A local expatriate has been fined for using six counterfeit passport stamps to cover up that he overstayed his visa for nearly a year, the Shanghai border authority said Monday.
Border inspection officers caught the 26-year-old man, who was not identified, as he tried to board a flight to Hong Kong, where he intended to apply for a legitimate work visa, according to a press release from the Shanghai Airport Frontier Inspection Station.
The man arrived in China in late 2011 on a multiple-entry tourist visa that required him to leave the Chinese mainland every 90 days, according to the press release. After he discover he had overstayed his visa, he spent 6,000 yuan ($960) to have his passport stamped six times with counterfeit chops to show that he had exited and re-entered the country like he was supposed to have done.
"Faking passport stamps can get one fined or detained, depending the violator's motivations and the consequences of the act," said Yang Yuting, a press officer from the Shanghai Airport Frontier Inspection Station.
The border authority decided to only fine the man because his intentions weren't malicious and his actions didn't have any serious consequences, Yang said.
Yang did not reveal the size of the expatriate's fine, but said that under Chinese law foreigners can be fined between 2,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan for holding an invalid passport, or altering or faking stamps.
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