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The time I was turned away from China

techcrunch.com

41–50 of 117 posts

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#41
post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

I live in Japan for quite some time (multiple years) and never had to, or heard about, having to "register at local police station".

Yea, I think maybe he is confusing having to always have your passport/gaijin card on you to present to police anytime they feel like bothering you.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#42
post #24

The reporter comes off as a bit paranoid and slightly egotistical. Read up on the rules and follow them closely or risk facing consequences. If you aren't 100% sure, ask. Personally, I was held overnight in a cell in KIX (Osaka International Airport) because after 6 hours of back and forth interviews, I couldn't provide a convincing enough reason for working for a Japanese company (my own company) without the correct…

That's a terrible point of view. Who is he supposed to ask these questions that would be absolutely ridiculous to ask in any developed country? Heck, I can't think of any country in the world where staying at AirBNB would be an issue, and why shouldn't he be paranoid when they so easily could pull up info about when/where he stayed there.. Does the airport security also have a list of Chinese girls the visiting foreigners have engaged sexual relations with? How long until they start rejecting foreigners when they have slept with >50 Chinese girls?

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#44
post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

[deleted]

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#45
post #25
post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

Ya no fan of totalitarian policy, but if you try to skirt immigration laws anywhere, it won't work out well for you. Here in the U.S., I have to notify ICE everytime I change my address.], or I would be deported. Never had the courage to test them...

> Here in the U.S., I have to notify ICE everytime I change my address

Yeah, like OP said, "totalitarian shithole"

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#46
post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

I live in Japan for quite some time (multiple years) and never had to, or heard about, having to "register at local police station".

It’s not at the police station but you still have to register at the ward office when you’re moving to a new city.

Also as a "fun" fact, residence cards features the logo of the ministry of justice. Just like if all foreigners were criminal with such a high probability that this minister handle the matter from the beginning.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#47
post #7

>The reason, as it was explained to me, was that in 2015 I had broken Chinese law when I failed to present myself to authorities in Beijing when I had visited and stayed at an Airbnb residence on two different trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time — and something that was not communicated by Airbnb — foreigners are required to register at a local police station, but in most cases the hotels where they stay handle this…

> This rule is clearly explained on the back of the immigration declaration form

Is this in English/other languages, or just in Mandarin?

The only part of this story that I find particularly egregious is the part where he was made to sign a form that was only in Mandarin.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Japan for quite some time (multiple years) and never had to, or heard about, having to "register at local police station".

It’s not at the police station but you still have to register at the ward office when you’re moving to a new city. Also as a "fun" fact, residence cards features the logo of the ministry of justice. Just like if all foreigners were criminal with such a high probability that this minister handle the matter from the beginning.

Sure, also because you're going to pay taxes into that ku (city), and they deal with pension and health insurance, even if you're not a foreigner you're going to have to register.

Your residence card gets updated every time you change your address and you do have to go to the ward office for them to update it, but that's hardly "register at the police station".

Edit:

Most if not all the things we have to do, as foreigners, Japanese also have to do it.

The big difference is we're required to have an updated/valid residence card (ID), while Japanese don't need to carry ID.

I'm from Europe, and in my country everyone has an ID and is "required" to have it so I don't actually see the big deal, maybe I'm just uninformed.

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#49
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA is a very common transit country for Europe-South America and Asia-South America. It's not uncommon for travel between Europe and New Zealand or the East coast of Australia either.

I travel from NZ, these days I choose to go through HKG (and visit the Shenzhen markets, in China) to Europe. My normal experience of entering China is always fast and courteous, entering the US is frankly scary every time, lots of questions about what you're going to do - I show the same business APEC card at both borders (unlike China it's not a visa for the US border, the US is not a full member of APEC, but it do…

You're not the only person I've heard say that they avoid the TPAC route because they want to avoid the USA. But I've heard people complain that as much as they'd prefer to avoid the USA the flight schedules are far more convenient.

Have you tried the ANZ AKL-YVR connecting to ACA YVR-Europe flights? Canada is far happier about transiting passengers than the USA is. (And if you've tried it and didn't like it, I'm curious why.)

Re: The time I was turned away from China

#50

He shouldn't have argued. He should have taken the 24 hours transit they first gave him, said thanks and gone on. Arguing means that now he was denied a visa and the immigration officer is more likely going to write copious notes about it leading to him being denied subsequent visas. If you're ever in a similar situation, never argue. There's no way this will ever solve anything. In some countries, the only way to ma…

On the news: "Techcrunch employees bribe Chinese officials".

That kind of negative PR can destroy companies.

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