5 ms·

China is not worried about who enters. They're worried about who leaves

olalonde 1y ago
They don't ask any questions when you leave either, unless you overstayed your visa. In that case, they just ask you to come back with money to pay the fine. It's actually kind of funny: they don’t detain you or anything, just politely tell you to find an ATM and come back when you have cash to pay the fine.
- seanmcdirmid 1y ago
  This happened to my wife in Japan when we were trying to board the second try of our flight cancelled the day before. I told them "we don't have any Japanese money, and anyways, this was Delta's fault, so just get them to pay." We sat around for a half hour while they got Delta to pay her fine.
  - throwawaysleep 1y ago
    I’m impressed that was successful.
  - account42 1y ago
    Do they not have ATMs at the airport? Seems unnecessarily risky to not just take the opportunity to pay the fine as quickly as possible - visa overstays can easily end in detention in many (especially Asian) countries and not just in the US. And while the delay might have been the airline's fault and possibly you could have a civil claim against them for damages incurred it is still your responsibility to have a valid Visa and not overstay it and also your responsibility to pay any fines for it (which you may or may not be able to get reimbursed).
    - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
      They should have taken care of this when they brought us back into Japan after the flight was canceled (they didn’t catch it when the re admitted her into Japan and the visa was invalidated on her way out since it was single entry, and the flight was to the states so most passengers were visa waiver). And anyways, they were so apologetic that I didn’t really doubt that the Delta Japanese ground crew would just take care of it. The really sad story is that the flight was canceled a second time after that drama, and we were really feeling a lot of emotions over that debacle. Suffice it to say we’ve sworn off delta for awhile.
- account42 1y ago
  I don't know about about the specifics in China but amnesty for short overstays if they don't catch you on the street for it but you are actually trying to leave is not uncommon in the region. Longer overstays especially when not self-reported can easily end in detention though.
  - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
    This was a paper work snafu, she was re-admitted into Japan by immigration officers after her visa was invalidated (because it was single entry and they cancelled the flight after we went through emigration). So it’s not like the violation was intentional or even avoidable. China gives you a ten year unlimited entry visa, so it’s pretty hard to screw that up.
seanmcdirmid 1y ago
They don't really speak then either, but ya, emigration checks is one thing that most countries have but the USA lacks for some reason.

They don't ask any questions when you leave either, unless you overstayed your visa. In that case, they just ask you to come back with money to pay the fine. It's actually kind of funny: they don’t detain you or anything, just politely tell you to find an ATM and come back when you have cash to pay the fine.

seanmcdirmid 1y ago
This happened to my wife in Japan when we were trying to board the second try of our flight cancelled the day before. I told them "we don't have any Japanese money, and anyways, this was Delta's fault, so just get them to pay." We sat around for a half hour while they got Delta to pay her fine.
- throwawaysleep 1y ago
  I’m impressed that was successful.
- account42 1y ago
  Do they not have ATMs at the airport? Seems unnecessarily risky to not just take the opportunity to pay the fine as quickly as possible - visa overstays can easily end in detention in many (especially Asian) countries and not just in the US. And while the delay might have been the airline's fault and possibly you could have a civil claim against them for damages incurred it is still your responsibility to have a valid Visa and not overstay it and also your responsibility to pay any fines for it (which you may or may not be able to get reimbursed).
  - seanmcdirmid 1y ago
    They should have taken care of this when they brought us back into Japan after the flight was canceled (they didn’t catch it when the re admitted her into Japan and the visa was invalidated on her way out since it was single entry, and the flight was to the states so most passengers were visa waiver). And anyways, they were so apologetic that I didn’t really doubt that the Delta Japanese ground crew would just take care of it. The really sad story is that the flight was canceled a second time after that drama, and we were really feeling a lot of emotions over that debacle. Suffice it to say we’ve sworn off delta for awhile.
account42 1y ago
I don't know about about the specifics in China but amnesty for short overstays if they don't catch you on the street for it but you are actually trying to leave is not uncommon in the region. Longer overstays especially when not self-reported can easily end in detention though.
- seanmcdirmid 1y ago
  This was a paper work snafu, she was re-admitted into Japan by immigration officers after her visa was invalidated (because it was single entry and they cancelled the flight after we went through emigration). So it’s not like the violation was intentional or even avoidable. China gives you a ten year unlimited entry visa, so it’s pretty hard to screw that up.

seanmcdirmid 1y ago

They don't really speak then either, but ya, emigration checks is one thing that most countries have but the USA lacks for some reason.