How to renew your visa

I renewed my visa last week, and I had sooo much trouble. Each time I went to the office (with a friend), the computer crashed, and everyone was told to come back later. On my 4th time there, they had 3 officers working on my application to make it work. It turns out there was a quirk in their system, and they had to change my passport number temporarily to make it work, and then change it back. Stupid computers. Keep this in mind if you have trouble at the visa office.

Anyways, I thought I would post a bit about my experience in renewing my visa. PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS FOR RENEWING A VISA ONLY. This may be different for you.

Overview:
1. Police station to get a blue address form. 2. Foreign affairs office (at university) to get letter. 3. President's building (at university) to have letter stamped. 4. Hefei visa office. 5. Police station to renew blue form. 6. Visa office to pick up passport.

First, get the offer letter from USTC. Get that from the foreign affairs office. For this, bring a photocopy of the passport information and visa pages and 2 passport photos, as well as your passport. Then, have that offer letter stamped at the president's building.

Next, the visa office needs the offer letter, passport, unexpired visa, the correct application form filled out, 950RMB, 1 copy of visa/info page, and TWO passport photos (I can't recall if they need the blue address form). If the visa offer accepts it, he will say when to come back (in Chinese, that is. Otherwise, have a friend call them). The visa officer will give you a receipt and you will pay the bill.

Take the receipt to the police station on the same or next day and have the blue form stamped or renewed. Make sure to bring a copy of the visa/info page to the police station.

Pick up the visa at the visa office when they have told you it's ready. You can go straight to the back of the room, to the side room to pick it up. Just hand the officer your receipt.

I went back with my receipt to pick up my visa a few days later, but it was not done yet, so I had to go to the 3rd floor to retrieve it.