With all my documents in hand, photographs, police certificate, release letter, foreign expert cancellation, company stamps and more, I went to Sichuan Bei Lu to a company who said they would get me my visa in 27 working days for around 4,000. As it was a lot cheaper than I had been quoted by other companies, and because they seemed to know what they were talking about I signed up.
The first surprise was that I apparently need something called a company card so I can employ myself. That was something I hadn’t planned on and could have been started a week ago (so I have lost another week to this process!). Anyway it seems fairly straightforward and involves my appearance at a place called the Talent Tower at Hanzhong Lu metro station.
After 5 working days they will start on my visa application. Let’s hope there are no problems as I am heading out at the end of June and it’s starting to look a bit tight. If only they had told me I needed a company card I could have saved myself a whole week of delays. Oh well, maybe my misfortune will help someone else in their own company set up. Learn from my mistakes.