to follow up, as I understand it if you get an x-visa you will then have to get a residence permit, yes? With the residence permit, can you then leave and re-enter china the same as a multiple entry visa? I read that you can, just wanted to check here as well.

Also, I hold both an American and Canadian passport... would it be sketchy/dangerous to switch between them to obtain new visas and therefore extend my stay (if needed)?

Yes, with a Residence Permit you can come and go as you want, while the permit is valid.

Most schools are quite flexible with students doing some travel, but if you are absent too often they might want to cancel your Visa/Permit as the school has some responsibility if you are using their name to apply for a visa/permit,,but are not actually at school much.

If you have two passports you must use the same one to leave or arrive in the country. You can't change over "in country."

A second passport would be handy if you can't get a new tourist visa in HK, that may happen if the HK Visa office thinks you are working in China.

The Visa system in China is passport number based, so if you can't get any more visas in China you can leave to HK and apply for a new tourist visa there, if they won't give you one as you have (in their opinion) too many tourist visas then leave the visa office and come back the next day with your other passport.

@Yuantongsi - beautiful, thanks for the info. Student visa + equipping myself with 2 passports it is, just in case.

do you require a entry stamp for HK if so switching passport may not be dowable

you switch passports between Chinese and HK Passport controls. If the other side asks why no exit stamp in the passport you use to enter just show them the other passport.

@ Yuantongsi (I've read the other forums about having a baby in Kunming, etc. Thanks for all the helpful info! Here, I'm wondering about travelling with two passports?)

Does this ever cause problems with getting checked in to a flight? For example, I plan to apply for an American passport for my 3 month-old son (who also has a Chinese passport). So in theory he can a) get stamped out of China on his Chinese passport, and b) get stamped into HK and then the US on his American passport.

But how does this work with the plane ticket/s which are linked to only one of the passports? Or is this part of the trouble involved in travelling with 2 passports -needing to use two separate tickets?

So, assuming my son has a round-trip ticket from Kunming to the states via HK linked to his American passport, will this raise any red flags when we go to check in here in Kunming with a blank US passport?

bump

@baiyuxiang, The only issue for you if your son has two passports is not showing both of them at the same time IN CHINA, (Not including HK, Macau, Taiwan, DIaoyu Islands of course).

So if you wanted to fly to the US via HK, you would need to do it with one flight to HK, on his Chinese Passport with a HK travel permit and from HK on his American passport. So you would leave China on the Chinese passport then as you were entering HK use his American passport.

What is easier if you are based in China is just to use his American passport in China, get an exit permit from the PSB and do it all on one passport.

In China they use passport numbers for local flights, but I think for overseas flights and overseas they only look at the name on the passport. Having two passports is no problem. So if my kids are flying into another country where they will enter with their second passport we show both (Non Chinese) passports when checking in in China.