more about our visa process

We completed all that we needed to get our employment license. This is the step that was supposed to take 10 days but got finished in three! Then, we just had (have) one step left, the foreign affairs office, to have everything we need to complete our new visa.

James went on Tuesday and they said to get whatever stamp we need, our company has to join some organization. (perhaps something like a chamber of commerce) He went downstairs to join said organization. Finds out he needs to write a letter introducing our company. Writes letter. Puts official stamp on letter. Turns in letter.

Boss of organization says he can't accept our company because the minimum investment required for membership is 5 million RMB.

You may be surprised to realize that we did not invest 5 million RMB in our company. That would be $ 806,451.61. Surprising, I know, but we invested slightly less than that :)

The interesting thing is, currently there is no minimum investment amount for foreign owned enterprises.......apparently unless you want to get a visa. And then the minimum is 5 million :)

The good news is, the foreign affairs office said there's another way to complete this step without joining the organization, but it's more complicated, requires more paperwork, and we only have two more working days before our next required country exit. There is yet another way that requires joining a similar organization on the district level instead of the city level, so we're trying that.

The first step of this method is to take some papers to the district government office. We tired to go pick up the papers we need from the city government (foreign affairs office) to take them to district government but the district workers were all out of the office this morning getting their required health exams. The organization's office (where all the documents are) had a meeting and so couldn't be available until tomorrow.

Here's to hoping that all the more complicated, more paperwork method can be completed with just Thursday and Friday to do it. Hoping, not holding my breath.......