For those of you involved in import-export, you are definitely feeling the pain as global economies continue to punish us with a low value U.S. dollar and swelling inflation.
For many trade media companies, this is also proving to be an incredibly tough sales period. While speaking with one of TradeMediaBlog’s partners, they admitted that they were experiencing a most difficult sales period as many manufacturers who are advertisers/exhibitors are simply going out of business due to:
1. China labor law increasing human resource costs
2. Materials costs increasing
3. Buyers choosing product from other more affordable countries
Our good friend Paul Woodward at BSG Asia provided additional insight:
- There’s talk of 10,000 factories closing in the Pearl River Delta and (I assume) moving inland. Most are going into other parts of China, not (as some suggest) Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. in any significant numbers.
- I think that trade media companies with China-wide reach will not suffer too much. However, those with limited reach could be in trouble.
- Foreign visitor numbers to Hong Kong and China trade shows so far this year have been flat; however, there is a noticeable decrease in U.S. attendees to these events.
- Another concern for trade show organizers is new Chinese visa regulations which could make it very difficult for visitors to come to Mainland fairs.
John Guise of the One-Eyed Panda provides a very good list of these visa regulations which I have pasted below for convenience. As you can see, China’s government is not doing anyone any favors with this long list of new rules which will inevitably hurt many industries, including import-export and tourism.
- There are no changes to the Z (work) visa procedure. These visas are converted into work and residency permits inside China upon entrance into the country.
- Currently people need to apply in their home countries for Chinese visas and cannot apply in Hong Kong (other third countries are currently okay at the moment including Macao). Only those with either HK work permits or HK ID can apply for visas in Hong Kong.
- Visa processing takes longer so you need to be prepared and apply in advance.
- For L (tourist) visas, you are required to have a copy of a hotel reservation a photocopy of a round-trip plan ticket.
- For F (business) visas, you are required to apply at the consulate/embassy in your country of residence. The consulates/embassies are only issuing 30-day single or double-entry visas.
- The following are the required documents: original letter from the Chinese government ministry; Chinese hotel reservation; photocopy of return plane tickets.
- F visas can be extended inside China only. If extended in Beijing they can only be extended to July 1st 2008. If extended in Shanghai, they can be extended for the standard 30 to 60 days and count as single entry (and supposedly beyond July 1st). Extensions take five working days and must be applied for in person.
- For the letter from the Chinese government ministry (usually the local foreign affairs office), this must be applied for by a locally registered company such as a WOFE or domestic Chinese company in the city where the person applying for the F visa intends to visit. IE if the person intends to visit Shanghai, the letter must be applied for by a company in Shanghai.
- Representative offices must apply through an agent such as FESCO to get the letter from the relevant ministry.
- Those people who are in China for longer than 90 days continually or more than 180 days in a calendar year should apply to be on a Z visa, which would be changed to a residency permit inside China.
- F and L visas for senior managers can be changed to work and residence permits from inside China. Also all companies with capital over US$3 million can change F and L visas to work and residency permits for all employees. Representative offices also canât apply directly for Z visas. They must apply for L or F visas and convert them to work and residency permits inside China.
- These regulations will most likely last after the Olympics. The government is really cracking down on F visa holders who are actually residents inside China as they are really residents here, and should therefore be on residency and work permits and be paying taxes.
