or an extension of some sort (presumably with some of their help). This does sound a little apprehensive to me. Can anyone out there throw light on the exact nature of the problem caused by this mismatch, and how I should resolve it. If I return to the Chinese embassy and explain fully of my situation and what I have done so far, will they change their mind? Is getting a tourist visa to China, then I sort out the Student Visa for the year in my university really the right solution? Or are there any other suggestions on what I can do? Cheers, Gary.

• Answer:

  Basically because of language differences and unfamiliarity with western names Chinese embassies want all stated names to match before giving visas in fear of someone illegally getting a visa using this confusion. I would just follow the advice from the Chinese university since they have probably had this problem before. Sometimes Chinese bureaucracy is a bit mad, when they marked my HSK language exam they sent my paper from the UK to Beijing to be marked there by computer and sent back - a colossal waste of money for something that could be done on the day within the testing centres rather than a month of waiting.