Visas/procedures/requirements for studying in China

Visas

You will need a valid China Student Visa (X) during your stay and study in China. You will apply for the Chinese student visa from your home country before travel. Before applying, you will need to process some documentation with the host university BFSU. It’s best to start the visa process well ahead of time.

Costs in addition to tuition fees

There are a few additional costs over and above tuition fees and equipment. These are not charged by Bolton University but are levied by the Chinese education ministry and apply to all foreign students studying in China.

  • Health check: FREE
  • Visa in home country: This fee depends on your nationality please refer to the consulate in your home country.
  • Visa fee from BFSU: 950 RMB
  • MoE health insurance: 600 RMB

Please note, we also require overseas students to obtain comprehensive, independent travel insurance – as well as the local one required by the university. We can give you more advice about this if needed, but typically a decent backpacker coverage insurance is suitable.

There are a few other procedures when moving to China (not requiring any fee) and we can inform you of these after successful application.

Getting connected

When the course starts you are required to have the following:

  • A Skype ID
  • Twitter account
  • A VPN (if in China – costs around 5 dollars per month)
  • A local sim card (these are cheap to buy and monthly 3G packages are cheap, around 50RMB/month)
  • Internet access (easy to set up once in China)
  • Google Chrome has a translator built in which is pretty handy for surfing Chinese sites; it is not perfect but gives you a rough idea and helps you to navigate the otherwise impossible.

Mobile Phones

You can buy local sim cards easily but will need to register with your passport, and can find RMB100 top-up cards for mobile phones in most convenience stores. Instructions for loading the stored value onto your phone are available in English. Alternatively, you can register your phone and pay a monthly bill (starting at around 50RMB/month). Should you need help doing this, we can find a fellow student to assist during induction week.

Money and Finances

It’s worth setting up a local bank account so you can get a local ATM card for when you are traveling in more rural places. It is easy – just go to a big branch of any major bank near you. ICBC, Bank of China, and China Construction are all fine. It takes about 30 mins and you only need to deposit 10 RMB.

International credit cards are widely accepted by ATM machines, but not by small local shops or businesses, and it is often better to use cash in those places.

You can more detailed advice on banking in this article from echinacities.com.

Other resources

  • The Beijinger
    Website of one of the popular monthly expat magazines in the city.
  • Online Dictionary
    An online dictionary with English and Chinese for language learners.
  • Sinocism
    Useful newsletter by Bill Bishop, aggregating and commenting on the most important articles on China of the day, from Chinese and international media. Follow Bishop on Twitter.