Business Visa ( M visa) is issued to the individuals who want to come to China for commercial and trading purposes, the typical length of a business M visa is less than 180 days.
Inside of China, according to the Chinese immigration laws, if you have already entered China with travel L visa, student X visa or working Z visa, it’s not possible to change it directly to business M visa without leaving China. So if you have L visa, X visa, or Z visa, following are the legal way to change it to M visa and extend it later.
First of all, you need to find a sponsor, for example, your vendor or partners registered in shanghai) who have business relationship with you can provide you necessary legal documents. Then please check the following procedures:
Step1: Get an official visa notification form from your sponsorship company, you can choose where to apply your M visa (HK or home country), please make sure you choose the right one.
Step2: With your passport, 2 pictures, the official visa notification form and visa application form. you can apply the business M visa in the Embassy/Consulate (in HK or your home country, where you choose in the Step1)
Notice: Please keep a copy of the official visa notification form, because when you want to extend your business visa in shanghai, you need to provide it.
Step3: After you enter China with M visa, you have to register yourself within 24 hrs in the police station which near your apartment to obtain the Local Shanghai Registration Form Of Temporary Residence.
Step4: If you want to extend your stay in shanghai, with the same invite company legal document plus the copy of official visa notification form, you can extend your M visa here once, for 1-3 month (depend on your company investment capital).