Yeah, its a lot of BS that is for sure. However...as for getting my spouse a citizenship status elsewhere it depends on which country one is from as well. Each country has their own game and set of rules to play by. My wife has no interest in leaving China. As for the family L visa, which is different than the tourist L visa in that it ties into your Chinese spouse's national ID card in their data base...yeah, many people work on those. Most of the cops know this and most normally don't seem to care. It would make no sense for example to tie your status in China to a company that could vanish over night and meanwhile, you have a family to take care of. Family comes first. Always get the family visa first and to hell with the F or the Z visa in most cases. Although...if you plan to get your Chinese spouse out of China, most embassies require you to have a Z visa since your residence in China determines the diplomatic jurisdiction relevant to filing an application for the visa to go home. In other words if you are not a resident of China, then your embassy in China most likely will tell you to go home and file an application for a green card in your own nation. That is the case with the USA anyway. The option around that is to have a perm residence status like the one I have, but in most cases it takes 5-years to get unless you invest 500,000 USD in China or do something great for the nation, etc. For anyone thinking that getting married to a Chinese national is an easy game as far as visa status in country and options or benefits...nope!

After 5-years you can apply for a perm-residence status if you are married to a Chinese national. I have one. It allows you to work and live life, etc. Normally you are required to live in the city for at least 9 months out of the year for 5-years, at least in my area that was the case. I have heard that after 3-years if you have a child that you can get perm-residence as well but I don't know of anyone that has done that. The perm-residence visa is valid for an initial period of 5-years and after that the next one is for 10-years, and after that...I guess it is forever. I know of one foreigner that has a Chinese national ID card of sorts, (green card). He was here for about 20-years though. I don't know all of their specifics. My experience with a family visa in China is that most of the local cops do not bother you when you work if you have a family to take care of. In fact, I have been checked a few times in the past and when I produced a copy of the marriage license, they nodded and left. This may depend on where you are at, what you do, where you are from, etc. The law is quite clear of course, but whether or not they enforce it is another matter entirely.