@ atomic
The visa approval can take 2 years. Once it leaves Kunming, it goes to Beijing for processing. It will not even be sent in to Beijing unless this agent in Kunming decides your chance of getting this visa is good. So in theory, you may not even get out of the gate unless she deems you worthy of the visa. Sounds like politics are heavily I involved. I spent 2 hours there BS'ing with this gal. Funny, her assistant is police number 007! LOL

@Bucko I take it that this is for the 'permanent visa' aka 'green card' (10 year).

I think our only hope for getting the PR is if Beijing sets a quota for each province and Yunnan PSB needs to issue a certain number of them a year.

Re: police record, have a US friend contact the police in the last town you lived and ask for a background check. This is a routine thing for potential employers to. The cops should give yr friend a standard form with the box "no record" ticked. They can scan a copy and send it to you as an e-mail attachment. Worked forked for me, when I needed it to get a new Z visa.

1. The first requirement is you need to wait for five years before applying

2. You need to have been in the country for at least nine months of each year.

3. A certificate of no criminal record

4. Medical check up

5. Plus whatever else they can think up.

Nowdays you can apply for a two year resident visa.

Of the applications lodged for the green card in China less than 1% are successful.

If you are investing a lot of money or have a specialized skill then it may speed up the process somewhat.

The PSB office is now located on Tuo Dong Lu behind the stadium.

Ah yes, the fabled D visa/green card/"permanent" residence permit (though 10 years isn't "permanent"!)

Allegedly being made easier to qualify for but still for most people would require 5 years marriage AND lived in China during that time.

So a stupid question....if you've lived in China for >5 years what value is an outdated certificate of no criminal record from your home country worth?

I'd like to aim for this in 4 years time by which point I'll have been living here for 8 years! So a no criminal record certificate from my home country would be a bit pointless after this time. Especially as in the UK the majority of convictions are considered spent after 5-10 years unless they led to a prison sentence of >2.5 years.

When you apply for your 'permanent visa' you will need to get a new criminal free record from your home country. They won't accept a police record more the 6 months old.

I also wonder why they ask for this document considering it's been so long since we lived at 'home'. You would think they would want a clean record from the local police here.

"Especially as in the UK the majority of convictions are considered spent after 5-10 years"

Spent or not, would they still appear on the criminal record, like forever?

I'm pretty sure Chinese authorities will not care whether a criminal act was done 1 year ago or 30 years ago, as long as it was done.

@ Janjal, I'm trying to find out exactly what is declared on an immigration police certificate & it's not clear. Will get back when I find more details.