Question about phone-checking when applying for China work visa

iceviper333

04 March 2023 12:55:27

Hi all, hope you're doing well.

My partner and I are making plans for the future and are exploring the option of my moving to China in a few years to live with her over there.

I have a friend who moved to the USA to be with his partner and when he applied for citizenship, he had to provide a year-long backlog of his text messages. I can't recall whether these were just messages between himself and his partner or whether they wanted to see all of his texts for all of his contacts.

My question is: if I apply for a Chinese work visa, will I be required to follow a similar procedure as far as disclosing my text or WhatsApp messages goes? And if so, how far back would the Chinese govt want to look?

Thanks in advance.

acoop

04 March 2023 14:00:24

@iceviper333

Hi there here are my experiences of being married to a foreign national. I am from the UK she is Chinese. I have worked in China for 9 years, but I am currently retired in UK and left China 3 years ago. I have lived in China on a marriage visa for around 3 years in total. China was a problem to get married as I had to prove I was single and to do that I had to return to UK, I was living in China at that time. We got married on Vancouver on a holiday there with only 2 days pre-planning. I have also lived in Vancouver for short periods.

I have never been asked to provide 1 year of chats in China.

I had a friend who married a Chinese and he was from the USA. His research showed that getting married in Hong Kong was the best as western countries recognise such documents from Hong Kong and so do China. He that has ceremonies in China and USA. That may not be the case now, I don't know. Otherwise you will have to get translated documents notarised in whatever country you marry. I had to return to UK to do that and event then the China consulate did not want to it as I was married on Vancouver ands they suggested it should be done there. The Vancouver consulate would not even let me in the building. A UK lawyer sorted it out for me in the end and I have a translated notified copy of my marriage certificate from Vancouver.

I have also had other strange requests, like proving where I was on a certain date, I had to prove I live in the UK. I have been scanning all my documents, including bank statements and utility bills for years because of the crazy requests I have had. I now always make sure I have a utility bill with my and my wife's n name on it to prove we are together.

My suggestion is you always carry your marriage certificate (when you get it) any divorce papers if that is applicable, notarised and translated too. Get utility bills wherever you are living. I have had to provide a utility bill from China to get a criminal records document done in UK, of course translated and notarised.

Be as prepared as possible and start scanning documents. Is has saved me on many occasions.

Good luck!

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