Today is July, 22, only around one month left until students from different countries have to fly to China to start their studies.
The deadlines for most Universities have passed, and after reviewing all students’ applications and sending all the admission packages Universities are closed for summer vacation.
Now it’s up to students to handle their visa and arrange everything for their arrival. And I’ve decided to go through the process to make it easier for applicants.
First of all, admission package. What does it consist of?
Admission package consists of your admission notice and JW202 form, a.k.a visa application form. Please check it carefully, your name, your address, your major, level and start date should be correct.
Also, University should have sent you the arrival guide which contains the important information on arrival, airport pickup, accommodation and registration process, and medical examination form. If you didn’t receive it, you can contact us at [email protected] to either arrange it for you or give you more information.
Additionally, there might be a letter from University regarding your scholarship if you received it.
So let’s go through it again:
- Admission notice? Check
- JW202 form? Check
- Student guidebook? Check
- Medical examination form? Check
- A letter from University? Optional
What’s next?
Your next step is to check which city Chinese embassy is located in in your country. For example, my country – Kazakhstan – it has the embassy in Astana – the capital of Kazakhstan, and the consulate in Almaty – one of the biggest city in Kazakhstan, ex-capital. Both accept applications for visa.
After you check that, you should check the working hours. The consulate in Almaty accepts applications only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. This information can be checked either on their website or by the phone.
If you are calling them already, don’t forget to check if they require medical examination form for the application. The Chinese consulate in Kazakhstan doesn’t require it, but if yours does and you lost/didn’t receive the form with your admission package, you can download it from here.
Please note that medical examination form should be stamped in two places: on the photo, on the first page, and on the second page in the end of the form. Should be printed on both sides of a sheet of paper.
While you are at preparing the documents, don’t forget to make a copy of your admission notice, JW202 form, your passport and ID (some embassies might require it).
Check the website of consulate or embassy for visa application form, download it, fill it out on a computer or by hand.
Important: Students who applied for short-term programs less than 180 days should apply for X2 type. Students who applied for degree programs and long-term non-degree programs, should apply for X1 type of visa.
X is student visa.
The list of the documents which were required by Chinese consulate in Kazakhstan (should be almost the same in every country, except for maybe one-two items):
- Visa application form (not the JW202 form, V.2013 form)
- 2 recent photos – 3.3×4.8
- Passport
- A copy of the admission notice*
- A copy of JW202 form*
- A copy of passport, the first page
- A copy of Kazakhstan national ID
- Bank statement**
*Very Important: Your admission notice and JW202 should be kept by you as you’ll need them for registration process afterwards
**for self-funded students
Regarding the bank statement, the visa to Kazakh students is given only if they can prove that they are able to pay the fees. To prove that students have to require a statement from their bank which states that they have $2500USD on their bank account on the moment of applying for visa.
Why is it a requirement? A lot of students go to China on student visa and start working which is illegal, this requirement is a way to prevent this from happening.
There is also a visa application fee, the amount of which you can check with your embassy.
I think, I covered the whole process but if you still have questions, feel free to contact us at [email protected] and we’ll be glad to help you.
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