Many are confused about the differences between X1 Visa and X2 visa in China. Here let's have a closer look at it.
At first, what is X visa? X stands for 学生 [Xué shēng] (student in Chinese). So X visa means student visa in Chinese visa system. X visa can be classified as X1 Visa and X2 Visa.
X1 Student Visa
X1 visa is for Long-term study (> 180 days), and it’s normally issued for applicants abroad who apply at their local embassy before students coming to China.
It’s only a 30-day stay visa so that the students can enter China and after their arrival, the students will have to transfer the 30-day X1 visa to a student X1 residence permit (> 180 days).
Students will have to do a medical check after entering China, so it will be ready when applying for the student X1 residence permit within the first 30 days.
X1 Visa = 30-day stay that is issued by the applicants local Chinese embassy, and will be transferred to be a 6-month multi-entry student residence permit in China.
X2 Student Visa
X2 Visa is for Short-term study (≤180 days).
It’s, normally, a single entry student visa that won't allow you to re-enter China without reapplying for a new visa.
It allows foreign students to complete their school attendance during their stay, but a new visa will be required after the term.
X2 Visa = a short term student visa without multi-entry.
Notice
Most private schools can't issue the required documents for X1 visa applications. They normally ask applicants to leave China to apply from abroad, or in HK, X2 only.
So please make sure when you apply with a school which visa they can apply for you.
How to apply for X1 visa?
Apply for a regular course in a university or high school/middle school.
Regular course can be:
■ Degree Study
■ Official Exchange program between universities and government
■ Chinese course in university or college
If you are abroad and not enrolled in any of those programs, but you still want to stay in China for more than 6 months. Try this way.
↓↓↓
You can apply for a tourist visa and come to China to change it into X1 visa.
Length 1-2 weeks
Requirement Come to China for more than 1 days for residential registration and health check.
Process
Step 1
Prepare documents, such as Passport page (Chinese visa pages and recent enter China page) and Application Form.
Step 2
After you ready the needed documents, come to China for health Check and residential registration.
Step 3
Apply for the X1 Visa in local Exit&Entry Municipal Public Security Bureau and you will get a temporary paper of resident permit.
Step 4
When you apply for the visa successfully, passport and visa will be delivered to you. Now the process is done!
If any question,
feel free to contact HACOS.
HACOS,Business Services Solutions Master