You didn't state weather you have a BA or TELF...maybe that's why you were only entitled to an F visa ?.. forget most of the drivvel you read on ESL forums about visa sob stories and the legalities ..Coming to China on an F visa is not illegal, its drawn up as cultural exchange visa, and technically you can teach, as long as your not giving examinations or grading test papers..My partner and i found all the pre coming to China jargon daunting as well, of course its standard practice to take your passport to renew your visa, how else to you expect it to be stamped, take it in yourself ? can you speak chinese ?.If you go into any local chinese visa office you will notice the guys in uniform behind the desk....patch on their shirt says POLICE...and they do have to authority to issue visa's, working visa's im not so sure of but business and L visa's they certainly can.What a chinese consulate tells you and what you can actually get away with are entirely different we only had to produce scanned coppies from the Philippines to send to china..we have never had a problem getting out business visa's renewed , 6 months at a time..never had a problem receiving our salary from Bucklands and our personal liberties arn't an issue in china..Our next visa renewal we will be applying for a Z visa and we dont anticipate any problems in obtaining one...

Quote:-Standard practices include taking passports so visa applications can be processed and introductions are made to a local policeman who claims to have the authority to issue working permits but does not

How do you know this if you never made it to china in the first place ?