No more Green Cards & A "Catch" for Relatives of Teachers Working in China

[Hypiereon]

Here's the short of it:
Now, instead of a green card, you get a "Residence Permit" stamp in your passport which does the following:

• 1. It becomes your work permit / work visa.
• 2. It is automatically multiple entry, which means you can come and go.
• 3. It can last up to two years instead of one, and stays valid until it expires no matter where you are in the world.

As for family members: family members of teachers in China must prove relationship which means a marriage certificate for spouses and a birth certificate for children.

Here's the long of it:
Recently, I went to get my work permit and visa renewed and found out that if my wife and daughter were going to stay with me in China, I had to have a copy of the marriage certificate and my daughter's birth certificate, certified (stamped) with my state seal, and then certified (stamped again) by the Chinese consulate in my home country.

My wife was already planning a trip home, so this was no problem, but it could have been a real headache. Some foreigners had to leave China with their families because they couldn't get it all done in time in the mail before their visas expired, and they weren't going to send their families home without them.

As well, when we received our renewals, they took away the green card, and now there is only a "Residence Permit" stamp in my passport which doubles as my visa and work permit. There is good news in all of this though - the newer visas can last up to two years instead of one, and they also count as mutiple entry visas; which means you can come and go in and out of China as many times as you want without canceling your visa. The visa stays valid up until the expiration date.