Todays Chinese Visa News.......

THE STANDARD: "Businessmen step up complaints over visas":
quote
The European Chamber of Commerce has issued another letter - the first sent a month ago is still unanswered - to the Chinese authorities underlining the impact of visa restrictions on the foreign business community................Wolfgang Ehmann, a member of the European Chamber of Commerce told The Standard the letter was sent on Monday after the central government failed to respond to its first letter, sent a month ago. Ehmann said: " We only got some rhetoric that we have heard before - that there is no change in policy and that it is normal practice. We appreciate that there is a response (he means the letter by Mr Song to SCMP - which is same message as from Mr Qin -foreign ministry in Beijing) but it does not really help and the problem continues to be a problem. We do not want to compromise the safety and security of China but there has to be a balance of interest of business. We could not make sense of the rules"
unquote
Very good statement - but we have to be aware, as the first letter was not answered - maybe this one also will not be answered.
The European Chamber of Commerce does not get an answer from the Central Government ? This is "unpolite" and making the Chamber loose face !
The statement by Mr Song does not really help - because the day-to-day business speaks a completely different language. We need to go when there is a problem - we cannot plan on this like tourists or "business travelers" coming once or twice a year.
Also what I want to ask the readers here:
Did anyone of you recently got the VISA NOTIFICATION LETTER issued by the relevant chinese authority ? Please contact me !
Another readers comment today in the SCMP:
"Why not open a Representative office in the area you need to go most often - this is relatively easy - surely need some commitments on tax liability in the main-land. Then the Visa problem will be solved because you are holding then a work-permit + residence permit."
(this is not 100% real copy - but mostly catches the content).
Is not really workable - as this takes at least 3 months - is a crazy paper work (even you do it through FESCO or similar organization) - and: Opening a "Rep office" just for the sake of getting the permit because of the Z visa is meaningless - a "Rep office" must have some real operation, means staff + expenses - also a "Rep office" is not allowed to conduct any real business activities - it is for research, sourcing and market surveillance. This makes not really sense - only if you really want to establish a steady base on the mainland to overview your suppliers activities and you urgently need to reduce costs in your HK main office (means fire people and replace them in your Rep Office with local chinese staff - but then you have to face the wonderful CHINA HR problem, which very soon will go to your nerves very much !).
We all are running our legally registered HK offices + place orders to mainland factories - doing the correct import + export documentations etc. To control and work with the factories we need to go there whenever it is necessary - this is not shopping trips or entertainment - we have to solve problems + have to help our suppliers to get the things right - as we are all sitting in the same boat !
Here a link about the VISA SAGA from WSJ:
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/05/15/visa-saga/?mod=WSJBlog