You, or a visa company on your behalf, will be asking the Chinese consulate for
a visa and as part of the application there will be an explanation of your
planned activities in China. The consulate will decide whether the type of
visa requested is consistent with your planned activities and if so, it will
grant you the visa. Otherwise, the consulate will reject the application and
tell you to re-apply for a different type of visa.
Once you have the visa, you are done. I.e., Customs is not going to
second-guess the validity of a visa issued by the Chinese consulate. Issuing
visas is the consulate's responsibility.
Sent from my iPhone
-----Original Message-----
From: ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
[mailto:ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of
Cullen Jennings
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 1:50 PM
To: Mary Barnes
Cc: IETF Discussion
Subject: Re: Tourist or business visa from US?
Wow, I find this whole email thread shocking.
Given the text explanation you get of F and L visa from the embassy web
site, which Mary quoted below, I have a very hard time seeing how
anyone comes to the conclusion that L (tourist) visa is the right visa
for an IETF meeting. I believe the the explanations that you are likely
to get away with it, but I have a very hard time believing it is not
breaking the law. I'd be fascinated to hear the reasoning of people who
think it is legal.
On Aug 24, 2010, at 9:21 AM, Mary Barnes wrote:
The note posted suggested that if you were planning to sightsee a day
or more before or after the meeting that a tourist visa might be
sufficient.
However, I prefer to err on the side of caution in this situation
since it clearly states on the chinese visa website:
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.
versus
Tourist Visa (L Visa) is issued to an alien who comes to China for
sightseeing or visiting family members or friends or for other personal
affairs.
Personally, I'd rather not risk any problems in this area. Since, my
company is sponsoring to attend the meeting, I don't consider that I'm
going to China for "personal affairs". In my experience, you're
typically asked why you're visiting a country and sometimes the
questioner wants more details as to what you'll be doing. So, unless
you have figured out a detailed sightseeing itinerary in advance, I
would think it's possible you could easily answer that question
unsatisfactorily.
Just my opinion,
Mary.
On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 9:43 AM, Andrew G. Malis
<agmalis(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
wrote:
Is there a consensus that a tourist visa is sufficient to attend the
IETF from the US?
Thanks,
Andy
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Cullen Jennings
For corporate legal information go to:
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/legal/cri/index.html
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