[seaghyn]

I can't believe I didn't put a reply up here O_o.

This is how it went for me. In reality, it's no big deal. I don't have my passport, and I have an expired visa. But I'm safe. ^_^. Here's why:

My visa was set to expire on the 18th, *wednesday last week* and I applied for the new visa/extension/whatever you want to call it, one week before the expiration date.

On the 18th, the day of my visa expiration, I went to the office to confim if everything went alright. They told me it usually takes 3 weeks to a month, and during this time they need to hold onto my passport, so that when the extension comes in, THEN they can stamp the passport, and it will give me xxx amount of time to go to the local ward office and take care of business. (which seems a little odd, as they don't need the passport except for when the visa comes in to stamp it...but I saw it on the 18th, so they have it in a nice safe if I need it.)

So, instead of a stamped passport on the 18th (day of expiration), I just received a slip of paper that was stamped, and said pretty much I was waiting for the visa to come in. There is no expiration date, so it's like a free visa for as long as you want...but if a police officer looks at it, after one month from the issue date, he'd be pretty suspicious O_o.

Long story short, it was NO problem whatsoever. As long as I applied for my visa extension before my current ones expiration date, the school takes care of the rest. (also on the paper is my attendance, and I was at 176 days out of 177 days attendance, ^_^)

So yeah...now I'm just waiting for the real deal to come in, then they stamp my passport, and it's off to the Ward office. No biggie if you apply one day before your visa expires. (but save yourself from a hell of worries by doing it 1-2 months early)