Job Discussion Forums

nimadecaomei · Joined: 22 Sep 2016 Posts: 605

When I tried to extend my RP I found you need to have at least 30 days remaining on it when you extend it. I found working with the PSB to be ok, it is just sometimes they need a lot more photocopies of things than you prepared. In my experience, they are nice enough to help you get the needed photocopies.

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

Your new school has already applied for your FEC so you cannot apply for another one unless the school agrees to cancel it. The school has paid the necessary fees to do that besides getting teachers to more remote locations isn't easy so I highly doubt they will be willing to do so.

As for asking for additional salary, I'll be honest. If I had a teacher agree to a salary and then later tell me they wanted more because they didn't realize the cost of living in the city I would tell them no.

teenoso · Joined: 18 Sep 2013 Posts: 365 Location: south china

OP said they had only just started the paperwork, so probably still to do the FEC. From memory when transferring RP(work) to RP(work) the FEC was done when I arrived in the new city.
If they had assured him that the cost of living was low then he'd have a good case for a raise, but most FAOs are totally inflexible , in my experience, and won't bend or change the contract.
They might if he threatened to walk, but you need a good stash of money and a plan to do that.

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

Babala · Joined: 28 Jan 2005 Posts: 1303 Location: Henan

ou agreed to a contract without doing enough research (did you post up requests for info about the city or did you just google and ask the school Rolling Eyes

) and now you have decided to either blackmail them (it's too late to find another teacher so they must accept your assistance to pay you more money) or bail on them early and also leaving them without a teacher.

Where is the responsibility? You agreed to the contract. If the school did this everyone would be joining in for the kill. Why should teachers be held to lesser standards?

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

Guess what? Sometimes you can do your research and still turn up empty-handed or wrong. You can eye-roll all you want, but it happens.

Anyway, the school isn't suffering from a lack of foreign teachers. The rest are all Peace Corps volunteers.

rogerwilco · Joined: 10 Jun 2010 Posts: 1549

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

twowheel · Joined: 03 Jul 2015 Posts: 753

wawaguagua,

I'm curious. Which province is the school in? How many of the foreign teachers are Peace Corps volunteers? Are there any non-Peace Corps foreign teachers there?

twowheel

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

UPDATE

So now I have to start my whole visa process all over again with a new Z visa.

I don't know what happened exactly, but after getting all of the paperwork the school asked me for and double-checking to make sure I prepared everything before I even left my old job, the FAO asked me to contact my previous FAO for a recommendation letter that she didn't know we needed.

We got that done after a few days... But I was already sitting around there waiting for an entire week before she asked me for it, and in the long time that I've been waiting around here, they only planned to bring my documents to the Foreign Expert's Bureau in the provincial capital next week.

In the meantime, my RP was replaced with a "humanitarian" visa as my RP reached its limit, but the humanitarian visa only lasts 30 days, and because the FEB requires applications to be submitted *at least* 30 days beforehand, they flat-out told the FAO that I need to start over.

The FAO is applying for a new Z visa that can be processed from Hong Kong, and has offered to pay airfare to and from Shenzhen (an offer which hasn't yet been approved by the director). I'm not holding my breath that it can be done from HK, as that's exactly what my first FAO promised five years ago before sending me a letter that *must be taken to the applicant's home country.*

Anyway, considering I haven't been thrilled with the salary and the all the weird requirements from the English Department that aren't in the contract and weren't mentioned in the interview, I'm wondering if I should just give up. I'm hesitant because I'm not sure what else I can do with just a 20+ day humanitarian visa and a lot of luggage.

Elicit · Joined: 12 May 2010 Posts: 244

If starting over again is the only option on the table, i’d try finding another position to start over with. Shouldn’t be hard to find something better.

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

The biggest problem with starting over is figuring out where to store all my stuff during the waiting process and how to get it all to the new location.

teenoso · Joined: 18 Sep 2013 Posts: 365 Location: south china

If you still have contact with the other schools you mentioned , I would also suggest you see whether their offers are still open.Your present situation does not sound good, and getting worse.
On the question of luggage , these practical problems can always be solved. Ask a shipping/forwarding company to hold your stuff while you negotiate with a new school and make arrangements to move.

If you press ahead in your current place, re the z visa ,

I will also go to Hong Kong (from the mainland) soon to get mine there - the visa itself costs around 1000 HKD, depending on your nationality, so I would ask your school for that too.
And for hotel costs , since the school put you in this situation. Standard processing is four days in HK, so you will be there at least three nights.

The z visa process is now online (everywhere?) so I think as long as the school makes clear in their application that the z visa will be processed in HK, and the barcode can be read as such by the 'Consulate' in HK , you might be OK. But who knows.

So far the school has given me one document (in chinese) which is a 'notification of work visa application for a foreigner', so not a 'letter of invitation', but the process has changed since I last went to HK five years ago. I would be interested to know what paperwork you receive for the z visa.

wawaguagua · Joined: 10 Feb 2013 Posts: 190 Location: China

Because the FAO suggested the school would reimburse my expenses to go wherever I need to go to get my new Z visa, I decided to stick with it to see what happens. I don't have any better choice - I'm on a one-month humanitarian visa and wherever I go, I still need to get a new Z visa from scratch. It's best to stick with the one promising to pay for the expenses.

I just realized, however, that the FAO's idea that the school will reimburse me is all heresay - It has to be approved by her "director," who is away on a business trip with an uncertain return date. She expects me to wait until after everything is finished, after the holiday, and *then* discuss reimbursement. I clarified that there's no guarantee that the director will agree to reimburse the cost. She confirmed.

My blood is boiling. I selected this school because she promised everything could be done in-country and that time was enough to get it done. We discussed it in great detail before I finally agreed. I worked hard to get all of the paperwork she needed me to get. I did everything she asked.

This is all the school's mistake. She seems to feel guilty about it, hence the suggestion that the school can reimburse my expenses for the new Z visa, but she won't directly admit her fault. If, by the time the paperwork is finished to take to the embassy, the school can't officially promise me reimbursement for the expenses occured to me, is it okay if I just give up? The school already wasted my summer holiday... I wouldn't want to work for an employer that wastes my money, too.

These days, I can't sleep well, and I find it hard to enjoy anything with all these uncertainties in my head. My mind feels frozen.