4 Chinese Visas + 2 Moves (in 2 Months!)

I know this update is overdue (I think this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting to the blog), but we are just finally getting settled after months of visa uncertainties (see below) as well as the burden of completely moving house not once, but TWICE in the space of two months.

So we want to thank you so much for your prayers and support during this time. God has been good to us and given us strength to accomplish daily tasks that seemed impossible. He has also provided for our visas in ways beyond anything we could have reasonably hoped for!

Here are the details…

As I mentioned in my last update, my former Residence Permit (Teacher’s Visa) was cancelled by the authorities, and I was told I would have to leave the country (within 15 days) if I had any chance of returning with a new visa some day.

Well, I didn’t even wait for the 15 days to end. We had a team arriving in Hong Kong, so I left a few days early with the hopes of securing a new Chinese visa and traveling back home with the incoming team. Praise the Lord it worked! Within just a couple of days in Hong Kong, I had a new Chinese visa in my passport and was actually able to return to the city I had been “kicked out of” even before the date they had given me to leave with my old “cancelled” visa.

“M” is for Missions

One interesting side note about the new visa. I was issued an “M” visa, which is officially a type of free-lance business visa and better fits my status than a simple tourist visa. But its ironic that “M” often stands for “Missions” in the Christian worker code-language of China. So I get my English Teaching Visa revoked but come back in a few days later with a much more fitting “M” visa. I like it!

But alas, the “M” visa wasn’t to last. It was good, but God had something better in store…

Visas Much Easier for the Family

In the meantime, my wife and kids’ visas were fast approaching their expiry dates. The visas they carried were still officially “Dependent” on my no-longer existing part-time English teaching job, so they had to plan on something else. My wife was able to enroll in a Chinese language institute just down the road from our new apartment, and the school got her and the kids’ paperwork in order just in time. By the first week of July, they all had ONE-YEAR Residence Permits (as full-time students) in their passports.

Kuala Lumpur Visa Adventure

But my Hong Kong “M” visa was only valid for 30 days (plus a second 30 days if I left the country and re-entered), so I still needed to find something that would give me more days per entry, so I wouldn’t have to leave mainland China so often (every month?!) during the coming year.

It just so happened that I had bought extremely discounted tickets to Kuala Lumpur at the beginning of the year for my wife and I to get away for a few days for our 10th Anniversary. Although I bought these tickets months before any of our police troubles arose, guess which day my 30 day Chinese “M” visa was set to expire? That’s right, the exact day my wife and I were scheduled to fly to Malaysia. Praise God for impeccable timing…

As we prepared for this 6 day trip, it occurred to me that I should attempt to apply for a longer Chinese visa in Malaysia to replace the 30-day-per-entry one I was given in Hong Kong. We’ve never applied for a Chinese visa at the Embassy in Malaysia, but with a little bit of research I realized it might actually work.

I really didn’t have anything to lose, but I had a lot to gain! If I was granted a longer visa, then I could avoid having to make an expensive trip to the USA in August to apply for a longer Chinese visa there (its always easier to get Chinese visas in your home country).

Well, I went straight to the Chinese Visa Office in Malaysia the morning after we arrived and was able to get my application turned in. I received a gut check, however, when I was informed by the secretary that they would cancel my current “M” visa before deciding on whether or not to give me a new visa. That’s not what I wanted! I wanted to apply for a new visa with the security of knowing I still had my good ole 30 day-per-entry “M” visa to fall back on!

A Nervous Anniversary

I almost threw in the towel right there, but then decided once again that the possible reward was greater than the risk. And its a good thing I did! After spending the rest of that day trying not to worry (and enjoy my anniversary with my wife!), I went back for a mandatory interview the next morning. I had a fairly long wait, but a short interview and was GRANTED a 90 day-per-entry visa, virtually the same visa I thought I would need to travel all the way to the United States to get!

Full disclosure: I was much more anxious about getting a new visa than my amazing wife. She kept trying to encourage me, and succeeded in being a great example of quietly trusting the Lord.

Like a Puzzle

So praise God for working out all of these things for our good and His glory. The dates for the coming year are all fitting together like puzzle pieces and our situation as a family and ministry is actually looking more stable and hopeful than last year, even after having dealt with these police issues.

Truly the Lord knows what is best for us!