Chinese Dependant S Visa for Family Members in 2023

Do you work or study in Chi­na and want to bring your fam­i­ly mem­bers with you? If so, you will need to apply for a Chi­nese depen­dant visa, also known as the S visa, for your spouse, chil­dren, par­ents, or oth­er rel­a­tives. The S visa is issued to fam­i­ly mem­bers of for­eign­ers who reside in Chi­na for work or study or to those who intend to go to Chi­na for pri­vate affairs such as mar­riage, law­suit, her­itage, adop­tion, and med­ical treat­ment. It is fur­ther clas­si­fied into S1 visa and S2 visa. The for­mer is for a longer stay dura­tion of more than 180 days, while the lat­ter is for a stay dura­tion not exceed­ing 180 days.

In this arti­cle, we will guide you through the process of apply­ing for a Chi­nese depen­dant visa, the require­ments and doc­u­ments you need to pre­pare, and the lat­est poli­cies and mea­sures that Chi­na has intro­duced to facil­i­tate the entry and exit of for­eign­ers who work or study in China.

What are the requirements and documents for applying for a Chinese dependant visa?

To apply for a Chi­nese depen­dant visa, you need to meet the fol­low­ing requirements:

• You must be a fam­i­ly mem­ber of a for­eign­er who works or stud­ies in Chi­na, such as a spouse, par­ent, child, par­ent-in-law, sib­ling, grand­par­ent, grand­child, or spouse of a child.
• You must have a valid pass­port with at least six months of valid­i­ty left and blank pages.
• You must fill out the Chi­na S Visa Appli­ca­tion Form truth­ful­ly and attach a recent col­or photo.
• You must pro­vide an invi­ta­tion let­ter from the for­eign­er who works or stud­ies in Chi­na. The let­ter should con­tain infor­ma­tion on the appli­cant, the vis­it, and the invit­ing individual.
• You must pro­vide a pho­to­copy of the invit­ing indi­vid­u­al’s pass­port and res­i­dence per­mit of China.
• You must pro­vide orig­i­nal and pho­to­copy of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion show­ing the rela­tion­ship of fam­i­ly mem­bers between appli­cant and invit­ing indi­vid­ual. This can be a mar­riage cer­tifi­cate, birth cer­tifi­cate, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of kin­ship issued by the Pub­lic Secu­ri­ty Bureau, or oth­er nota­rized cer­ti­fi­ca­tion of kinship.
• If you intend to go to Chi­na for pri­vate affairs such as mar­riage, law­suit, her­itage, adop­tion, or med­ical treat­ment, you must pro­vide a doc­u­ment explain­ing per­son­al details such as mar­riage cer­tifi­cate, court sum­mons, inher­i­tance cer­tifi­cate, adop­tion agree­ment, or med­ical diagnosis.

After you pre­pare all the required doc­u­ments, you need to sub­mit them to the Chi­nese embassy or con­sulate in your coun­try of res­i­dence. You may also need to make an appoint­ment online before you vis­it. The pro­cess­ing time may vary depend­ing on your loca­tion and sit­u­a­tion. Gen­er­al­ly speak­ing, it takes about four work­ing days to process a reg­u­lar appli­ca­tion. You can also apply for express ser­vice or rush ser­vice with extra fees if you need your visa urgent­ly. The visa fee also varies depend­ing on your nation­al­i­ty and visa type. You can check the offi­cial web­site of the Chi­nese embassy or con­sulate in your coun­try for more details.

What are the latest policies and measures that China has introduced to facilitate the entry and exit of foreigners who work or study in China?

Chi­na has been tak­ing var­i­ous steps to improve its man­age­ment and ser­vice of for­eign­ers who work or study in Chi­na, espe­cial­ly in the con­text of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Some of the lat­est poli­cies and mea­sures that Chi­na has intro­duced include:

• Chi­na has launched a uni­fied online plat­form for for­eign­ers to apply for work per­mits in Chi­na. The plat­form allows for­eign­ers to sub­mit their appli­ca­tion mate­ri­als, track their appli­ca­tion sta­tus, and obtain their work per­mit elec­tron­i­cal­ly. The plat­form also pro­vides infor­ma­tion on poli­cies, reg­u­la­tions, and ser­vices relat­ed to for­eign­ers work­ing in China.
• Chi­na has sim­pli­fied the pro­ce­dures and reduced the time for for­eign­ers to apply for work per­mits in Chi­na. The num­ber of appli­ca­tion mate­ri­als has been reduced from 10 to 8, and the pro­cess­ing time has been short­ened from 15 work­ing days to 5 work­ing days. For­eign­ers who meet cer­tain con­di­tions can also apply for a work per­mit with a valid­i­ty of up to five years.
• Chi­na has expand­ed the scope and eli­gi­bil­i­ty of for­eign­ers who can apply for work per­mits in Chi­na. For­eign­ers who have obtained a bach­e­lor’s degree or above from Chi­nese uni­ver­si­ties or for­eign uni­ver­si­ties rec­og­nized by the Chi­nese Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion can apply for a work per­mit with­in two years after grad­u­a­tion. For­eign­ers who have obtained a mas­ter’s degree or above from world-renowned uni­ver­si­ties can apply for a work per­mit with­in one year after grad­u­a­tion. For­eign­ers who have obtained a doc­tor­al degree from Chi­nese uni­ver­si­ties can apply for a work per­mit with­out any work expe­ri­ence requirement.
• Chi­na has imple­ment­ed a points-based sys­tem to eval­u­ate and clas­si­fy for­eign­ers who work in Chi­na into three cat­e­gories: A, B, and C. Cat­e­go­ry A refers to high-end tal­ents who are in short sup­ply and urgent­ly need­ed by Chi­na. Cat­e­go­ry B refers to pro­fes­sion­al tal­ents who meet the mar­ket demand and have rel­e­vant qual­i­fi­ca­tions. Cat­e­go­ry C refers to tem­po­rary or sea­son­al work­ers who are restrict­ed by quo­tas and poli­cies. For­eign­ers who belong to cat­e­go­ry A can enjoy pref­er­en­tial poli­cies such as fast-track ser­vice, green chan­nel, and flex­i­ble entry and exit.
• Chi­na has estab­lished a mech­a­nism to rec­og­nize the qual­i­fi­ca­tions and skills of for­eign­ers who work in Chi­na. For­eign­ers who have obtained pro­fes­sion­al qual­i­fi­ca­tions or skills cer­tifi­cates rec­og­nized by the Chi­nese gov­ern­ment or inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions can apply for a work per­mit with sim­pli­fied pro­ce­dures and materials.

These poli­cies and mea­sures aim to attract more for­eign tal­ents to work and study in Chi­na, pro­mote the exchange and coöper­a­tion between Chi­na and oth­er coun­tries, and sup­port the eco­nom­ic and social devel­op­ment of China.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources:

1. Trav­el Chi­na Guide | Chi­na Pri­vate Vis­it Visa (S)
2. 中国政府网 | 外国人在华工作管理服务新政策新举措
3. Chi​na​.org​.cn | Chi­na to Fur­ther Stream­line Work Per­mit Appli­ca­tion for Foreigners
4. Chi­na Dai­ly | Chi­na to Fur­ther Stream­line Work Per­mit Appli­ca­tion for Foreigners
5. 商务部网站 | 商务部关于印发《外国人在华工作管理服务新政策新举措》的通知