1st University to get invitation letter for overseas students

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Below is an Email from NYU Shanghai to its students

Dear Members of the NYU Shanghai Community,

We write now to share some good news.

We have now learned that the approval process has been completed with regard to visa issuances for international students. Thanks to truly extraordinary efforts by the governments of the Pudong District and Shanghai City, as well as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NYU Shanghai has been given an “exemption” from the prevailing freeze on the issuance of student visas, so that we may bring our international students to China

We are especially happy to note that this exemption applies to both students in Group 1B and students in Group 2. There will not be any gap between the transition of entering first-year students to Shanghai and the return of upper-year students.

Now that it has been granted, this exemption must be implemented through a set of procedures that begin with the issuance of Invitation Letters. These procedures will be set in motion by the authorities at the Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office once they return from their National Day and Mid-Autumn break, which lasts through October 8. Each of the hundreds of invitation letters must be produced individually in accordance with an exacting process. We expect all the invitation letters to be issued during the week of October 12. We appreciate your continued patience and understanding while these procedures are completed.

This Friday, October 9th, XXX will be sending our returning international students a full set of instructions on the steps that must be taken to transform Invitation Letters into new visas as smoothly as possible. Even before receiving Dean Pe’s instructions, returning students can begin to prepare in the following ways: 

1) Identify the location of the Chinese embassy or consulate within your geographical jurisdiction; 

2) Visit your embassy or consulate’s website and review the requirements for submitting an application for the issuance of a visa; 

3) Identify possible COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing facilities near you that have the capacity to administer a test and provide results within a short window (we expect that you will need to have taken a nucleic acid test within 72 hours before you board your flight and to have had the negative results of that test certified by your embassy or consulate); and

4) Explore flight options and possible dates of travel. 

By doing this preparatory work, students can help to ensure that their entry into China proceeds in as orderly a manner as possible. (Please note that it is still premature to focus on the topics of quarantine and university housing; those matters can be addressed once a visa is secured.) If you have immediate questions, you can email XXX at [e-mail]. 

We Are Shanghai!

Why this university ?

It is one of the most international university in China

Rank	Year	Percentage of  overseas students
No.1	2017	42.28%
No.1	2018	52.28%
No.1	2019	58.62%

As for the percentage of overseas students, about half of the students studying in NYU Shanghai are overseas students, which ranked No.1 in China

I think China won't give visa to all overseas student at a time, so to start from the most international university is a good idea.  The government can then learn and adjust the policy accordingly.

Air tickets may be the next problem, without chartered flights, I think even with visa, no one knows when the students can get air tickets, maybe in several months or longer. As 59% of its new students  (more than 900) are from the U.S., I think Shanghai will help arrange chartered flights, but for students from other countries, maybe they still have to buy tickets themselves.

Hopefully, the government will give visa to more students, those who can't study online, like medical students, those who need to use laboratory should get privilege,  then it is possible to arrange chartered flights to help them return. 

Background information: 

China to allow foreigners with valid permits to enter, with the same amount of flights to China, it will make the air ticket price higher and harder to get.

It is a private university, not public 

Source: https://shanghai.nyu.edu/admissions/cost

NYU Shanghai is a private univesity, it is supported primarily by students' tuition fees. which is different from those international college of public universities that get subsidies from the government.  Not many public universities want to stand out and do their best to help get invitation letter for their students, if one student is diagnosed as COVID-19 confirmed/ asymptomatic patient at the airport, the career of the principal may end.

While for private universities, helping overseas students to return is the best way to help themselves, financially at least. 

Shanghai

Have you noticed that most new policies related to foreigners started from 1st tier city like Beijing and Shanghai. Usually, it won't happen in a 2nd tier city first. 

Being the 1st one to do something needs courage to take risk and the experience of dealing with foreigners. At the beginning of the pandemic, Shanghai is the only city that dare to have part of the inbound travellers do home quarntine, while all people landed in other cities must do it at designated facilities.

I hope Shanghai will find a better way to contain the imported cases and have more students return at the same time and then promote it to other cities. 

END

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