What does it take to get a six-month multiple entry visa into China these days? Well, for one thing, it takes a business card.
I had heard about this requirement, but I didn’t take it seriously. Of all documents, what can be faked easier than a business card? A handwritten note from my mother explaining my absense from school? A six month multiple entry business visa for China is not all that easy to obtain anyway (I won’t know until later this week if I got it). I was told I first needed two single entry thirty day visas before I could even think about a six month multiple. I doubt such rules apply in all cases though.
This time I thought I had all my paperwork in order when I showed up to apply for the visa I need for several upcoming trips. After looking everything over, the clerk asked for one of my business cards. I reluctantly handed it over, knowing it wasn’t going to be enough. The business cards I carry right now were printed last year. At the time, I had just established JadeTower and I expected our office address to change. Not wanting to immediately outdate my business cards, I simply didn’t include a physical address on the card. Besides, my work is almost exclusively done via the internet and I travel regularly. A physical address seems anachronistic.
But of course, a physical address was exactly what the visa office wants. I explained that the business card was old and didn’t have an address on it. She frowned. I offered to provide addresses, since as far as I can see that would be no more legitmate than me going home and printing up a new business card. In the end, that’s what I had to do.
Business cards are as much a part of Asian business culture as MySpace pages are to American teenagers. Without one, know one’s sure if you really exist or not. The business card ritual here is simple: when you are introduced to someone, you smile, say “Hello” and with two hands offer your business card. The only complicated part is when everyone does this at the same time and no one has any hands free to accept everyone else’s card. It’s sorta like a Mexican standoff.
With networking and relationships as important as they are here in the East, business cards do come in handy. Once the standoff is resolved, keep the business card in your hand or place it on the table. Don’t immediately tuck it away. If this is someone you intend to keep in touch with, then a short call or email later is appropriate. If you’re really smart, you’ll quickly enter in the information into your computer address book before you end up with dozens and dozens of business cards. Because when that happens, you’ll never get around to it. Trust me.
So remember, even though anyone these days can print a pretty card claiming themselves as Chief Donut Tester, business cards are serious business here in Asia.
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