Although I have a US passport, I'm traveling in Asia now and applied for a tourist visa to China. I just received it from the travel agency today but noticed that it only lets me stay in China for 9 days. I want to be able to stay at least 30 days. The agency told me I could only stay 9 days because I've already traveled to China twice before, and one of those times I got the visa when I applied while staying in a foreign country

Is it possible for me to extend the visa after I arrive in China? Where do I go? I'll be staying in Chongqing starting tomorrow

That agent info sounds bogus to me, but your immediate problem is get into china. Then go to Public Security Bureau Office in town. Do your best to explain situation and your particular needs. Stress that only 30 days in needed, as a normal visa indicates. Communication, red tape, chinese insecurity (despite the name on the building)and brewing hostility towards USA by govt means best to factor one day. Bring some RMB notes too.

Chongqing is massive. Most likely you can find someone in the PSB office who speaks good English.

A few other thoughts. Are you Chinese by ancestry, African-Amer, Tibetan or Muslim? If so you may incur special problems. If you had someone reputable in your corner speaking on your behalf holding your hand at the PBS, that might help. But really, no one here knows the answer. U gotta try.

The agency didn't give the 9-day visa, the Chinese Embassy in Singapore did. It's possible that the Embassy did not like his background/ancestry. It also could be that if those previous visits to China are recent, and a pattern of quick in-out has been established, that they suspect s/he is trying to work on a tourist visa.

OP doesn't have any recourse with the PSB once in China. As always, extensions are at the officer's discretion. However, new visa law specifically stipulates that extensions may not be for a period longer than the visa itself (rule change). This means any extension he might get would be....9 days. And for a US citizen, that's RMB 900 (USD140) for the extension. That's a big ouch. Unlike jobin, I think this is likely to be a fruitless quest to get 30 more days anywhere in China.

So if i want to stay longer, would it be better if I just returned to the US and apply for a visa again? If i want to study chinese in china, would I also likely only be allowed to stay for a very short time?

> If i want to study chinese in china, would I also likely only be allowed to stay for a very short time?

If you want to study Chinese in China, and planned and booked your course of study ahead, then you would be obtaining a different type of visa, which, with the support of the institution you planned to attend, would be as long as it needs to be, and typically with a little extra time to travel after you've finished studying (not guaranteed--you'd need to ask the institution in question).

The visa would be an X1 (X for 'xuesheng', or student) if you planned to stay more than 180 days, or X2 if for less than that. If you're in Chongqing, where there are likely to be several institutions that could take you (although you need to be sure you'll get a standard accent), you're likely to be able to bargain a better price, see the accommodation and teaching facilities, and generally get far more reliable information (stop other foreign students and ask them about their experiences).