The X1 and X2 student visas

The length of the course decides which one you get, and getting the wrong one is expensive to fix from inside China. X1 comes with the thirty-day residence permit obligation that Z visas have. X2 does not: you enter, you study, you leave.

The two forms

JW201 and JW202 are issued in China by the receiving institution or by the education authority, and they are the documents the consulate reads most closely. Which one you get depends on how your place is funded, not on anything you can choose. Neither can be replaced by a letter from the university on its own.

 Do not book flights before the visa is in the passport.  Processing is four business days from submission, but the online review that precedes it takes one to three weeks, and neither clock starts when you fill in the form.

After you land

An X1 holder has thirty days from entry to apply for a residence permit at the local public security bureau. The university normally walks new students through it, but the deadline belongs to the student, not to the institution, and it runs from the date stamped at the border rather than from the start of term.

An X2 holder has nothing further to do. The stay granted on entry is the stay, and extending it is a matter for the public security authorities in China rather than for a consulate in the United States.

All the proceduresAppointments and walk-ins