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Q: will I have a problem if I arrive in Hong Kong the day my visa expires?
will be applying for L visa. I don't want to be fined for overstaying if I exit China the same day my visa expires.
12 years 26 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - Other cities
It should be fine, you can arrive HK or leave mainland China on the last day your visa is valid til.
keary:
It is better to arrive at least a day early or you will be in trouble if some how your flight get delayed.
There are a few very common mistakes made by many with the "stay" portion of the Chinese visa.
Since you do not say how many days you are allowed to stay, I will assume 60 days for the purpose of this aswer.
1.- First, if you are given an "stay" of 60 days, do not say 2 months, because 60 days may or may not be 2 months, some months have 30 days, some 31 and one 28 or 29. If you enter China today, 10-23-2011, two months from today will be 12-23-2011, and sixty days from today will be on 12-22-2011 because October has 31 days. Got it ?. Many overstay the visa because they think 2 months rather than 60 days. Be well aware.
2.- Now, do you remember the time you entered China ?. Hope you do, No need to remember minutes and seconds, sufficient to know you enter let's say at 2 pm (14:00), and using the same dates as above, today is 10-23 and you must leave on 12-23 BEFORE 2 pm in afternoon.
Why?. Immigration in China is computarized, and when you enter, a page is made on their computer record showing the full information of your pasport plus your visa validity and length of stay, and the computer program stars counting the days off from the time of your entry.
There is a line that says "DEPARTURE", and next to it shows OK right to the time the computer clock shows you have been in 60 days, 0 minutes and 0 seconds, and then changes OK for OVERSTAY. So, Immigration Official does not count days, does not use fingers, if OK you exit without a problem, if OVERSTAYED you are moved to an office and hope you keep your cool and apologize many times, and you have not overstayed 3 or 4 months.
Will above warnings out of the way, It is not really arriving in Hong Kong but EXITING CHINA . And yes, you can leave on the 60th day or whatever number of days you were given.
And to be extra technical, your visa "expires" on the date so indicated on it. Not when your stay is over with, because you can get an extension of 30 days and stay longer, or you can enter China on the day the validity of the visa ends (expire), and stay the number of days granted legally. Confused ?. No problem, you are not the only one.
HappyExPat:
Sorry fellows, I made the mistake was telling others not to do. On paragraph 2, at almost the end, where it says "12-23 BEFORE" I meant to say 12-22 BEFORE
Just in simple.... the last day of your visa means you are still allowed in China that day you need to leave or be issued a new visa.
I will never cut it that thin, i would leave the day before. It can cost you 500 RMB if you make a mistake of 1 day.
