Unlike the rest of my classmates, who will be going to China with "cultural exchange visas," my wife and I have to go with tourist visas. Why? Well, it has to do with the issue of doing an internship in China.
We can't go in under student visas (F-1), since we're not associated with a university there. We can't go in as "worker trainees" (H-3) because we're not actually working (no paychecks). Tourist visas (B-2) are limited in length, so they're not very suitable, either. "Cultural exchange" visas (Q-1) are preferred because of their flexibility, even though they require an invitation letter.
But the consulate general, by policy, won't issue an invitation letter. This leaves us with tourist visas as our only option to last us three and a half months. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since tourist visas can be renewed twice to extend to 90 days, but we have two weeks additional weeks in Beijing to account for. What do we do? Pay for a flights to Hong Kong mid-way through and come back?
The solution came by means of a different travel agency than the one we got our tickets from. This agency, the only one in Hawaii (so we're told), is able to petition for 60 day tourist visas, which we'll only have to renew once.
Thank goodness for that. Government hoops sure can be a headache.
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